Austinpreneur

When asked how startups should think about metrics, Co-Founder and CEO of 512 Financial, Bart Davis, has a refreshingly simple answer: pick the handful that keep you up at night and build systems around those first.In this episode, recorded live at Austin Tech Week 2025, Bart explains the dangers of “metric bloat,” where companies track everything and understand nothing. He outlines how founders should evaluate their stage, identify the KPIs that truly drive outcomes, and avoid falling for shiny software tools that create reporting for reporting’s sake.Host Nick Spiller and Bart also discuss the shift in the funding environment: why the “growth at all costs” era collapsed, how rising interest rates changed investor expectations, and why profitability and discipline matter more now than ever.If you’re building a company and struggling to separate signal from noise, this episode offers a clean, concise roadmap for getting back to operational basics.Stay updated with the latest from Austinpreneur at https://capitalfactory.com/online/

If you’ve ever wondered what makes one tequila “cleaner” than another, this episode, recorded live at Austin Tech Week 2025, answers it. Luis Abundis breaks down Humano’s obsessive approach to purity beginning with high-sugar agave (typically 24–30 brix, far above industry average) grown from consistent DNA stock on family-run lands.Nick and Luis dive deep into the science: why open fermentation introduces impurities, how closed-tank fermentation preserves delicate aromatics, and how Humano’s in-house chemical engineer designed a custom yeast specifically for their flavor profile. They also explore the engineering decision to use a straight-column copper still, allowing more consistent cleaning and reducing unwanted aromas, a departure from traditional serpentine tubing.Luis then reveals how Humano uses double-barrel aging (new American oak + ex-bourbon) to craft its Reposado and Añejo expressions, blending complexity with approachability for modern tequila drinkers.For CPG founders, the lesson is powerful: innovation doesn’t require abandoning heritage, it requires elevating it.Stay updated with the latest from Austinpreneur at https://capitalfactory.com/online/

Jesse Draper, a fourth-generation venture capitalist and founding partner of Halogen Ventures, dives into the booming realm of family-focused technology. She unveils a staggering $7.5 trillion market opportunity in areas like childcare, eldercare, and health, previously overlooked by investors. Jesse discusses her journey from media to venture capital, emphasizing the importance of founder grit and real-world problem-solving. With successful investments in notable companies like Babylist and Upwards, she advocates for profitable models that empower families while generating significant returns.

In this episode, recorded live at Austin Tech Week 2025, Nick Spiller sits down with David Zakariaie, founder and CEO of Senseye, the Austin-based deep-tech company turning eye-tracking and computer vision into the world’s first objective diagnostic for mental health. Zakariaie explains how Senseye’s 10-minute smartphone-based test measures ocular micro-movements to detect PTSD, anxiety, and depression, conditions currently “diagnosed” using little more than questionnaires and gut instinct.David walks through the scientific foundation: decades of fMRI research showing clear neurological signatures across mental health disorders, paired with Senseye’s breakthrough, running high-precision eye-tracking with nothing more than a phone camera. The result is a scalable, FDA-bound diagnostic platform aimed at modernizing the world’s most outdated healthcare category.Nick and David dive into Senseye’s origins as a high-school science project that caught the attention of the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force, and ultimately Capital Factory. Today, the company has completed large-scale Phase I and II clinical trials and is preparing for Phase III on the road to full FDA approval.For founders and investors, the conversation offers a masterclass in building a venture where science, regulation, and commercialization collide. David’s journey reveals how deep-tech startups blend government contracts, clinical milestones, and strategic capital to bring ambitious, impactful technology into the real world.Stay updated with the latest from Austinpreneur at https://capitalfactory.com/online/

Mike Maples Jr. didn’t make his mark by playing it safe—he built it by betting early on ideas that looked crazy… until they changed the world.In this new episode, Mike shares why conviction-based investing matters more than ever in an era defined by AI, defense tech, and dual-use innovation.Recorded live at Austin Tech Week 2025, Mike joins Joshua Baer to unpack how the post-ChatGPT economy is reshaping venture capital, why defense and industrial innovation are attracting the brightest founders, and how the U.S. can maintain its technological edge by empowering private innovators.Listeners will walk away inspired to invest—and build—at the intersection of purpose and profit.Stay updated with the latest from Austinpreneur at https://capitalfactory.com/online/

While most banks steer clear of early-stage defense contractors, Leonid Capital Partners runs toward them. Founding Partner James Parker explains how his team evaluates risk through contract data—not pitch decks. Leonid advances 50–75% of the remaining value on government contracts, prioritizes executed work over speculative awards, and rejects the “hyper-growth at all costs” mentality that defines many venture portfolios.Tune in to learn how Leonid’s acquisition-financing model uses stacked contracts as collateral to drive consolidation among small primes and SBIR winners. This conversation is a masterclass in financial engineering—revealing how to turn government backlogs into liquidity, resilience, and lasting enterprise value.This episode is sponsored by Every.io. Stay updated with the latest from Austinpreneur at https://capitalfactory.com/online/

Startups often struggle to navigate the labyrinth of defense procurement. Mica Dolan, President & COO at ATI, offers a guide to cutting through it. She explains how Other Transaction Agreements empower the DOW to fund research, prototypes, and production without traditional red tape, accelerating innovation from months to weeks.Mica describes best practices learned from decades of managing multi-billion-dollar OTA portfolios: set clear mission alignment, foster trust between government and industry, and avoid “fishing expeditions” that waste everyone’s time. Her advice to startups? Focus on real problems, stay persistent, and leverage ATI’s matchmaking between small innovators and large integrators.This episode, recorded live at Fed Supernova 2025, gives founders a rare behind-the-scenes look at how the U.S. government is modernizing its acquisition strategy and how the most successful startups are positioning themselves as mission partners, not just vendors.Stay updated with the latest from Austinpreneur at https://capitalfactory.com/online/

In this episode, Josh Baer sits down with Tim Kopra, a decorated astronaut and Voyager Technologies Chief Human Exploration Officer, to discuss the next chapter in human spaceflight: the transition from the government-run International Space Station to privately owned commercial stations. Kopra recounts his journey from Army aviator to NASA astronaut and how years in orbit shaped his approach to leading a startup at the frontier of spacetech.He explains how Voyager Space, in partnership with Airbus Defence & Space and Palantir, is developing StarLab, a next-generation space station that will be launched on a single Starship rocket in 2029. Designed for research, manufacturing, and national-security applications, StarLab will host both government astronauts and commercial tenants, generating revenue while supporting NASA’s long-term exploration goals.For founders and investors, this conversation reveals what it takes to build a capital-intensive, multi-national startup that merges aerospace, venture capital, and government contracting into one bold vision for the future.Stay updated with the latest from Austinpreneur at https://capitalfactory.com/online/

In this Austinpreneur episode, recorded live at Fed Supernova 2025, host Nick Spiller sits down with Arthur Grijalva, Director of SpaceWERX, the U.S. Space Force’s innovation arm, to discuss how startups are reshaping national security in orbit. Grijalva explains how SPACEWERX connects entrepreneurs, private capital, and the military to accelerate technologies from concept to operations.Listeners learn how programs like SBIR, TACT-FI, and STRAT-FI give startups staged funding that can grow from a few hundred thousand dollars to tens of millions, de-risking cutting-edge ideas before scaling them into Space Force programs of record. For founders, this is a masterclass in how to enter the defense market; for investors, it’s a look at how federal capital and commercial dollars now work hand-in-hand to build the future of space infrastructure.Stay updated with the latest from Austinpreneur at https://capitalfactory.com/online/

In this episode, recorded live at Fed Supernova 2025, we sit down with Jason Hundley, Marine veteran, NASA researcher, and founder of X-Bow Systems, to explore how his team is rethinking solid rocket motors for the 21st century. Jason explains how traditional manufacturing relies on billion-dollar factories, giant explosive-proof mixers, and inflexible processes dating back to the Korean War. X-Bow’s innovation? Additive manufacturing of solid propellant: a safer, cheaper, and more adaptable way to build rocket motors.Jason compares his approach to switching from a massive water tank to a tankless water heater: instead of mixing 10,000 pounds at once, X-Bow continuously processes smaller amounts under tighter control. This unlocks not only cost savings, but also new possibilities in chemistry, performance, and automation. Investors will hear why this model could reduce production costs by up to 40% while scaling output to 10,000 motors per year at their new Texas campus.For startup fans, this is a story of how ingenuity and grit can disrupt entrenched industries and create dual-use opportunities in defense, aerospace, and beyond.Stay updated with the latest from Austinpreneur at https://capitalfactory.com/online/