Are you ready for the biggest week in Austin?

South by Southwest (SXSW) descends upon the city from March 12th to March 18th, 2026. Hundreds of thousands of people will attend the conference to delve into topics appealing to geeks and artists and politicians and everything in between.

Whether you’re a first-timer or a seasoned pro, it can be hard to navigate all of the activity — both official and unofficial. Here are some of my tips that might stand out from the crowd.

Did I miss something? Leave it in the comments!

Surrender to Serendipity

My general rule of thumb is to make a big calendar with everything I could possibly want to do on it; then, in the moment, I do whichever of the things is easiest and aligns with the rest of the group I’m with. Doing what’s easy primarily means not waiting in lines and not waiting in traffic. You can’t fight SXSW… you have to surrender to serendipity.

Search the SXSW Schedule

Take a few hours and do your homework — it will pay off in spades. The entire schedule of panels, parties, and speakers is searchable so you can easily type in keywords and click the star to favorite the ones you’re most interested in. Search for technologies and industries you’re interested in, companies, people, topics… it’s easy.

What do I search for? Here are some examples that are all linked to the corresponding tags — Startups — Entrepreneur — Innovation — Venture Capital — Texas — Technology — Space — Artificial Intelligence — Quantum

Don’t forget the ABC’s of SXSW — Always Be Charging!

Capital Factory House

March 12–16, 2026

Capital Factory House features four days of jam-packed action and opportunity. What better way to soak up all that Austin has to offer than to plant yourself in the center of gravity for entrepreneurs downtown, within walking distance of the events and the hotels where all SXSW programming takes place.

Programming badges are FREE — view the full agenda here.

Thursday, March 12

This is the day that I turn on my autoresponder telling everyone that I probably won’t see their email until after SXSW — you might want to do the same!

On the first official day of SXSW, I‘ll be hanging out at Capital Factory to kick off the Startup Crawl! Speaking of…

Startup Crawl

Startup Crawl has been the biggest technology and entrepreneurship party at SXSW since 2011. Grab a group of friends and find out what happens when the hottest startups come together at the same time, in the same place.

You’ll explore Capital Factory’s Austin innovation community through the eyes of an entrepreneur, grab a drink, and meet more than 100 startups.

This event is open to the public but you need to register. The line gets really long so I recommend arriving early!

Time: 6pm to 9pm
Location: Capital Factory
Register: Sign up here (no SXSW badge required)

Interesting SXSW Events

I’ve pulled some of this year’s most interesting SXSW sessions — check them out and let me know what sessions you’ll be attending or if you have any other suggestions!

A Conversation with Garry Tan
FEATURING
Garry Tan (President & CEO, Y Combinator)
Josephine Chen (Sequoia Capital)

Garry Tan (YC’s President & CEO) digs into what he’s seeing in startups right now — what wins in the current market, how founders should think about product velocity and distribution, and what YC is pushing founders to do differently as the next wave of deep tech and AI companies scales.

Time: March 14, 2026–4:00pm to 5:00pm
Location: JW Marriott Austin — Salon 6–8

From Policy to Practice: AI Implementation in Government
FEATURING
Laura Davis (Carr) (Co-Founder & Chief Business Officer, USLege)
David Dunmoyer (Associate Vice President, Campaigns, Texas Public Policy Foundation)
Tony Sauerhoff (Chief AI and Innovation Officer, Texas Department of Information Resources)
Tan Parker (Senator, Texas Senate)

Governments are moving past “AI governance” talk and into real deployments — modernizing services, strengthening cybersecurity, improving legislative analysis, and reshaping how the public sector operates. This session focuses on what implementation actually looks like when AI hits real workflows.

Time: March 18, 2026–10:00am to 11:00am
Location: JW Marriott — Salon E

The Art of Scaling Your Startup Without Venture Capital
FEATURING
Joe Colopy (CEO, Colopy Ventures)

A practical, founder-first playbook on building a high-growth company without taking VC — grounded in frameworks, models, and a real “bootstrapped-to-exit” case study (Bronto Software’s $200M sale to NetSuite/Oracle).

Time: March 13, 2026–2:30pm to 3:30pm
Location: JW Marriott — Salon E

Can Media Survive AI? The Fight for Public Trust
FEATURING
Mark Cuban (Entrepreneur & Investor)
Upasna Gautam (The Texas Tribune)

A sharp talk on how AI breaks — and could rebuild — media business models and trust (with Cuban’s very founder/investor take).

Time: March 14, 2026–10:00am to 11:00am
Location: JW Marriott — Salon AB

The Companies Building and Automating Space’s Superhighway
FEATURING
Kim Jennet (CMO, Rendezvous Robotics)
Parker Wishik (Lead, Strategic Communications and Partnerships, COSMIC — Consortium for Space Mobility and ISAM Capabilities)
Joe Guzman (Founder and CEO, Space Cowboy Active Debris Removal (ADR))
Alex Coultrup (Director, Business and Policy, Starfish Space)

A deep-tech panel on in-space servicing and sustainability — robots that refuel, repair, upgrade, and help manage debris so space remains scalable for exploration and economic development.

Time: March 13, 2026–2:30pm to 3:30pm
Location: JW Marriott — Salon D

The Last Human at the FDA: AI on a Skeleton Crew
FEATURING
Leslie Isenegger (Practice Leader, Corporate Pricing & Public Affairs, Real Chemistry)
Tala Fakhouri (VP, Regulatory Consulting: AI & Digital Policy, Real-World Research, PAREXEL)

As regulators face major staffing constraints, this session digs into AI triage tools for approvals, inspections, and outbreak modeling — plus the accountability questions that matter when fewer humans oversee “smarter” systems.

Time: March 16, 2026–10:00am to 11:00am
Location: The LINE — Topaz Ballroom 1–3

Beta Testing a City: Startups, Sidewalks & Robotics
FEATURING
Lucas Roberts (Director, Architecture and Design, South Downtown)
Jay Bailey (President and CEO, H.J. Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs)
Erin Greer (Principal, Gensler)

A “living lab” approach to urban innovation — where founders, investors, real estate, and robotics collide to test what next-gen cities could look like (including real-world deployments like robot dogs).

Time: March 14, 2026–2:30pm to 3:30pm
Location: JW Marriott — Room 203

The New Gold Rush of AI Data Centers
FEATURING
Zoya Hasan (Reporter, Forbes)
Anita Verma-Lallian (CEO & Founder, Arizona Land Consulting)

A nuts-and-bolts look at the infrastructure wave behind AI — data center demand, land and permitting realities, and the real constraints (power, water, zoning, community impact) that will define where the “AI boom towns” emerge.

Time: March 15, 2026–4:00pm to 5:00pm
Location: JW Marriott — Salon C

The New Era of Alzheimer’s Disease: Can We Diagnose Earlier?
FEATURING
Dr. Richard S. Isaacson (Preventive Neurologist, Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Weill Cornell Medicine/New York-Presbyterian)
Richard Lui (News Anchor and Filmmaker, NBC News/MSNOW)

A science-meets-product conversation on earlier Alzheimer’s detection — what the emerging diagnostic toolchain looks like, what “early awareness” really means, and how systems prepare for proactive brain health at scale.

Time: March 16, 2026–10:00am to 11:00am
Location: JW Marriott — Salon FGH

Keynote: The Big Picture with Steven Spielberg Live from SXSW
FEATURING
Steven Spielberg (Chairman, Amblin Entertainment)
Sean Fennessey (Host, The Ringer)

A wide-ranging conversation on filmmaking, the future of moviegoing, and Spielberg’s upcoming film.

Time: March 13, 2026–1:00pm to 2:00pm
Location: Hilton Austin Downtown — Hilton Grand Ballroom (Salon HJK)

However you end up at SXSW 2026, we hope to see you at Capital Factory!

About Capital Factory
Capital Factory is the center of gravity for entrepreneurs in Texas, the number one state for startups in the U.S. Thousands of entrepreneurs, programmers and designers gather day and night, in-person and online for meetups, classes and coworking. With boots on the ground in Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Washington, DC — we meet the best entrepreneurs outside of Silicon Valley and introduce them to investors, employees, and customers. According to Pitchbook, Capital Factory has been the most active, early-stage investor in Texas since 2010.

🤖 Austinpreneur’s Guide to #SXSW26 was originally published in Austin Startups on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Work side-by-side with me for two years running all aspects of Capital Factory’s operating businesses and investment funds. See everything I see. Meet everyone I meet. Then I’ll help you start your own company, launch your own fund, or find a leadership role at Capital Factory or one of our portfolio companies. Cash compensation is $125,000 the first year and $150,000 the second year. The rest is priceless!

There is no better way to insert yourself into the Austin jetstream, expand your network, and explode your experience!

Chief of Staff and Apprentice to the CEO - Capital Factory

You are at an inflection point in your life and career. You are an apprentice to the CEO, have full transparency across the company, and manage his internal and external tasks and communication. You are a high potential individual looking to explode your experience and network so that you can start your own company, join Capital Factory or another startup as an executive, or become a venture capitalist investor. He has a separate executive assistant to handle travel, scheduling and some administrative tasks.

If you are looking for a career Chief of Staff role, this isn’t the right fit for you.

Types of activities you will regularly participate in:

• Attending executive team strategy meetings and taking notes
• Helping team members who need to present to the CEO
• Creating a presentation for the CEO to use at a meeting
• Writing remarks for the CEO to deliver at a large event
• Drafting responses to press questions for the CEO
• Organizing a company meeting or executive offsite
• Traveling overnight to another city for meetings
• Taking on a special project and then handing it off
• Hosting VIP tours with F100 CEO’s and elected officials
• Interviewing potential employees
• Attending meetings on behalf of the CEO
• Daily standup meetings with the CEO

This is a two year commitment. You will start as the Assistant Chief of Staff reporting to the Senior Chief of Staff who was the Assistant before you. After one year you will take their spot and hire your replacement. After a second year, we will help you launch or find your next opportunity at Capital Factory or elsewhere.

Previous Chiefs of Staff have gone on to be the first employee at a venture backed startup that now has more than $100MM in funding and set up a new venture fund from scratch.

Are you at an inflection point and ready to take your career to the next level?

Are you available regularly for late night working sessions and weekend projects?

Are you ready to make a two-year commitment and investment in yourself?

Join us.

Chief of Staff and Apprentice to the CEO - Capital Factory

Applications are open until November 15, 2024.

About Joshua Baer

Joshua Baer helps people quit their jobs and become entrepreneurs. He’s the founder of Capital Factory, a startup community that helps entrepreneurs find investors, customers and employees. Josh founded his first startup in 1996 in his college dormitory at Carnegie Mellon University and now teaches a class at the University of Texas for student entrepreneurs.

He is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations Young Leaders Forum, an Eisenhower Fellow, and a recipient of the Anti-Defamation League Torch of Liberty.

Josh lives in Austin with his wife Amy and three children. The best way to reach him is on X @joshuabaer or by email josh@quityourjob.com

http://linkedin.com/in/joshuabaer

About Capital Factory

Capital Factory is the center of gravity for entrepreneurs in Texas, the number one state for startups in the U.S. Thousands of entrepreneurs, programmers and designers gather day and night, in-person and online for meetups, classes and coworking. With boots on the ground in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, we meet the best entrepreneurs in Texas and introduce them to investors, employees, mentors and customers.

According to Pitchbook, Capital Factory has been the most active, early-stage investor in Texas since 2010.

See everything, meet everyone, and launch your career to new levels as my Chief of Staff was originally published in Austin Startups on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Work side-by-side with me for two years running all aspects of Capital Factory’s operating businesses and investment funds. See everything I see. Meet everyone I meet. Then I’ll help you start your own company, launch your own fund, or find a leadership role at Capital Factory or one of our portfolio companies. Pays $125,000 the first year and $150,000 the second year.

There is no better way to insert yourself into the Austin jetstream, expand your network, and explode your experience!

Chief of Staff and Apprentice to the CEO - Capital Factory

You are at an inflection point in your life and career. You are an apprentice to the CEO, have full transparency across the company, and manage his internal and external tasks and communication. You are a high potential individual looking to explode your experience and network so that you can start your own company, join Capital Factory or another startup as an executive, or become a venture capitalist investor. He has a separate executive assistant to handle travel, scheduling and some administrative tasks.

If you are looking for a career Chief of Staff role, this isn’t the right fit for you.

Types of activities you will regularly participate in:

• Attending executive team strategy meetings and taking notes
• Helping team members who need to present to the CEO
• Creating a presentation for the CEO to use at a meeting
• Writing remarks for the CEO to deliver at a large event
• Drafting responses to press questions for the CEO
• Organizing a company meeting or executive offsite
• Traveling overnight to another city for meetings
• Taking on a special project and then handing it off
• Hosting VIP tours with F100 CEO’s and elected officials
• Interviewing potential employees
• Attending meetings on behalf of the CEO
• Daily standup meetings with the CEO

This is a two year commitment. You will start as the Assistant Chief of Staff reporting to the Senior Chief of Staff who was the Assistant before you. After one year you will take their spot and hire your replacement. After a second year, we will help you launch or find your next opportunity at Capital Factory or elsewhere.

Previous Chiefs of Staff have gone on to be the first employee at a venture backed startup that now has more than $100MM in funding and set up a new venture fund from scratch.

Are you at an inflection point and ready to take your career to the next level?

Are you available regularly for late night working sessions and weekend projects?

Are you ready to make a two-year commitment and investment in yourself?

Join us.

Chief of Staff and Apprentice to the CEO - Capital Factory

Amber Allen on Twitter: "Great opportunity to be in the middle of the austin innovation scene. if you know of anyone great send their way! https://t.co/YNhdjbxHSF / Twitter"

Great opportunity to be in the middle of the austin innovation scene. if you know of anyone great send their way! https://t.co/YNhdjbxHSF

John Andrew Entwistle on Twitter: "A few times in life a door will open, this is one of them. Really awesome opportunity for any ambitious person in Austin. https://t.co/QhkFyz0ind / Twitter"

A few times in life a door will open, this is one of them. Really awesome opportunity for any ambitious person in Austin. https://t.co/QhkFyz0ind

Jd Ross on Twitter: "^^ Great opportunity for anyone in Austin tech, Josh is at the center of it all / Twitter"

Great opportunity for anyone in Austin tech, Josh is at the center of it all

Hugh Forrest on Twitter: "Great opportunity to engage your creativity at the epicenter of Austin's booming startup ecosystem! @AustinInno @AustinForum @AustinChamber / Twitter"

Great opportunity to engage your creativity at the epicenter of Austin's booming startup ecosystem! @AustinInno @AustinForum @AustinChamber

Mellie Price on Twitter: "When I look back on my work - I see several "door opening" moments and people that changed the trajectory of my life. This opportunity sounds like it could be one of those for the right person! https://t.co/B5t6KLyipS / Twitter"

When I look back on my work - I see several "door opening" moments and people that changed the trajectory of my life. This opportunity sounds like it could be one of those for the right person! https://t.co/B5t6KLyipS

Juan Acosta ❤️‍🔥 on Twitter: "This is one of those opportunities where your career can be massively accelerated. Something very similar happened to me years ago. Highly recommend applying to this. (Even if you think you're not qualified, apply). @JoshuaBaer and team are incredible. https://t.co/pi0qsPU16V / Twitter"

This is one of those opportunities where your career can be massively accelerated. Something very similar happened to me years ago. Highly recommend applying to this. (Even if you think you're not qualified, apply). @JoshuaBaer and team are incredible. https://t.co/pi0qsPU16V

Dan McCarthy on Twitter: "If I had one piece of advice for someone looking for a unique role in Austin based tech it would be to apply for this position! @JoshuaBaer is a force of nature, you will be exposed to the very best people and projects and supportive community. Best of Luck! https://t.co/Tj2uzN5hdO / Twitter"

If I had one piece of advice for someone looking for a unique role in Austin based tech it would be to apply for this position! @JoshuaBaer is a force of nature, you will be exposed to the very best people and projects and supportive community. Best of Luck! https://t.co/Tj2uzN5hdO

I started my career @CapitalFactory as an intern in some variation of this role. It was (and still is) one of the most life-changing, exhilarating, educational, network-building, challenging, 'is this real?' experiences of my life. Without hesitation I strongly urge you to apply! https://t.co/4Uvm3Jhcbl

Great opportunity to explore with a friend and colleague of mine! https://t.co/icR6B753lB

This is the chance of a lifetime for someone seeking a CEO apprenticeship. Hungry to learn? Throw your hat in the ring here. https://t.co/oEqdDoaO3w

I heard applications close tonight so I thought I'd share my two cents:I spent time @CapitalFactory as a Venture Associate - I honestly felt like I was getting paid to get an MBA.

Want to drop into the center of gravity for all things startup, in a key role, supporting one of Austin's most notable and highly regarded Entrepreneurial leaders, at a time when the stars are aligning for Austin and its booming startup ecosystem? 🚀If YES, apply! 👆🏼

About Joshua Baer

Joshua Baer helps people quit their jobs and become entrepreneurs. He’s the founder of Capital Factory, a coworking community and accelerator designed to help startups find their first investors, customers and employees. Josh founded his first startup in 1996 in his college dormitory at Carnegie Mellon University and now teaches a class at the University of Texas for student entrepreneurs.

He has been recognized as a Henry Crown Fellow and Braddock Scholar at the Aspen Institute, a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations Young Leaders Forum, an Eisenhower Fellow, and a recipient of the Anti-Defamation League Torch of Liberty.

Josh lives in Austin with his wife Amy and three children.

http://linkedin.com/in/joshuabaer

About Capital Factory

Capital Factory is the center of gravity for entrepreneurs in Texas, the number one state for startups in the U.S. Thousands of entrepreneurs, programmers and designers gather day and night, in-person and online for meetups, classes and coworking. With boots on the ground in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, we meet the best entrepreneurs in Texas and introduce them to investors, employees, mentors and customers.

According to Pitchbook, Capital Factory has been the most active, early-stage investor in Texas since 2010.

See everything, meet everyone, and launch your career to new levels as my Chief of Staff was originally published in Austin Startups on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Over two years you will become one of the most well-respected event producers in Austin, executing some of the biggest and most innovative events in the startup community and at SXSW while gaining experience recruiting, training and managing a direct report.

After two years working with startups and building your reputation with the help of Capital Factory, you will receive a one-month, paid sabbatical to figure out your next step — you can pursue a career in the Venture Capital industry, join a high growth startup as one of the first employees, be promoted to Events Director at Capital Factory, or launch your own event production company.

Event Specialist - Capital Factory

What your day-to-day will look like:

• Own major, sponsored events for Capital Factory such as Austin Startup Week, Diversity and Inclusion, Fed Supernova, Startup Crawl, and SXSW from start to finish, according to the Capital Factory Playbooks
• Work with internal and external stakeholders to identify potential topics and speakers
• Come up with ideas for unique activations and experiences that leave lasting impressions
• Market each event to fill the room with the right attendees
• Execute with attention to detail
• Track the key metrics needed to learn from each event and make it better, while proving to our sponsors the value of their investment

Do you love organizing summits, panel, parties, and activations?

Are you looking to explode your network and hone your experience so that you can take your career to new heights?

Are you ready to make a 2 year commitment and invest in yourself?

Join Us 🚀

Event Specialist - Capital Factory

Become one of the top event producers in Austin at Capital Factory was originally published in Austin Startups on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Texas is known for technology and business innovation, but right now our state government is being innovative in all of the wrong ways by finding legal loopholes to skirt around national laws and suppress voters they don’t agree with. It’s not fair, it’s not democracy, and it’s not good for business.

Texas has become well-known for being one of America’s most business-friendly states. Consider that just in the past two years, we’ve seen these wins in tech, the industry we personally know best:

• Oracle’s global HQ move to Austin
• Apple second HQ continuing to grow in Austin
• Hewlett-Packard Enterprise’s global HQ moving to Houston
• Army Futures Command selecting Austin as their headquarters
• Elon Musk’s move and his companies, from Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company, all substantially moving here or establishing large operations in Austin, Boca Chica, and in other areas around Texas
• New investors moving here such as 8VC, Breyer Capital and Sapphire Ventures
• Homegrown Austin VC and PE firms, such as Vista Equity, LiveOak Venture Partners, Next Coast Ventures, Silverton Partners, and ATX Venture Partners raising and deploying record amounts of capital throughout the state
• Startups becoming unicorns, including Everlywell, ICON, Multicoin Capital, and WP Engine

Texas has undisputedly won in tech during the very challenging pandemic. Our state has been very innovative, and we applaud our leadership to that end. Governor Abbott, and former Governor Perry before him, prided themselves on being some of the best at recruiting companies to move here. Which is precisely why it is so troubling to us that in the past few months, our state government has been innovating in all of the wrong ways by finding legal loopholes to skirt national laws and suppress voters with whom they don’t agree. It’s not fair, it’s not democracy, and it’s not good for business.

In the past few months, Texas has seen disturbing new laws passed, and executive orders issued, that threaten to kill the Golden Goose of growth that we’ve been enjoying for so long. Laws that:

• Make it harder to vote, especially for lower income people and people of color
• Circumvent national right to choose law by exploiting the most arcane legal loopholes
• Set dangerous precedents by creating “citizen prosecutors”
• Allow almost anyone to openly carry firearms without training or a permit
• Target transgender children
• Limit the powers of local governments to handle the pandemic in their own way

And it hasn’t taken long for our jobs — and wealth-creating Golden Goose to find itself in trouble. Just last week, the cloud-based software giant Salesforce, the largest Software as a Service company in the world, with a market capitalization of over $255 billion, announced it would pay relocation expenses for any of its nearly 1,000 Texas employees wanting to flee our state. Apple followed with an announcement that its health insurance would help cover costs for travel outside the state for any workers. We will see more announcements like this if we don’t change course.

As Texas CEOs, we are big fans of innovation. We want innovative new technology, marketing campaigns, and business models. We want Texas to continue to win when it comes to attracting business while also leading in the way we treat all of our citizens.

We live in one of the most diverse states in the nation, and we should be celebrating that. Diversity represents the best of America and has quite literally been etched into the fabric of our history by Emma Lazarus, who wrote the famous words at the base of the Statue of Liberty that have long welcomed immigrants to our shores. Texas has a storied history of pioneering too, from the creation of the word “maverick” to even the Roe v. Wade decision itself, which began in Texas and changed our nation in the process. Abilene native Sarah Weddington decided to take on the case pro-bono at age 27, after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin’s prestigious law school — the youngest person to ever argue before the U.S. Supreme Court.

We agree with balancing the imperatives of commerce with those of the pandemic and avoiding unnecessary measures now that vaccines are here and widely available. Many have moved to Texas because of policies in their states that are not based on common sense. But how does it help to attack our school administrators, while our children are watching us and learning how, and whether, to unite or divide? History will not judge us kindly during a time where being unified is the best message to send to our children, most of whom unfortunately do not have the choice yet of taking these miracle vaccines.

Let’s unite as businesses and citizens and say no to division. We are nonpartisan, with the voting records to show for it. We financially support organizations like No Labels, the national movement of Democrats, Republicans, and independents working to bring our leaders together to solve America’s toughest problems. We seek out diverse views and discussions at forums such as the Aspen Institute.

The best way to make your voice heard is to vote and help get others registered to vote.

Since 2017, the bipartisan Austin Tech Alliance has:

• Coordinated over 60 voter registration drives at our member company locations
• Partnered with Travis County Tax Office to offer VDR trainings at member company locations
• Registered or updated registration for almost 1,000 voters in Travis County

Join us as we support the Austin Tech Alliance and other organizations like it throughout Texas to get out the vote in 2022. Let’s put the right type of innovation back into Texas!

Sincerely,

Adam Lyons, founder and former CEO of The Zebra

Amber Allen, CEO of Double A Labs

Andrew Eye, CEO of ClosedLoop

Arlo Gilbert, CEO of Osano

Ben Lamm, CEO of Colossal

Ben Rubenstein, CRO of Realtor.com

Blake Garrett, CEO of Aceable

Brett Hurt, CEO of data.world

Brian Cruver, CEO of AlertMedia

Charles Thornburgh, CEO of Kinjo

Cotter Cunningham, Former CEO of RetailMeNot

Dan Graham, CEO of Notley

Dustin Wells, CEO of Headspring

Eugene Sepulveda, CEO of Entrepreneurs Foundation

Heather Brunner, CEO of WP Engine

Henrik Johannson, CEO of Gembah

Henry Yoshida, CEO of Rocket Dollar

Hugh Forrest, Chief Programming Officer of SXSW

Jason Ballard, CEO of ICON

John Berkowitz, CEO of OJO Labs

Joshua Baer, CEO of Capital Factory

Mellie Price, CEO of Purposeful Capital

Michael Patton, CEO of Fetch

Omair Tariq, CEO of Cart.com

Noah Zandan, CEO of Quantified Communications

Ross Buhrdorf, CEO of ZenBusiness

Sean Spector, CEO of Dropoff

Tyson Tuttle, CEO of Silicon Labs

Whurley, CEO of Strange-works

You can make a different by joining these CEOs in donating to the Austin Tech Alliance to help increase civic engagement in the technology and business community. If you are a CEO would like to add your name to the list, please email josh@quityourjob.com.

Texas, this is not the Innovation you’re looking for… was originally published in Austin Startups on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Work side-by-side with me for two years running all aspects of Capital Factory’s operating businesses and investment funds. See everything I see. Meet everyone I meet. Then I’ll help you start your own company, launch your own fund, or find a leadership role at Capital Factory or one of our portfolio companies.

There is no better way to insert yourself into the Austin jetstream, expand your network, and explode your experience!

Chief of Staff and Apprentice to the CEO - Capital Factory

You are at an inflection point in your life and career. You are an apprentice to the CEO, have full transparency across the company, and manage his internal and external tasks and communication. You are a high potential individual looking to explode your experience and network so that you can start your own company, join Capital Factory or another startup as an executive, or become a venture capitalist investor. He has a separate assistant to handle scheduling and some administrative tasks.

Types of activities you will regularly participate in:

• Attending executive team strategy meetings and taking notes
• Helping team members who need to present to the CEO
• Creating a presentation for the CEO to use at a meeting
• Writing remarks for the CEO to deliver at a large event
• Drafting responses to press questions for the CEO
• Organizing a company meeting or executive offsite
• Traveling overnight to another city for meetings
• Taking on a special project and then handing it off
• Hosting VIP tours with F100 CEO’s and elected officials
• Interviewing potential employees
• Attending meetings on behalf of the CEO
• Daily standup meetings with the CEO

This is a two year commitment. You will start as the Assistant Chief of Staff reporting to the current Chief of Staff. After one year you will take their spot and hire your replacement. After a second year, we will help you launch or find your next opportunity at Capital Factory or elsewhere.

Are you at an inflection point and ready to take your career to the next level?

Are you available regularly for late night working sessions and weekend projects?

Are you ready to make a 2 year commitment and investment in yourself?

Join us.

Chief of Staff and Apprentice to the CEO - Capital Factory

Amber Allen on Twitter: "Great opportunity to be in the middle of the austin innovation scene. if you know of anyone great send their way! https://t.co/YNhdjbxHSF / Twitter"

Great opportunity to be in the middle of the austin innovation scene. if you know of anyone great send their way! https://t.co/YNhdjbxHSF

John Andrew Entwistle on Twitter: "A few times in life a door will open, this is one of them. Really awesome opportunity for any ambitious person in Austin. https://t.co/QhkFyz0ind / Twitter"

A few times in life a door will open, this is one of them. Really awesome opportunity for any ambitious person in Austin. https://t.co/QhkFyz0ind

naithan.eth ⚡️ on Twitter: "Josh is salt of the earth. If you're in Austin and looking for an exciting role in the startup ecosystem, this is a good one https://t.co/ZSWH4jITrk / Twitter"

Josh is salt of the earth. If you're in Austin and looking for an exciting role in the startup ecosystem, this is a good one https://t.co/ZSWH4jITrk

Jd Ross on Twitter: "^^ Great opportunity for anyone in Austin tech, Josh is at the center of it all / Twitter"

Great opportunity for anyone in Austin tech, Josh is at the center of it all

Hugh Forrest on Twitter: "Great opportunity to engage your creativity at the epicenter of Austin's booming startup ecosystem! @AustinInno @AustinForum @AustinChamber / Twitter"

Great opportunity to engage your creativity at the epicenter of Austin's booming startup ecosystem! @AustinInno @AustinForum @AustinChamber

Mellie Price on Twitter: "When I look back on my work - I see several "door opening" moments and people that changed the trajectory of my life. This opportunity sounds like it could be one of those for the right person! https://t.co/B5t6KLyipS / Twitter"

When I look back on my work - I see several "door opening" moments and people that changed the trajectory of my life. This opportunity sounds like it could be one of those for the right person! https://t.co/B5t6KLyipS

Juan Acosta ❤️‍🔥 on Twitter: "This is one of those opportunities where your career can be massively accelerated. Something very similar happened to me years ago. Highly recommend applying to this. (Even if you think you're not qualified, apply). @JoshuaBaer and team are incredible. https://t.co/pi0qsPU16V / Twitter"

This is one of those opportunities where your career can be massively accelerated. Something very similar happened to me years ago. Highly recommend applying to this. (Even if you think you're not qualified, apply). @JoshuaBaer and team are incredible. https://t.co/pi0qsPU16V

Dan McCarthy on Twitter: "If I had one piece of advice for someone looking for a unique role in Austin based tech it would be to apply for this position! @JoshuaBaer is a force of nature, you will be exposed to the very best people and projects and supportive community. Best of Luck! https://t.co/Tj2uzN5hdO / Twitter"

If I had one piece of advice for someone looking for a unique role in Austin based tech it would be to apply for this position! @JoshuaBaer is a force of nature, you will be exposed to the very best people and projects and supportive community. Best of Luck! https://t.co/Tj2uzN5hdO

I started my career @CapitalFactory as an intern in some variation of this role. It was (and still is) one of the most life-changing, exhilarating, educational, network-building, challenging, 'is this real?' experiences of my life. Without hesitation I strongly urge you to apply! https://t.co/4Uvm3Jhcbl

Great opportunity to explore with a friend and colleague of mine! https://t.co/icR6B753lB

This is a great opportunity for someone. Highly recommend you work with Josh of you want to learn and grow. One of my best experiences ever was working with him on @unsubcentral ages ago. https://t.co/w5TcXMAMuj

This is the chance of a lifetime for someone seeking a CEO apprenticeship. Hungry to learn? Throw your hat in the ring here. https://t.co/oEqdDoaO3w

I heard applications close tonight so I thought I'd share my two cents:I spent time @CapitalFactory as a Venture Associate - I honestly felt like I was getting paid to get an MBA.

Want to drop into the center of gravity for all things startup, in a key role, supporting one of Austin's most notable and highly regarded Entrepreneurial leaders, at a time when the stars are aligning for Austin and its booming startup ecosystem? 🚀If YES, apply! 👆🏼

About Joshua Baer

Joshua Baer helps people quit their jobs and become entrepreneurs. He’s the founder of Capital Factory, a coworking community and accelerator designed to help startups find their first investors, customers and employees. Josh founded his first startup in 1996 in his college dormitory at Carnegie Mellon University and now teaches a class at the University of Texas for student entrepreneurs.

He has been recognized as a Henry Crown Fellow and Braddock Scholar at the Aspen Institute, a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations Young Leaders Forum, an Eisenhower Fellow, and a recipient of the Anti-Defamation League Torch of Liberty.

Josh lives in Austin with his wife Amy and three children.

Joshua Baer - Founder & CEO - Capital Factory | LinkedIn

About Capital Factory

Capital Factory is the center of gravity for entrepreneurs in Texas, the number one startup state in the U.S. Thousands of entrepreneurs, programmers and designers gather day and night, in-person and online for meetups, classes and coworking. With boots on the ground in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, we meet the best entrepreneurs in Texas and introduce them to investors, employees, mentors and customers.

Capital Factory has been the most active investor in Texas since 2010.

For the past decade, Capital Factory has been building a pipeline of tech startups and investment rights and now we’re opening up to everyone through AngelList. Capital Factory has been the most active early stage investor in Texas since 2010, investing in hundreds of startups and collecting more than $100 million in pre-emptive investment rights to invest in hundreds more.

Texas continues to dominate the headlines…

• Hewlett Packard Enterprises and Oracle move to Texas
• Elon Musk relocates to Texas, building a Tesla Gigafactory and a SpaceX factory.
• Joe Lonsdale relocates 8VC and Jim Breyer relocates Breyer Capital.
• A “who’s who” list of Silicon Valley leaders moving to ATX

This shift did not happen overnight — it has been decades in the making. While the Texas weather is preferable to New York City and the cost of living preferable to San Francisco, there are many more reasons that entrepreneurs are flocking to Texas.

• Texas has a friendly business environment with NO state income tax
• Texas is the second largest state by population
• Texas has 4 of the 11 largest cities in the country by population and they are also among the fastest growing cities too
• As a standalone economy, Texas would be the 10th largest country in the world with a GDP of $1.6 trillion
• More than 50 Fortune 500 companies are now headquartered in Texas
• Texas has numerous world-class educational institutions, including Rice University and University of Texas at Austin
• To see why we are all-in on Texas, read the Texas Startup Manifesto

Capital Factory is the center of gravity for entrepreneurs in Texas.

Thousands of entrepreneurs, programmers and designers gather day and night, in-person and online for meetups, classes and coworking. With boots on the ground in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, we meet the best entrepreneurs in Texas and introduce them to investors, employees, mentors and customers.

Capital Factory has an early investor in many of the most successful startups in Texas over the past decade including Aceable, AlertMedia, BigCommerce, Coder, data.world, ICON, Spredfast, Storable, WP Engine and ZenBusiness.

The Capital Factory Texas Fund is backed by many of the most successful CEOs and technology investors in Texas and across the U.S., including Charles Butt, founder of H-E-B; Dean Drako, founder of Barracuda Networks and Eagle Eye Networks; and Tim Draper, of Draper Associates.

Capital Factory has partnered with AngelList Rolling Funds to better meet the needs of today’s investors.

• Standard documents keep setup costs low and automatically enable public disclosure
• Quarterly subscription means predictable capital calls and the ability to scale up or down over time
• Low overhead allows us to keep minimum investments lower to make our fund accessible to a more diverse pool of investors

The best part about this innovative fund structure is that startup entrepreneurs, mentors, and angel investors now have a seamless path to become Limited Partners. Previously, the venture capital asset class has been primarily for wealthy individuals, pension funds, and large institutions. With the introduction of Rolling Funds, any accredited investor can now easily invest with Capital Factory. We believe this provides improved diversified investment opportunities for all accredited investors as the VC space is now open for business.

If you believe in Texas, you can invest alongside us.

Read more about the Capital Factory Texas Fund on AngelList and contact Jill Klinvex, Venture Principal at jill@capitalfactory.com with any questions.

• Texas Startup Manifesto 2.0
• Venture-Capital Funding Gets Bigger in Texas

Capital Factory is known as a place to learn and collaborate - but it also pumps tons of money into startups.​ https://t.co/Or8zrwy04a

Now Any Accredited Investor Can Invest in Texas Startups with Capital Factory and AngelList was originally published in Austin Startups on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Texas is the most promising technology market in the United States. Now the 9th largest economy in the world, it‘s clear that the rest of the world is waking up to the potential in Texas. Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio form a massive startup Megalopolis that is attracting top talent, impact-focused investors, and the most innovative companies in the world. Startups and investors should treat Texas like one big city.

It seems like every day there is a new headline about an exceptional startup founder, investor, or corporate headquarters moving to Texas.

Elon Musk. Joe Lonsdale. Drew Houston. Jim Breyer. McKesson. Tesla. Charles Schwab. Hewlett Packard. Oracle. Who’s next?

These names aren’t the end of the story — they are just the beginning. I expect to see more announcements of big name people and companies moving to Texas every month in 2021.

What’s bringing them here? Are they drawn to Texas or moving away from California? Are they running from high prices, high taxes, dysfunctional government, and wildfires? Or are they running to a fresh perspective, a massive talent pool, and an innovation culture that balances social impact with global domination?

Did COVID-19 fundamentally change things, or was it just the final straw? Was this going to happen anyway?

It’s all of the above, of course.

People are moving to Texas because this is where they want to build their lives and raise their families. People are moving to Texas because they see a better future here than what they are leaving behind. People are moving to Texas to study at world-class educational institutions. People are moving to Texas because they just got a job, because they believe they can get a job, or to create their own job and jobs for others.

It all starts with people — talent. For decades, Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio have been on all of the “Top 10 Places for…” lists. When people think, “Where should I move?” Texas is increasingly top of mind. When remote work lets everyone choose where to live, more are choosing Texas than anywhere else. As a result of being the fastest growing region for the past decade, it seems like everyone knows someone who moved to Texas recently. Count all of the people you know!

All of the investors, all of the big companies, all of the government groups — they are all chasing talent.

Something is different now. It’s like a dam has broken and now there is a flood of new entrepreneurs, investors, and big companies moving to Texas.

Texas is a powerhouse

• Texas has five of the 13 largest cities in the country by population. Houston is fourth, San Antonio seventh, Dallas ninth, Austin eleventh, and Fort Worth thirteenth. The larger Dallas metro-region is the fourth largest in the country and Houston metro-region is the fifth.
• Texas is the second largest state by population. If you want to launch a new business, this is a great market to launch from because you can easily reach all of the major Texas cities with one office.
• In the first six months of COVID there were some big migrations across the US and some cities were big winners and others lost out. Six of the ten cities who gained the most during COVID were in Texas.
• As a standalone economy, Texas would have the ninth largest country in the world with a GDP of almost 1.9 trillion in 2020. Texas exported more than California and New York combined in 2019.
• More than 50 Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in Texas and six of the Fortune 50. Twenty four are in Dallas and 22 are in Houston. Only California and New York have a few more, and maybe not for long. These are all potential customers and strategic partners for startups.
• Texas has world-class educational institutions across the state. The University of Texas System is massive including UT Austin, UT Dallas, UT Arlington, and UT San Antonio.
• The Texas A&M System is almost as big, plus there are so many other institutions such as Baylor University, Huston-Tillotson University, Rice University, Southern Methodist University, St. Edward’s University, Texas State University, Texas Tech University, Trinity University, The University of Houston System, and The University of North Texas System.
• Our community colleges are excellent as well, including the Alamo Colleges, Austin Community College, the Dallas College and the Lone Star Community College.
• The University of Houston has the number one undergraduate entrepreneurship program in the country and Rice University has the number one graduate entrepreneurship program in the country. UT Austin, UT Dallas, and Baylor University are top ranked as well.
• Rice University received the largest single gift in its history, $100 million from the Welch Foundation, to created the Welch Institute to advance innovation in the field of advanced materials science. Materials science is a relatively underfunded field from both a research perspective as well as startup formation: and yet the applications are enormous, and many of the companies and industries most ripe for innovation in this field are in Houston and Texas.
• The University of Texas System is the third most innovative university in the world, behind only the University of California system and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in intellectual property patents.
• UT Austin is home to the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), the longest-standing technology incubator in the country, which has had an economic impact of over $3 billion in Texas with a focus on deep tech such as healthcare, sustainability, and clean energy.
• Texas is a leader in health innovation. Houston is our medical hub with the Texas Medical Center (the largest medical center in the world by far) and MD Anderson Cancer Center but there is also UT Southwestern in Dallas, the Dell Medical School in Austin and numerous other Health Science Centers around the state. The newest development phase dubbed “TMC3” will lead the world in life sciences research commercialization. The Innovation Center at Houston’s TMC (TMCx), co-located with Johnson and Johnson’s J-Labs, and the Center for Medical Device Innovation, drive medical innovation.
• In North Texas, UT Southwestern Medical School has produced six Nobel Prize winners and two $1 billion exits in the last two years (Peloton Therapeutics and Taysha Gene Therapies).
• Launching in 3Q 2021, Pegasus Park will bring together scientific and social innovation on one 23-acre campus, including the first location for BioLabs+, a biotech co-working space, in the center of the country.

“I’ve long believed science is the answer,” said Dallas philanthropist Lyda Hill, “But funding for innovation in science has some unique challenges. That’s why we’re launching the Biotech+ Hub at Pegasus Park to work with UT Southwestern and others in North Texas to move science out of the lab and into the clinic where it can benefit patients. It won’t be an island, however, it will be connected to the other health centers in Texas and other innovation centers in technology, defense, robotics and other disciplines across the state.”

• While Houston is the world energy leader in oil and gas, it is now also a leader in clean energy and clean energy innovation. In fact, the Houston city government ranks number onein the country in renewable energy use.
• Texas is a leader in defense innovation. Texas already had the largest National Guard, the largest combined military base, and the Air Force Cyber Command. Then the Army Futures Command decided to set up shop in Austin because of its proximity to both traditional defense industry and innovative startups.
• Texas now has the Army, the Air Force, the National Guard, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, and the Department of Defense all running innovation units and increasing their footprint in Texas and that has attracted a host of defense industry growth from Amazon, BAE Systems, Boeing, Deloitte, IBM, Microsoft, Northrop Grumman, SAIC, STS International, and many others. Lockheed Martin is building the F-35 aircraft in Fort Worth.
• In 2019 and 2020, we saw hundreds of millions of dollars in non-dilutive funding go to Texas startups, most of which had never worked with the government before. Texas military bases pump more than $75 billion into the Texas GDP annually and support more than 226,000 direct jobs.

“The Army selected Austin for a reason. This is where you find innovation and IT expertise,” said General John “Mike” Murray, Commanding General of the Army Futures Command.

• Texas supports our Veterans and it shows in the rankings. Austin is fifth best city in the US for Veterans to live according to Business Insider. Military.com ranked three Texas cities in the Top 10 places to live for younger Veterans. Texas ranks number two for having the most Veterans nationwide. Bunker Labs is active across the state introducing Veterans to entrepreneurship.
• Over the course of more than 20 years, Port San Antonio has emerged as one of the most successful military base redevelopment efforts in the country. Home to over 80 private- and public-sector tenant customers who directly employ about 12,000 people on the campus, activity from Port SA contributes over $5 billion annually to the regional economy.
• Texas is a leader in “new space” — the commercialization of outer space. NASA and the Johnson Space Center (JSC) are drivers in the establishment of a commercial space ecosystem, working with companies in Houston like Intuitive Machines who will be conducting their own lunar exploration missions, developing strong relationships with innovation and startup organizations in the region, and emphasizing transfer of NASA technology to the private sector.
• Among other initiatives, JSC is working with The Ion to establish the Aerospace Accelerator for minority and disadvantaged businesses, as well as with Mass Challenge with their Commercial Space Startup Track.
• Other companies, like Blue Origin, Firefly Space and Space X are all conducting operations in Texas, both together with NASA and for their own unique space ventures. The Spaceport in Houston is the home of Axiom, builder of the world’s first commercial space station.
• Axiom just raised $100M is funding and then announced that four people had paid $55 million each to be a part of the first fully private astronaut crew to the ISS, launching in a SpaceX Crew Dragon in 2022.
• Each major city has created physical technology hubs with strong public/private partnerships. San Antonio has Geekdom with USAA and Port San Antonio with the Air Force Cyber Command; Houston has The Ion with Rice University, Microsoft and NASA and The Cannon distributed across the city; Dallas has Pegasus Park with UT Southwestern and Lyda Hill Philanthropies; and Austin has Capital Factory with the Army Futures Command.
• Texas has strong business support organizations in each city such as the Austin Chamber, Austin Technology Council, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Houston Exponential, and the Greater Houston Partnership that all engage actively with investors, founders and accelerators.
• Texas has strong tech civic engagement organizations too such as the Austin Tech Alliance, North Texas Innovation Alliance (NTXIA), and Techbloc in San Antonio.
• When it comes to founders, Texas has jewelry mogul, Kendra Scott; Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban of Shark Tank; Whitney Wolfe Herd of Bumble; video game developer, John Carmack; Vista Equity Partners Founder, Robert Smith; Michael Dell of Dell Technologies; and now Elon Musk of SpaceX and Tesla!
• Texas gets an international spotlight as a technology and innovation hub every year when South by Southwest (SXSW) brings >100,000 forward thinking innovators to Austin. It helped launch Twitter, Instagram, and Airbnb and brings in keynotes like philanthropist Melinda Gates, London Mayor Sadiq Kahn, and former First Lady Michelle Obama.

Texas dominates every top ten list.

The Texas startup cities

Steve Case lays out his case for rising cities in his book “The Third Wave”. In short, the first wave of internet companies were widely distributed and brought people online (AOL in Virginia, Microsoft in Albuquerque and Seattle, Dell in Austin, etc.) The second wave of companies were mainly concentrated in Silicon Valley, and coincided with the rise of platforms (Google, Facebook, etc.) Now in the Third Wave, the internet will transform industries, and that innovation will once again happen in a distributed manner in cities which have led those key industries for many years. Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio are textbook examples of Third Wave cities. They will be on the cutting edge of transforming healthcare, new space, defense, energy, and more. Clearly, Texas checks all the boxes.

• San Antonio (Central) is the seventh largest city in the country and is known as “Military City” because it is home to the largest group of military bases, the largest active and veteran military population in the country, and the largest concentration of cybersecurity talent outside of Washington D.C. It is also home to the Air Force Cyber Command, housed inside the growing Port San Antonio industrial technology park, and big companies like Rackspace, Valero Energy and USAA. San Antonio is home to H-E-B, our regional grocery store which is also one of the most innovative and community focused organizations in the state and mobilizes to respond to hurricanes and pandemics and to keep Texans fed. San Antonio also boasts a strong constellation of primary and secondary innovation and research institutions such as the S.W. Research Institute, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, and several public universities and Department of Defense research and development programs.

“From software and hardware design to advanced manufacturing, Texas is fertile ground for innovation, investment, business starts and smart job growth. While each employment center features its own unique lifestyle experience, all offer a large, skilled and tech-ready workforce ready to power your business,” said San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg. “In San Antonio we take great pride in our diverse, artistic, affordable and culturally rich community filled with a young and burgeoning creative class workforce. While we are known for strengths in cybersecurity, cloud computing, military research, and advanced manufacturing, we work hard every day to keep San Antonio a vibrant and supportive city for all types of technology ventures large and small.”

• Houston (East and Gulf Coast) is the fourth largest, and the seventh most diverse city in the US. It’s the energy capital of the world and is home to the Texas Medical Center (TMC), the world’s largest concentration of healthcare delivery and research institutions; to the NASA Johnson Space Center, a hub for cutting-edge human space flight research and astronaut training; to the number one seaport in the nation for waterborne tonnage, for foreign waterborne tonnage, and for vessel transits. Houston is an international city — a seaport, a spaceport, a “health-port”, and an “energy-port.” As a result, Houston has a diverse, high-tech industry ecosystem, and is increasingly an industry destination, serving as the home to 22 Fortune 500 company headquarters (with Hewlett-Packard Enterprise becoming the latest addition).

“Texas is America’s premier business destination and well-positioned as a tech innovation leader. It possesses a strong corporate base, talented workforce, and a vast network of nationally ranked universities, startup development organizations and innovation-minded companies to support a robust tech ecosystem,” said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. “With science and engineering breakthroughs ingrained in the fabric of Houston’s economy, the region has become a thriving hub of digital technology talent. Today, startup founders focus on the fundamental challenges of our time with energy, life sciences and industrial technologies dominating Houston’s tech scene. In Houston, we are not just running, we are sprinting — in the last four years we’ve seen a 250% increase in venture capital funding and have doubled the number of startup development organizations in our community.”

• Frisco-Irving-Plano-Richardson (North) Once considered the suburbs of Dallas, Frisco, Irving, Plano, and Richardson are now nationally known cities and destinations for investors and corporations. Plano is home to a new Texas unicorn, Alkami Technologies, a Digital Banking Platform, and a number of corporate headquarters including Capital One Financial Services, Dr. Pepper Snapple, Frito-Lay PepsiCo, Pizza Hut, and Toyota North America. Richardson, well-known as the Telecom Corridor now has the IQ Innovation district and is home to Texas Instruments, RealPage, Blue Cross Blue Shield, State Farm, Raytheon, and UT Dallas. Irving is home to many companies like Exxon Mobil (#3 no Fortune 500), 7–11 (including 7-Ventures), NEC Corporation of America, and the Microsoft campus (one of the largest campuses in the country). With a number of sports franchises headquartered in Frisco including the Dallas Cowboys, Complexity Gaming, Frisco Rough Riders, FC Dallas and most recently the new PGA Headquarters, Frisco is known as “Sports City.”

“Frisco has become a hot spot in North Texas for venture capitalists, angel investors, startups, universities, pitch competitions and seed accelerators,” said Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney. “In order for Frisco to achieve its full vision to be a destination city for VC’s, we have to be part of a larger, statewide network to support our partners and entrepreneur support organizations to help advance our collective and common goals.”

• Fort Worth (North West), aka Funky Town, is the thirteenth largest city in the US and is recognized for its agriculture, oil and gas, defense, and logistics industries and is home to corporations including Alcon, American Airlines, BNSF, GameStop, Lockheed Martin, and Textron/Bell Helicopter. Charles Schwab and Sabre Technologies are nearby. Fort Worth is also known for the Barnett Shale, Texas Motor Speedway, the Fort Worth Stockyards, and AllianceTexas, a Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) in Fort Worth that offers one-of-a-kind infrastructure to technology businesses and startups.

“Entrepreneurship, innovation, and risk-taking are at the heart of the Texas experience, and no place embodies that spirit more than Fort Worth. While our community stands on the forefront of innovation in mobility, electrification, advanced manufacturing, and healthcare, we are made stronger through our engagement with our region and our state,” said Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price. “Building on five multi-million dollar exits in the last five years in biotech alone, Fort Worth is poised for exponential expansion of its entrepreneurial ecosystem. With improved connectivity among the vast resources of the dynamic communities of Texas, there is no greater place for investors and startups to come together and lead the economy of the future.”

• Dallas (North) is the ninth largest city and was recently named the number one commercial real estate market in the US. It has critical mass in many industries including biotech, consumer, construction & prop tech, and travel, to name a few. Dallas is home to Southwest Airlines plus most of the other large companies that are not energy companies. It is also where there is the largest concentration of family offices that are actively investing in tech.

“Dallas is a modern city that drives the economy of the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country and boasts a business community that is the envy of the nation. With eleven Fortune 500 companies in the city and twenty-six in the area, as well as amazing amenities and six nationally recognized research institutions in a fast-growing region, Dallas is the place to be to start and grow a business — and a family. If you have the hustle, we have the talent, the infrastructure for startups, and the business climate that will allow you to create your own success story,” said Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson

• Austin (Central) is the eleventh largest and consistently fastest growing city in the country. It is the tech hub of Texas and has the most local venture capital and attracts the most venture capital. It used to be that Dell, National Instruments, and Whole Foods were the only headquarters in Austin, with companies like Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft having some of their biggest offices here. But now Austin has homegrown heroes like Indeed, Sailpoint, Silicon Labs and VRBO, plus others who have moved here or are moving here such like Army Futures Command, Oracle, TikTok, Yeti, and Vista Equity Partners.

“A significant strength of Texas lies in its diversified portfolio of unique cities. Each offers a different culture, resources and economic base. For example, those that self-select to live and do business in Austin prioritize entrepreneurial innovation in a community with a high tolerance for risk-taking where art is created everywhere. Each city has its own special character. Somewhere in Texas, there is a reason to come home,” said Austin Mayor Steve Adler.

Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund visited Texas in 2018 when their seventh bus tour made a stop in Dallas. They made stops at Paul Quinn College (one of nine historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in Texas); the Dallas Entrepreneur Center; local startups Booster Fuels and rewardStyle; and capped off the day with a pitch competition and fireside chat featuring Steve Case and Amber Venz Box, co-founder of rewardStyle. Nickson took home the $100,000 investment from Rise of the Rest and has since grown their furniture leasing business significantly.

“Texas has emerged as one of the leading startup states in the country, led by Austin with strong ecosystems in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Revolution brought the Rise of the Rest bus tour to Dallas in 2018, and it’s no surprise that our Rise of the Rest Seed Fund has since made 15 investments in the state, among the highest for any state in the country. Austin-based BigCommerce, which went public last year, was also a recent success story for our growth stage fund, Revolution Growth. The state is home to Dell, a pivotal First Wave internet company, and is poised to be a leader in the Third Wave with strong industries such as aerospace, energy, healthcare, and more,” said Steve Case, CEO of Revolution.

The Texas megalopolis

As the world gets smaller and each of the four Texas cities get larger, the borders blur and they start to look and behave more like one big city. It’s easy to get from Austin to Dallas to Houston to San Antonio on big Texas highways with up to 85 mph speed limits. You can do a day trip between any of the cities and sleep in your own bed at night.

Most of the major cities are close enough that it’s just as fast to drive as it is to take a short plane flight. Southwest offers flights for as low as $86 each way and Megabus for as low as $5 each way!

• Austin to Dallas — 3–4-hour drive or 45-minute flight
• Austin to Houston — 2.5 hour drive or 30-minute flight
• Austin to San Antonio — 1.5-hour drive
• Dallas to Houston — 4-hour drive or 45-minute flight (or soon, 1.5-hour high speed train)
• Houston to San Antonio — 3-hour drive or 45-minute flight

Everything may be bigger in Texas, but innovative transportation options are making it feel smaller than ever and making it more affordable and convenient to get from city to city than ever before.

• Megabus runs eight routes a day each way between Austin and Dallas with Wi-Fi and power outlets for anywhere from $5 to $28 each way.
• VonLane is like riding in first class on an airplane but you take the bus instead.
• Hitch offers affordable ridesharing between cities.
• Surf Air offers daily executive air service between Dallas and Houston (and hopefully Austin again soon!)
• Texas Central is building the first high speed rail in the US between Dallas and Houston. After more than eight years — they’ve now received all the key government permits and are soon to start construction!

Texas is well capitalized

Silicon Valley has traditionally received a disproportionate share of private, early-stage funding compared to other geographies given its density of firms focused on these types of investments and the number of start-ups and private companies in the region.

This dominance has been declining as firms and their funding have moved into or sprung up in other cities around the country. At the same time, early-stage companies are thinking beyond the high prices of Silicon Valley to put down roots and find financing and growth partners.

The venture and private capital ecosystem in Texas has never been as healthy or vibrant as it is today. Texas now has global brand recognition with investors and start-ups alike.

Accelerators

Texas has a robust offering of local accelerator programs to help startups raise funding and connect them to mentors and corporate partners. The list is getting longer every year!

• BuildSecFoundry (San Antonio)
• Capital Factory (Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio)
• DivInc (Austin and Houston)
• Founders Institute (Austin)
• Greentown Labs (Houston)
• Health Wildcatters (Dallas)
• MassChallenge TX (Austin and Houston)
• RealCo (San Antonio)
• Sputnik ATX (Austin)
• Techstars (Austin)
• TMCx (Houston)

Angel Investors

In addition to a large base of experienced angel investors, there are many Texas family offices who traditionally invested in oil and gas and real estate but are now allocating some of the portfolio to technology, consumer packaged goods, and impact investing.

A decade ago there was only one angel network in each city, but now Texas has numerous angel investor networks and the Central Texas Angel Network and Houston Angel Network compete each year to be the most active in the country.

• Central Texas Angel Network
• Houston Angel Network
• BEAM (female founders)
• Southwest Angel Network (social impact)
• Alamo Angels (San Antonio)
• Baylor Angel Network
• Cowtown Angels (Fort Worth)
• Urban Capital Network (Houston)
• Business Angel Minority Association (Houston)
• Houston Diversity Fund

Venture Capital

Texas has seen significant growth over the past five years of venture capital sources in three major areas: Texas-based venture firms, National venture firms with a local partner or office in the Texas area, and venture firms outside of Texas investing with other local investors in Texas startups. Additionally, Texas has seen increased numbers of investors per funding and higher average funding per round over time which has had a very positive impact on the vibrancy of the Texas scene with over $2.3 billion in venture capital invested in the Austin metropolitan alone. According to Pitchbook, Texas had more than 550 deals reported in 2020 and $4.66 billion invested across the state.

Along with well-known established local funds such as LiveOak Venture Partners, S3 Ventures, and Silverton Partners, a number of relatively young local venture firms, including ATX Venture Partners, Gigafund, Ecliptic Capital, Elsewhere Partners, Ironspring Ventures, Moonshots Capital, Next Coast Ventures, and True Wealth Ventures have been making the news with active funding activities.

Aristos Ventures has a list of Texas Venture Capital Firms and other funding resources available as well as a working list updated by David Altounian, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at St. Edward’s University. These Texas-based firms are attracting capital to the markets and deploying that capital in a way that is driving growth and vibrancy in our Texas entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Additionally, firms traditionally based outside of Texas, such as Breyer Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Draper Associates, and 8VC have established a presence in Texas.

“In 2000 or 2010, it made sense to build in San Francisco. That’s where all the talent was, but not anymore… Some of my most prolific entrepreneurial friends from California have moved with us here to Texas. Others have left for Miami, Nashville, Las Vegas and other great American cities. Six of our portfolio companies are already based in Austin and employ hundreds of people,” said Joe Lonsdale, 8VC

Finally, over the past 24 months, there has been a strong increase in non-Texas VC firms actively participating in Austin funding deals with major players such as Shasta Ventures (data.world), Chicago Ventures (PreFix, MetaSaas, Infinite.io), Andreesen Capital (RigUp), Noro-Mosely (Aunt Bertha, Trendkite, Outbound Engine) participating in funding rounds for Texas-based companies and the list of non-Texas venture firms investing here is growing rapidly.

The HX Venture Fund is a $50M fund of funds seeded by local corporate LPs to drive investment by VC funds outside the state who are interested in doing deals in Houston. It’s a smart model and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see other Texas cities following their lead.

We’ve also seen an increase in the syndication of investments from firms outside of Austin into specific Texas-based companies such as Studio VC, Goodwater Capital, and Highland Capital Partners — all Bay Area firms — investing in Everlywell, Moderne Ventures (Chicago), and Wavemaker Partners (Singapore) to invest in Icon, and investors from Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Colorado joined a Houston-based venture firm to invest in Televet, an Austin based Veterinary Clinic Management platform.

Across the Texas entrepreneurial ecosystem, the increase in local venture presence and increased funding syndication activity with non-Texas based venture firms is leading to an increasing number of deals across funding stages and larger deal sizes in terms of total investment dollars.

“Texas is hitting critical mass as a global startup hub. Texas seems to be a more business-friendly and better-quality-of-life Silicon Valley. Texas provides the red carpet for businesses to succeed while California puts up walls of red tape! I can’t get an elevator put in in my building in San Mateo, while in Texas, I am getting the freedom to build whatever I need to make my business successful. I asked my Silicon Valley team who would like us to move to Austin, and almost all of them raised their hands. And the entrepreneurs are moving there too. More and more creative business ideas are coming from the region. It seems to be a more dynamic, young, friendly environment to build a company, and innovative work is truly appreciated by the government,” said Tim Draper, Draper Associates

The history of Texas VC

In the 90’s and 00’s, Texas venture capital was dominated by one large firm — Austin Ventures. With billions under management, they were responsible for funding some of the biggest success stories in Texas over the past few decades including Bazaarvoice, CompUSA, HomeAway (VRBO), Khoros, Lifesize, Motive, Naviant, RetailMeNot, Sailpoint, Silicon Labs, SolarWinds, Spiceworks, Spredfast, Tivoli, Vignette and Waveset.

Austin Ventures was a great VC firm but entrepreneurs only had one place to turn for funding and it was hard to attract capital from outside Texas. When Austin Ventures broke up, most of the active investors stayed in Austin and kept investing in Texas — they each raised smaller, independent funds. Combined with new investors that moved here and outside investors being more open-minded about investing here, entrepreneurs now have many choices for traditional venture funding in addition to new sources such as crowdfunding.

“I can tell you, without question, that the best is yet to come for Central Texas. Our current portfolio will generate more value for shareholders in the next two years than in the prior 10 years combined. Given our focus on Texas, I believe this positive trend is indicative of the positive development of the ecosystem and I couldn’t be more excited to be part of it.” — Morgan Flager, Silverton Partners

Family Offices

In Texas, it can seem like money actually comes up out of the ground. While Austin has lots of angel investors and venture capital firms, most of the “old money” in Texas comes from oil and gas and real estate, and that is clustered in Dallas and Houston. Texas family offices haven’t traditionally invested in technology and startups, but there is now a new generation led by Transition Capital Partners, Cathexis Ventures, 2M Companies and Wescott who are taking the helm. According to Pitchbook data, thirty five of the family offices in Texas currently have a sector focus on technology.

Endowments and Foundations

Texas also has a wealth of endowments and pension funds. Houston leads the state for endowments and pension funds, followed by Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. While Houston may have the most endowments and pension funds, when looking at the top five by assets under management, three are based in Austin — the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, University of Texas Investment Management Company and the Texas Permanent School Fund State Board of Education and two are based in Dallas — AT&T Pension Fund and the DIRECTV Pension Plan. These limited partners add to the available capital in the state and provide funding for capital managers.

Private Equity

According to Pitchbook data, there are over 600 private equity firms in Texas. Dallas has the largest share with 218 private equity investors, followed by Houston with 170 and Austin with 83. Many of these firms are smaller, but the state has a growing number of large firms. The top 10 largest private equity firms in Texas have over $400 billion in assets under management and have completed thousands of investments among them. TPG in Fort Worth tops this list with an average of 27 deals per year. They are followed by Lone Star Funds in Dallas which averages nearly eight investments per year.

Private equity managers in Texas manage both diversified and sector-focused strategies, and while energy may have its roots in the Lone Star State, technology has become both a diversification vector as well as a growing opportunity for investors with the expertise to put capital to work. Vista Equity Partners is a global investment firm headquartered in Austin that specializes in enterprise software, data and technology-enabled businesses. For over two decades, the company has responsibly delivered on commitments to investors through private equity, permanent capital, credit and public equity investment strategies. Ten of Vista’s more than 65 portfolio companies have headquarters in the state, emphasizing the growing tech prowess of the region.

So where is investing headed in Texas? Partnerships between endowments, family offices, institutions and asset managers will continue to foster opportunities for investing across the lifecycle of companies — from growing startups to late-stage buyouts. Many private equity firms will continue to approach later-stage companies with future growth opportunities in addition to working with established businesses with strong foundations. Savvy general partners will build on their strong relationships with regional limited partners to unlock the future of investing in Texas.

“Texas has been a titan of industry for a long time, but the continued developments in technology and software are particularly exciting for the state. As the most productive tool in the modern business economy, software will only continue to grow in significance and potential in the years ahead. We’ve had the honor of working with many CEOs and founders of software businesses across this great state and look forward to investing in future leaders and innovators in the Texas technology community.” said Robert F. Smith, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a powerful new tool for funding and for customer validation. Being part of a big and growing market is a big asset when crowdfunding — and being in Texas means your market is bigger right from day one. With four of the eleven largest cities in the country all within driving distance, you can reach most of the population of the second largest state in the country no matter where you are located.

Texas is collaborative

The Texas startup community has banded together across the state. BEAM, DivInc, SKU, MassChallenge, the Army Futures Command, the Texas Military Department, LiveOak Venture Partners, Silverton Partners… more and more are getting on the bus every day. They aren’t just working independently — they are frequently partnering with each other to share space, share content, and do collaborative programming.

One startup community across Texas

Capital Factory has been physically and virtually connecting the state together ever since we published the original Texas Startup Manifesto in 2017. We don’t run accelerators in each city — we run one program across the state. For the past three years, we’ve been filling up buses full of entrepreneurs and investors from Austin and bringing them to Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. This has resulted in thousands of connections between startups and investors and tens of millions of dollars in seed funding.

Startups like Fetch, a Dallas startup that expanded across Texas, raised funding from Silverton Partners in Austin after meeting on one of our bus trips, and then expanded across the country. Or Tankee, an Austin startup that raised funding from Karlani Capital in Dallas after meeting them on another bus trip. Or Hypergiant, with offices in Austin, Dallas and Houston. It’s much more common for a startup in Austin or San Antonio to have investors in Dallas or Houston than it was just a few years ago. It’s much less common that startups feel like they have to move to San Francisco.

It’s been getting easier and easier to treat Texas like one big city and COVID-19 has made the big state feel a little smaller.

It’s not just Capital Factory… many other incredible organizations are viewing the entire state of Texas as one massive opportunity. Everyone seems to be on board — and they are all working together.

• Capital Factory isn’t the only venture capital firm focused on Texas — ATX Venture Partners, Interlock VC, LiveOak Venture Partners, Mercury, Next Coast Venture Partners, Silverton Partners and S3 Ventures invest primarily or exclusively in Texas-based startups and frequently invest in deals together. They ride along on the Capital Factory Texas Startups Roadshow bus tours and that’s how LiveOak met Amplifai and Silverton met Fetch.
• DivInc, focused on underrepresented founders, launched at Capital Factory in Austin, expanded to Springdale General with Notley Ventures, and is expanding to The Ion in Houston in 2021.
• Clean tech leader Greentown Labs opened its new location in Houston this year, only the second location globally and the home to Greentown’s incubator program.
• Atlanta-based OHUB has brought more than 1,000 Black & Latino college students to SXSW over the last six years and is expanding further into Texas with the launch of its Equity District in Austin and plans to expand statewide with Capital Factory.
• MassChallenge launched their Texas presence in Austin and then expanded to Houston.
• SKU launched in Austin and then expanded to Dallas.
• Founders Institute launched their Texas presence in Austin and then expanded to Houston.
• The Common Desk coworking launched in Dallas and then expanded to Austin.
• CodeUp launched in San Antonio and then expanded to Austin, Dallas and Houston.
• Austin Coding Academy launched in Austin and then expanded to San Antonio.
• Army Futures Command has established partnerships with educational institutions across the state including Austin Community College, Baylor, Texas A&M, and UT System.
• The TMDx, the innovation unit of the Texas Military Department (our National Guard) launched in Austin at Capital Factory and then expanded to San Antonio and next will be expending to The Ion in Houston in the 2021.
• Blackstone Group has expanded their signature Blackstone Launchpad entrepreneurship program from Austin and Dallas to include El Paso, Midland/Odessa, Houston/Galveston, San Antonio, and the Rio Grand Valley.

“Expanding LaunchPad to more UT institutions helps develop a more robust pipeline of student entrepreneurs in Texas. This experience will encourage them to generate new ideas and someday launch companies and drive job growth.” — Chancellor James Milliken, University of Texas System

It’s working

We’ve seen a steady increase in dealflow from Dallas and Houston over the past few years. We’re co-investing with more venture capitalists in Dallas and Houston and the big corporations across the state are getting engaged with the startup community. The numbers speak for themselves.

Things are only going to get better in 2021 and beyond.

Texas is business and tax friendly

Many people know that Texas has no corporate income tax and no personal income tax. It’s also important that Texas is a right-to-work state that limits the use of non-compete clauses for talent.

Many don’t know that since 2003, the Texas Enterprise Fund has provided incentives for businesses that relocate to Texas and create new jobs. From the Governor’s office down to the local Chambers of Commerce, everyone in Texas is pushing in the same direction when it comes to economic growth.

“Opportunity, freedom, and hope is what Texas is all about. Whether you are a family looking for new opportunities, an entrepreneur launching an innovative start-up, or a Fortune 500 company in search of a new headquarters, the Lone Star state offers an economic climate and a quality of life that is unmatched anywhere else in the United States,” said Governor Greg Abbott.

“The Texas model is a simple but effective blueprint that emphasizes low taxes, fewer regulations, robust infrastructure, and personal liberty. But the hallmark of our success is our outstanding workforce. Thanks to our world-class universities and investments in workforce training, our state boasts the most talented and skilled workforce in America. The fact is, Texas is the premier economic destination in America, and we are just getting started. Working together to attract new investments, foster innovation, and expand economic opportunity, we will keep Texas the best state to live, work, and raise a family”

Texas is diverse

More than many other states, Texas represents the diversity of our country and the planet. Texas has some of the biggest cities and some of the most remote towns. Texas is red and it is blue. Texas is white, black and brown. There is room for everyone in Texas.

Houston is one of the most diverse and international cities in the country, with one in four Houstonians having been born outside the US.

Texas is ranked the #2 state for black founders to launch a company, only behind Georgia. In 2020, the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund awarded $5M of non-dilutive capital to exceptional black founders and 8 Texas founders took a big chunk of it. Big congrats to Harold Hughes from Bandwagon, Derrick Miles from CourMed, Mandy Price from Kanarys, Don Ward from Laundris, Courtney and Tye Caldwell from ShearShare, Gerald Youngblood from Tankee, Melvin Hines from Upswing, and Dennis Cail from Zirtue. Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, founded by Steve Case, has 15 investments in the state, and 7 in the Dallas area. 5 of those 7 Dallas-area companies are led by Black founders including Craig Lewis from GigWage, and Cameron Johnson from Nickson.

Texas is ranked the #5 state for female entrepreneurs to launch a company. We think it’s just going to get better and better. We have Tyler Haney, the founder of activewear brand Outdoor Voices; Amber Venz Box , the founder and CEO of RewardStyle, Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder and CEO of relationship-app Bumble; and Julia Cheek, the founder and CEO, of at-home testing kit Everlywell, and of course Kendra Scott. Not only do these women start companies in Texas, they actively strive to make the state a better, more inclusive place for all.

Texas has 96 Hispanic Serving Institutions across the state, including UT El Paso, UTSA, UT Arlington, UT RGV, Texas State, Texas Tech, University of North Texas, and University of Houston.

With Bumble’s recent historic IPO, Whitney Wolfe Herd became the youngest woman to take a company public and one of only about 20 to ever do so. She’s not just a successful entrepreneur, she’s a passionate advocate for women who sponsored House Bill 2789 which was then passed into law by the Texas Senate, making non-consensual lewd photo sharing a misdemeanor. At 31, I’m sure there is more to come.

Texas has increased funding for underrepresented groups in recent years.

• Capital Factory hosts an annual $100,000 cash investment challenge for Black founders and another for female founders.
• True Wealth Ventures focuses on funding companies with women on the leadership team.
• Numerous angel networks focused on underrepresented founders including BEAM, Urban Capital Network, Business Angel Minority Association, and Houston Diversity Fund.
• Agave is a new fund focused on funding Black and Brown founders.
• The Artemis Fund is a VC Firm based in Houston, TX, that invests in tech-enabled companies led by women that help people build wealth, care for their families, and empower their communities.
• The M/O Fellowship powered by Naturally Austin + SKU is a new program focused on minority founders in CPG.
• Texas has a strong network of HBCU’s such as Huston-Tillotson University, Paul Quinn College, Prairie View A&M, and Texas Southern University.

2019 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Capital Factory | Capital Factory

Texas is stronger together

The core thesis of the Texas Startup Manifesto is that individual cities should stop competing with each other and instead focus on Texas competing with the rest of the world. When Texas competes as a state, we can take on any other city, state, or country in the world.

“Entrepreneurs should treat the entire state of Texas like one big city — because you can. No matter which city you sleep in, find investors across the state, find customers across the state, and recruit talent across the state. There is nowhere else you can have access to this much market within driving distance. There is no other city in the world that can compete with Texas.” — Joshua Baer, Founder of Capital Factory

Texas is yours

No matter what city you live in, you have access to ALL of Texas. Don’t limit yourself to just one city — raise funding from investors across the state, recruit talent from across the state, and sell to the big companies across the state.

1. Come to open coffee on Tuesday mornings in cities across the state and virtually online to meet the super-connectors who can plug you in plus other people who are new to town or new to tech.
2. Find a great opportunity to work at a Texas startup on these job boards — Capital Factory, Silverton Partners, Austin Digital Jobs, TechTalentCentral (SA).
3. Join the Capital Factory community to get access to our private Slack channel, coworking space, mentor network, and exclusive members-only events. Join other local entrepreneurial communities like The Draper House in Austin, Springdale General in Austin, Pegasus Park in Dallas, The Ion in Houston, and Geekdom and TechBloc in San Antonio. Find your tribe!
4. Come visit during SXSW next March or during Austin Startup Week, Dallas Startup Week, HTX Tech Rodeo, San Antonio Startup Week, or Global Entrepreneurship Week. There is always something coming up soon in Texas!
5. Invest in Texas by backing the Capital Factory Texas Fund, ATX Venture Partners, Live Oak Venture Partners, Mercury Fund, Silverton Partners, and other Texas-based venture capital firms. Join one of the many Texas angel investment group such as CTAN or HAN. Sign up to get deals from the Capital Factory Investor Relations Network and schedule a VC Immersion with Houston Exponential.

Do you notice something missing from this list? Did we describe something incorrectly? Email me at Josh@QuitYourJob.com and I’ll try to fix it.

Austin

• Austin’s secret sauce… it’s the WHY
• Open Letter to a New Austinite
• Learn your Austin ABC’s and become a local super-connector
• Austin Startups
• Austin - Techstars Startup Digest
• Austin Deal Highlights - Revue
• Austin Inno | Newsletter SIgn Up

Dallas

• NTX Inno | Newsletter SIgn Up
• Startup Digest Dallas - Techstars Startup Digest
• Dallas Innovates " What's new + next in Dallas-Fort Worth innovation

Houston

• Why Houston? | Greater Houston Partnership
• Houston - Techstars Startup Digest
• InnovationMap
• HTX TechList - Houston innovation network

San Antonio

Sign Up | San Antonio Tech Bloc

Texas-wide

Texas Squared

Read the original Texas Startup Manifesto from 2017…

The Texas Startup Manifesto

The news

• Venture-Capital Funding Gets Bigger in Texas
• Elon Musk predicts Austin, Texas will be 'the biggest boom town that America has seen in 50 years'
• Hillwood and Bell Complete a Package Delivery With Unmanned Aircraft
• The cost difference between California and Texas explained - Austin Business Journal
• ABB opens medical robotics research hub in Texas Medical Center Innovation Institute - Houston Business Journal
• WeWork not shrinking in Austin - Austin Business Journal
• Elon Musk is leaving Silicon Valley for Texas. These millionaires and companies are joining him
• Houston selected as one of the most diverse cities in the U.S., report says
• Samsung considers Austin for $17 billion chip plant, seeks tax breaks of at least $806 million
• Army Futures Command, UT-Austin unveil robotics lab
• Austin Community College to receive nearly $5M as part of State military community grants
• Houston Exponential raises $25M fund of funds to draw tech companies, venture capitalists - Houston Business Journal
• The Ion on track for Q1 opening in former Sears building
• Austin among best-performing cities in US, Milken Institute says - Austin Business Journal
• The Welch Foundation and Rice University Announce Creation of The Welch Institute
• Rice tapped by Army for cutting-edge communications research
• Welcome to Texas, Elon Musk. You Don't Have to Move to Austin.
• Elon Musk's Boring Company is setting up operations in Austin
• Elon Musk and other tech powerhouses are flocking to Texas, pushing an already bonkers real-estate market to new heights. Take a look inside Austin, which is quickly becoming the next Silicon Valley.
• After decades in Silicon Valley as an entrepreneur and investor, Tim Ferriss found it was too 'closed-minded' and moved to Austin, Texas instead
• California's Texodus: They came for business and stayed for paradise
• Silicon Valley VC Firm Breyer Capital Opens an Austin Office - SiliconHills
• 'Startup City': Accelerated Growth Strains Austin
• Opinion | California, Love It and Leave It
• Austin's groundbreaking new 'social contract' is first of its kind in nation
• Zillow: Austin housing market will be hottest in US in 2021 - Austin Business Journal
• Business Relocations Spur Austin’s Job Growth, by the Numbers
• Breyer Capital Austin — End of Year Update
• Opinion | I'm Leaving Seattle for Texas So My Employees Can Be Free
• Covid-19, Remote Work Make Austin a Magnet for New Jobs
• Coronavirus Moving Study Shows More Than 15.9 Million People Moved During COVID-19 | MYMOVE
• The Ion, Houston's future innovation hub, names interim executive director - Houston Business Journal
• Pegasus Park: Lyda Hill Philanthropies Unveils Details of 23-Acre Hub for Biotech Innovation, Social Impact in Dallas " Dallas Innovates
• Dallas is 2020's top commercial real estate market
• Energy 2.0 and the Role Houston will Play
• What tech companies want: Miami bets on lower-cost workers and fewer regulations

2. First and foremost, Miami is a near completely different animal than Austin. Austin is a talent/ creative class leader, and Miami is a laggard (though it has some strengths which I'll get to in a minute.

3. Austin's creative class share is 34.% 8th among large metros. San Jose is first by the way with 46.4%. Miami is 47th (out of 53 large metros) with 26%.

Poll: Which city will have the most SF transplants in 2021?

Elon Musk on Twitter: "Thank you, South Texas for your support! This is the gateway to Mars. / Twitter"

Thank you, South Texas for your support! This is the gateway to Mars.

From what I can tell, people fleeing to Austin are entrepreneurs & VCs who still need/want to work. Those to Miami are either so rich they don't need to work, or are crypto people. Lots of exceptions though. No one is fleeing for Seattle, which kills the tax only argument

7 years ago, I drove to SF with big startup dreamsAfter a crazy 7 years, I'm packing my car again and driving to Austin to build a companyI love you SF for your daring ambition, wild ideas, and generosityExcited to spread the opportunities for wealth creation! 🛣

This graphic based on census data shows the Megaregions of the US. The San Antonio/Austin corridor has merged & Houston and Dallas/Ft Worth are moving toward a Texas Megaregion. Combined with the growth of our tech workforce, Texas has a bright future. @TexasManifesto @gocodeup pic.twitter.com/G9YakU2xOv

Texas Startup Manifesto 2.0 was originally published in Austin Startups on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Work side-by-side with me for two years running all aspects of Capital Factory’s operating businesses and investment funds. See everything I see. Meet everyone I meet. Then I’ll help you start your own company, launch your own fund, or find a leadership role at Capital Factory or one of our portfolio companies.

This is going to be an unbelievable year to be in Austin and at Capital Factory as the world recovers from COVID.

Chief of Staff and Apprentice to the CEO - Capital Factory

You are at an inflection point in your life and career. You are an apprentice to the CEO, have full transparency across the company, and manage his internal and external tasks and communication. You are a high potential individual looking to explode your experience and network so that you can start your own company, join Capital Factory or another startup as an executive, or become a venture capitalist investor. He has a separate assistant to handle scheduling and some administrative tasks.

Types of activities you will regularly participate in:

• Attending executive team strategy meetings and taking notes
• Helping team members who need to present to the CEO
• Creating a presentation for the CEO to use at a meeting
• Writing remarks for the CEO to deliver at a large event
• Drafting responding to press questions for the CEO
• Organizing a company meeting or executive offsite
• Taking on a special project and then handing it off
• Hosting VIP tours with F100 CEO’s and elected officials
• Interviewing potential employees
• Attending meetings on behalf of the CEO
• Daily standup meetings with the CEO

This is a two year commitment. You will start as the Assistant Chief of Staff reporting to the current Chief of Staff. After one year you will take their spot and hire your replacement. After a second year, we will help you launch or find your next opportunity at Capital Factory or elsewhere.

Are you at an inflection point and ready to take your career to the next level?

Are you available regularly for late night working sessions and weekend projects?

Are you ready to make a 2 year commitment and investment in yourself?

Join us.

Chief of Staff and Apprentice to the CEO - Capital Factory

I started my career @CapitalFactory as an intern in some variation of this role. It was (and still is) one of the most life-changing, exhilarating, educational, network-building, challenging, 'is this real?' experiences of my life. Without hesitation I strongly urge you to apply! https://t.co/4Uvm3Jhcbl

Great opportunity to explore with a friend and colleague of mine! https://t.co/icR6B753lB

This is a great opportunity for someone. Highly recommend you work with Josh of you want to learn and grow. One of my best experiences ever was working with him on @unsubcentral ages ago. https://t.co/w5TcXMAMuj

This is the chance of a lifetime for someone seeking a CEO apprenticeship. Hungry to learn? Throw your hat in the ring here. https://t.co/oEqdDoaO3w

I heard applications close tonight so I thought I'd share my two cents:I spent time @CapitalFactory as a Venture Associate - I honestly felt like I was getting paid to get an MBA.

Want to drop into the center of gravity for all things startup, in a key role, supporting one of Austin's most notable and highly regarded Entrepreneurial leaders, at a time when the stars are aligning for Austin and its booming startup ecosystem? 🚀If YES, apply! 👆🏼

About Joshua Baer

Joshua Baer helps people quit their jobs and become entrepreneurs. He’s the founder of Capital Factory, a coworking community and accelerator designed to help startups find their first investors, customers and employees. Josh founded his first startup in 1996 in his college dormitory at Carnegie Mellon University and now teaches a class at the University of Texas for student entrepreneurs.

He has been recognized as a Henry Crown Fellow and Braddock Scholar at the Aspen Institute, a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations Young Leaders Forum, an Eisenhower Fellow, and a recipient of the Anti-Defamation League Torch of Liberty.

Josh lives in Austin with his wife Amy and three children.

Joshua Baer - Founder & CEO - Capital Factory | LinkedIn

About Capital Factory

Capital Factory is the center of gravity for entrepreneurs in Texas, the number one startup state in the U.S. Thousands of entrepreneurs, programmers and designers gather day and night, in-person and online for meetups, classes and coworking. With boots on the ground in Austin, Dallas and Houston, we meet the best entrepreneurs in Texas and introduce them to investors, employees, mentors and customers.

According to Pitchbook, Capital Factory has been the most active investor in Texas since 2010.

See everything, meet everyone, and launch your career to new levels as my Chief of Staff was originally published in Austin Startups on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Austin has been the fastest growing city in the country for a decade and recent events seem to be causing it to accelerate even further. What about Austin is drawing people in and keeping them here? It’s not just about taxes — there are plenty of other cities and states with similar advantages. Why does it feel different here than other cities?

People are moving to Austin from all over the US and all over the world. They are coming from the East and West Coasts, from London and China and Tel Aviv. COVID-19 has caused global acceleration of many trends that were already happening before the pandemic and the immigration to Texas and especially Austin are no exception.

When anyone can work from anywhere, they don’t evenly distribute across the country. There will be some big winners who attract more and higher quality talent than others. Austin is positioned to be the biggest winner of them all.

Everyone comes for different reasons. Some are running away from skyrocketing tax rates, dysfunctional government, and devastating wildfires. Others are running towards a new opportunity — a new job, a new lifestyle, or a new love.

Everyone comes for the same reason. They are creating a new tomorrow. For themselves, for their families, for their companies, for their country, for their world.

Austin is the aspirational city. It’s a city that other cities want to be when they grow up. It’s a place where people go when they aspire for more.

Planting roots

I was recently talking with someone who moved here from Silicon Valley and he pointed out something that really resonated with me. Silicon Valley is a transitional home for many who are not born there and don’t retire there.

They come to Silicon Valley from all over the world with grand plans for world domination… but after their grand plans succeed or fail they “go back home” to where their family is from or go to a beach somewhere. As a result, he thought that many people in Silicon Valley aren’t as invested in the community or focused on making it better for their children and their neighbors. How different that is than the feeling in Austin right now!

People who are coming to Austin are different. They are leaving somewhere like that because they want more. They want to have it all. A great job is the start, but also a great home, a great neighborhood, a great community they feel a part of.

A culture of active participation

People who move to Austin immediately want to get involved and help make it better. They want to have a voice in Austin’s future. Some want to make sure it doesn’t end up looking like San Francisco. Many who are here would like to make sure new Austinites help address systemic racism that has left a stain on Austin’s past.

Fortunately, we have great role models to look up to. Leaders who have left indelible marks on our city such as Neal Kocurek, George Kozmetsky, Michael & Susan Dell, Tom & Lynn Meredith, and Kirk Watson.

That’s how we ended up with the Dell Medical School and it’s unique, community focused mission. That’s how we ended up with the Texas Tribune, one of the most innovative and successful non-profit, non-partisan news organizations in the world. That’s how we ended up with the soon-to-be-unveiled Waterloo Park downtown, an urban oasis in the middle of downtown where the technology, medical school, and arts districts all converge.

Why Army Futures Command?

When the Army Futures Command was searching for the location to launch their new headquarters, there were also focused on talent… but they knew they didn’t want to be in Silicon Valley. After an exhaustive search, they narrowed it down to three finalist cities: Austin, Boston and Raleigh.

Why did Austin win out? Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy told me that was the people of Austin that differentiated us from the other cities. We asked how we could help them be successful, talked about how they would be part of the Austin community, and shared a vision of what we could build together instead of just focusing on how much funding or jobs the Army would bring.

Why Jim Breyer?

Jim Breyer has spent his career on the cutting edge. He was the first institutional investor in Facebook and also an early-stage investor in groundbreaking companies like Etsy, Spotify, C3.AI, 23&Me, Headspace, Stash, Grammarly and many others. Breyer Capital’s Chinese partner IDG Capital, where Jim is Co-Chairman, led some of the first investments in Chinese companies Tencent, Baidu, and Xiaomi. Breyer Capital also has an impact investing arm and has eight portfolio companies based on the African continent. Jim moved to Austin at the end of 2018 and has already become one of the most active venture investors.

“I first fell in love with Austin in the late 1980s and got to know the city more intimately as a Dell Board Member. The recent influx of tech talent from companies like Tesla, Facebook, Apple, Google, and Oracle is a reason I’m optimistic that the entrepreneurial ecosystem will thrive in the years and decades to come. I also think that UT Austin students, post-docs, and professors will found and join transformational companies in Austin.

Most importantly, I started Breyer Capital Austin because the women and men in the city make up some of the most creative, talented, and ambitious entrepreneurs, investors, and leaders in the country and world. Breyer Capital has already invested in 10 Austin-based opportunities and aspires to play a role in helping Austin and Texas entrepreneurs achieve extraordinary things in the near and long-term future.”

Why Amy Sun?

Amy Sun is an entrepreneur who is connected in Silicon Valley and could have gone anywhere — but she chose to come to Austin to launch her new company this year. She was a product manager at Microsoft, Uber and Facebook before joining as a partner at Sequoia, one of the most prestigious venture capital firms on Sand Hill Road.

“What drew me to Austin was the vibrant culture and clear point of view. The live music, street art, restaurants, studios and local businesses are amazing. As an artist myself I’ll do my best to keep Austin weird. There’s also a strong tech community here of talented, open minded, and welcoming people.”

Why not?

Austin is by no means perfect, and faces the same challenges in transportation, housing affordability, NIMBY zoning, and gentrification as most other fast growing cities. We have plenty of our own unique challenges as well — a local city council constantly battling with our state legislature, a rising population of people experiencing homelessness, gerrymandering, and a history of systemic racial discrimination.

We have some work to do, but we’re ready to take it on.

Why you?

Why are you moving to Austin? Who do you need to meet? Email me at Josh@QuitYourJob.com and I’ll do my best to connect you.

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From what I can tell, people fleeing to Austin are entrepreneurs & VCs who still need/want to work. Those to Miami are either so rich they don't need to work, or are crypto people. Lots of exceptions though. No one is fleeing for Seattle, which kills the tax only argument

7 years ago, I drove to SF with big startup dreamsAfter a crazy 7 years, I'm packing my car again and driving to Austin to build a companyI love you SF for your daring ambition, wild ideas, and generosityExcited to spread the opportunities for wealth creation! 🛣

I was born here in 1972 and have seen all kinds of tension growing up between the "artist" class and "capitalist" class. It was almost always respectful, and that tension has led to much better outcomes for our city. You need both - our diversity of perspective is our strength.

It also feels very very "active" or participatory. There's a very tangible sense of autonomy and direction to shape the cities future, rather than just living somewhere where a lot of the big decisions have been made already.

True, I've yet to find the same welcoming vibe as I felt in Austin (with Capital Factory among others), here in Seattle. There are some good people, but Josh and his team are the type of people that have a sign for you at the airport, figuratively.

I like the parts of Twitter where my new neighbors in Austin disagree - even when vehement y'all are so much more polite.I hope I can host these conversations in person as the pandemic wanes (or sooner lol - not trying to get involved in this particular debate!).HAPPY 2021 !!

Yes, we've come a long way. When I started in late 2012, there were 1-2 Black founders tops in Austin that had raised serious $ for a startup. Preston was the only Black CF mentor I think. It's now just as easy to raise that critical ~$250K in Austin as all but maybe 2-3 cities.

Austin has been the place where all types learn to live together for the love of the city. Business people, hippies, cowboys,artists, builders, environmentalists, athletes, scholars, different cultures, and dreamers. Think of all the unlikely pairings of people, D Royal & Willie.

Our biggest concern with moving to Austin was (startup) talent density, but COVID improved that.It's most of what we want: politically tolerant, dense but not too dense, affordable space, a critical diverse concentration of creatives, and other young people starting families.

Our city culture drives a work/life balance. I think people are getting tired of the extremes. Work hard, play hard.

reminds me execs Dell recruited to Aus in 90s. Most thought they'd only be here few years - promised spouses & children they'd return to W Coast or E Coast.

Grew up here, left for 12 years, missed the "Austin feel" - that feeling is tangible but I still can't put my finger on it.That is the million dollar question. Why does Austin feel so different?

I recall @bijoy at SXSW 2010 digging into answering "what makes Austin special?" Valuing authenticity over conformity was key. It's cool to just be yourself. Whether that's tech or music or fitness, whatever. Traced to Willie Nelson bringing together the rednecks and the hippies.

Austin gave me a feel of friendship, openness, creativity, opportunity, & energy. The individuality. The collision of ideas. I am connected now. Austin committed to me. Now it's my turn to commit to her. That is why I moved here in 2020. Giddy up 2021! @MollyCain @DefenseBaron

Moved here from Virginia 12 years ago and the first thing I noticed was how friendly and genuine the people are.That's still the case.Austinites are generally very happy and incredibly accepting. If that's not your style, it might not be for you!

Many in my cohort (moved to SF in '06, left in '19) always had one foot out the door because the school system is a struggle in SF, most move out of the city once they have school aged kids.

Moving to Austin. Finding the love of my life. https://t.co/PWNFsaKbQr

Before moving to LA, Austin was home for 3 years after living in NY for 15 years. It's not the BBQ or the weather though those are great. It's the sense of community, roots and friendliness that stand out. https://t.co/tMGGgjxtKA

2021 I'm getting into the best shape of my life, graduating college, and moving to Austin.

Austin’s secret sauce… it’s the WHY was originally published in Austin Startups on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.