The road to being an entrepreneur has many twists and turns. Starting that journey from a nontraditional starting point, in this case the music world, can create even more unexpected challenges. Today we are talking with Casey McPherson and hear about his journey from accomplished musician to genetic disease advocate…
What an amazing year it has been. This week it's just the two of us reflecting back on where the podcast has been, what we have seen in the ecosystem, the insights that our guests have shared, and what comes next for both the podcast and Austin. Austin Next Newsletter…
Cities are changing as rapidly as ever due increased migration patterns, new hubs of innovation, and an evolving way we work. What does the city of the future look like and is Austin the new leader of that trend? Today we bring in Cullum Clark the Director of the George…
We see all of these best of city lists. Best places to live, most affordable, growing tech employment, and so on. How does Austin stack up when looking at our overall startup environment? Today we are bringing on Farshad Fahimi (Director of Data Strategy), who is going to walk us…
Infrastructure is one of the key issues impacting Austin’s rapid growth. Whether it’s water, roadways and transit, or power, we must ensure that we have the resources to handle our growth. Today, we focus on power… Joining us is Christy Cardenas Managing Partner Grit Ventures. Grit Ventures focuses, in part,…
Austin has been growing at breakneck speed. Over the past year, we were #1 in percentage population growth and #3 in employment growth. This doesn't event tell the whole story. The entire metro from Bastrop to Dripping Springs and San Marcos to Temple is maturing and changing. We are establishing…
Our region not only builds futuristic technologies, but they are deployed and tested here as well. More and more when you hear autonomous vehicles, rockets, drones, and personal flying vehicles you think Austin. Today we are speaking with Brad Bentz, Co-Founder and Partner at ATX Partners a local venture firm…
With the changing nature of work, new regional ecosystems flourishing, and massive domestic migration the demands to our infrastructure are changing and evolving. One of the most fundamental parts of this equation is the question of how we move people and goods from point A to point B. We have…
Texas has long been a home for the semiconductor industry. I guess it started with a little company named Texas Instruments, but today in the Austin area, we have Samsung, NXP, Micron, AMD, and Intel, But, this growth doesn’t happen in a vacuum, it takes a lot of people doing…
Capital is the fuel that drives the innovation ecosystem. Grants can make up an important component in funding and catalyzing innovation. The biggest source of grants is of course the US government through numerous agencies and programs. Today we talk with Elizabeth (Ela) Mirowski a Program Director for the SBIR/STTR…
Today we’re going to expand our focus a bit, and look at the entire state of Texas, not just Austin. We want to dig into what has brought so much attention, and new people to the Lone Star State, how it’s impacting business, culture, and innovation. The concept of a…
We have gone deep and we have gone wide in looking at the sectors and factors that drive the growth of the Austin region. Today we are going to take a holistic look at the entire metro from San Macros to Taylor and Bastrop to Dripping Springs. This super-region is…
A common plank in ecosystem development is having a strong research-focused university churning out discoveries and intellectual property that can then be spinout our licensed into the private sector. In Austin, we have one such university with UT, but that movement of technology from academia to industry is not magic.…
Work is changing, whether that is how we work (remote, hybrid, in-person), the tools we use, or how we govern these organizations. One of the superpowers of Austin is that "We are living in the future" and in this case, it means the future of work is being developed, tested,…
We are changing up the format this week as we are flying without a net and without a guest. This time is just a conversation between our hosts. Jason had the opportunity to attend SXSW. Hear one point of view on how Austin was represented at the festival. What we…
We are hitting the road again and learning about all the other "emerging" ecosystems. This time we are heading to the Southeast and making pitstops in Atlanta and Nashville. We are joined by Blake Patton, Managing Partner Tech Square Ventures, and Brian Moyer, President and CEO at the Greater Nashville…
This is another in our Unique to Austin series where we look at what gives Austin its special sauce. There is nothing more unique about Austin than SXSW. Over the past 30 years, Austin has grown, matured, and adapted to everything new, and SXSW has as well. Today, after two…
A key enabler of Austin’s growth are the unique institutions, events, and infrastructure that only exists in our region. In 2018, Army Futures Command chose our city as its base of operations. We wanted to learn why, how it connects with our broader innovation ecosystem, and what role it plays…
Over the course of the pandemic, migration trends already taking place were accelerated. It’s an open secret that the middle of the US is now a key engine of our nation’s growth. We’ve seen the ups and downs economically, mostly tied to manufacturing. But today, places like Austin, Denver, Chicago,…
Austin is not the only ecosystem in the news as the next big thing. The past few years have seen massive disruption, geographic migration, and increased capital flows outside of the traditional big innovation centers of Silicon Valley, New York, Los Angeles, and Boston. We want to see what these…
For Austin to solidify its role as the next great innovation powerhouse, we must research what has come before and what are the trends pushing us forward. One area of study that greatly affects our future is the exploration of the very nature of progress itself…what is it, what drives…
We continue our conversations about talent, who companies need and how to get them. Are we positioned for the future needs of our region and its sectors? We’ve talked about the pipeline, we’ve discussed middle management, it’s time to turn to executive talent. More than any time in the past,…
Talent remains a hot topic in everyone of our discussions. Do we have enough workers, do we have the right skill sets, how are we positioned for the future needs of the region and sectors? We have demand for high end manufacturing workers, more frontline healthcare staff, and other more…
Everyone we have interviewed on the podcast has mentioned talent as a key issue facing Austin as it quickly ramps up its innovation ecosystem. And a big part of that is developing mid-level managers that can make decisions and propel businesses forward. Joining us is Bjorn Billhardt, CEO of Abilitie…