Austin Next™
Austin Next™
Austin continues transforming into the next innovation powerhouse. In this podcast, we explore how Central Texas is growing…The people and companies, the industries and infrastructure, the macro and micro trends that come together to create the future of Austin.
We want to answer one basic question… What’s next Austin?
Listen to our trailer and find out what we are all about:
Recent Episodes
Road Trip to San Antonio - The Innovation Ecosystem with Jim Perschbach, President & CEO Port San Antonio
Oct. 4, 2022
A lot of conversations today talk about the competition & cooperation between San Antonio and Austin. Two growing cities separated by a strip of Interstate 35. Cities with very different histories, different experiences…but …
Austin Networking Groups We Like
Sept. 27, 2022
Lately, we've been talking and writing a lot about networking. Why is it so important to us? People are social animals. And no matter how much we can get done remotely, we need a connection with other people. But just as imp…
How Resilient is Austin to an Economic Downturn with Roland Pena, SVP of Global Technology and Innovation from the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce
Sept. 20, 2022
The US and perhaps the world’s economies seem to be headed for a rough patch. Given the growth of the Austin/Central Texas area over the past couple of years, the question is how resilient is the Austin economy, and are we r…
Return to the Austin Mortar with Thom Singer, CEO of the Austin Technology Council
Sept. 13, 2022
A lot of things have changed since we last had Thom Singer on the podcast. We talk about Thom's new role, what the networking environment looks like now, and how that impacts the creative collisions between the foundations o…
Austin Next Goes Boom!
Sept. 6, 2022
Today, the Austin Next team and the Boom ATX podcast team get together. Lee Snedaker and Glenn Hart have been talking about Austin for about as long as we have. And they have the advantage of much deeper knowledge about Aust…
Exploring Austin's Draper Startup House, a Global Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
Aug. 30, 2022
The growth of our ecosystem and the critical mass of startups coming to Austin leads to unique opportunities to experiment with support infrastructure. One of those experiments is the Draper Startup House, a global entrepren…
The Past, Present, and Future of Entrepreneurship in Austin. Part 2 of our Discussion with Brett Hurt Co-Founder and CEO of data.world
Aug. 23, 2022
We are back with Part 2 of our discussion with Brett. In this episode we cover the expanding Austin region, identifying talent, the intersection of philosophy, politics, and innovation, and of course what comes next. What…
The Past, Present, and Future of Entrepreneurship in Austin. Part 1 of our Discussion with Brett Hurt Co-Founder and CEO of data.world
Aug. 16, 2022
Brett Hurt is a serial entrepreneur, launching Bazaarvoice, Coremetrics and now data.world. Over that time, he's learned a lot about software, people, software and soul. His latest company, data.world, is a B Corp, or as he …
The Changing Austin Venture Scene with CS Freeland, Executive Director of the Austin Venture Association
Aug. 9, 2022
Clearly the Austin entrepreneurial ecosystem has been growing dramatically for the last several years. And, with that growth has come a lot of new investors. Whether it be VCs building larger funds, entrepreneurs reinvesting…
Innovation and Architecture with Todd Runkle Principal, Managing Director at Gensler
Aug. 2, 2022
Often how we live, work and play is determined by where we live, work, and play. The buildings we occupy can range from condos and offices in the central business district, to the wide-open spaces needed to test drones and f…
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About the Hosts
Michael Scharf
Michael brings the experience of a 40+ year career in corporate finance and banking as well as entrepreneurship. He is now focused now on corporate governance and sits on multiple advisory and boards of directors, and brings his knowledge and background to bear on regulatory issues, ESG as well as corporate management.