Austin Next

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 ready for what comes next? Today, we’re joined by Roland Pena, Senior VP Global Technology & Innovation with Opportunity Austin at the Austin Chamber of Commerce and we dive into the data to see how Austin might respond to this downturn.What's Next Austin?Episode LinksRoland PenaAustin Historical Job Growth and UnemploymentGreater Austin Chamber of Commerce Ecosystem Dashboard -------------------Austin Next Links: Website, X/Twitter, YouTube, LinkedInEcosystem Metacognition Substack

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 of Austin.What's next Austin?Episode LinksOur first conversation with Thom SingerAustin Technology CouncilAustin Technology TwitterThom SingerThom Singer Twitter -------------------Austin Next Links: Website, X/Twitter, YouTube, LinkedInEcosystem Metacognition Substack

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 Austin’s history and culture.We had a wide-ranging discussion, from real estate to startups, from music to restaurants, and much more. -------------------Austin Next Links: Website, X/Twitter, YouTube, LinkedInEcosystem Metacognition Substack

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 entrepreneurship ecosystem including a network of co-living houses and a pre-seed “pop-up” accelerator program. Today we are joined by the co-founders Katie Russel and Daniel Wiegand to talk the mission, the importance of storytelling for startups, and why Austin.What's next Austin?Episode Links:Draper Startup House AcceleratorDraper Startup House Co-livingDraper Startup House LinkedInDraper Startup House InstagramDraper Startup House Twitter -------------------Austin Next Links: Website, X/Twitter, YouTube, LinkedInEcosystem Metacognition Substack

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's Next Austin?Episode Links:Brett HurtBrett Hurt TwitterThe Entrepreneur Essentialsdata.worlddata.world Podcast Catalog & CocktailsDon't Mess with Texas InnovationTexas Startup Manifesto -------------------Austin Next Links: Website, X/Twitter, YouTube, LinkedInEcosystem Metacognition Substack

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 calls it, Capitalism 2.0. Brett invited us to his home to talk about growing up in Austin, and the tension between the creative and the capitalist class. Episode LinksAustin Next SXSW Panel Picker VotingBrett HurtBrett Hurt TwitterThe Entrepreneur Essentialsdata.worlddata.world Podcast Catalog & CocktailsDon't Mess with Texas Innovation  -------------------Austin Next Links: Website, X/Twitter, YouTube, LinkedInEcosystem Metacognition Substack

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 earnings, incubators and angels willing to help startups, there are a lot of people getting involved.  Today we are talking with CS Freeland, co-founder and executive director of the Austin Venture Association (AVA). We cover why do we need an organization AVA, the origin story, and the evolution of the venture environment here in Austin.Capital that is leveling up raises...What's next Austin.Episode Links:Austin Next SXSW Panel Picker VotingCS FreelandAustin Venture Association -------------------Austin Next Links: Website, X/Twitter, YouTube, LinkedInEcosystem Metacognition Substack

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 farm equipment.  Today with speak Todd Runkle on how Austin is evolving, how innovation districts play a role, and the growth of Central Living Districts.Where we are and how we live, work, and play is... What's next Austin? -------------------Austin Next Links: Website, X/Twitter, YouTube, LinkedInEcosystem Metacognition Substack

We met and talked to Peter Rex, who with his team at Rex LLC owns substantial real estate in Austin and across the United States. Since 2018, Peter has focused a lot of his time and energy on Rex Tech Ventures, his technology incubator and PropTech software companies.Rex Tech has now grown to ten companies and together they are looking to solve some of the most difficult problems in the real estate industry. We talked about Why Austin, the convergence of tech and real estate, and even a little blockchain and web3. It’s the disruptors who make…What’s next Austin? -------------------Austin Next Links: Website, X/Twitter, YouTube, LinkedInEcosystem Metacognition Substack

One of Austin’s superpowers is that we live in the future. We are both inventing the future and it’s being deployed here in Central Texas. We’re joined today by Jeff DeCoux founder and CEO of the Autonomy Institute to talk about one of our key challenges to build this future and that's infrastructure. A 21st century technical foundation is the bridge to What's next Austin? -------------------Austin Next Links: Website, X/Twitter, YouTube, LinkedInEcosystem Metacognition Substack