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The Future of our Economy Lies in Property Development and Startups Finding Common Ground

Thursday, 17 December 2020 by
“Perhaps one of the most important financial decisions a forest landowner will make is determining when to harvest timber.” That, the opening of a PennState article exploring the financial decisions land owners consider in this use case, including how to determine and calculate when to maximize financial returns, prompted a thought about investing in property
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Does a University like Stanford Produce more Successful Startups? This Might be Why

Friday, 05 April 2019 by
Culture. It all, always, comes down to the culture of community. Why does Silicon Valley produce startups differently than elsewhere? Why does Hollywood have a style and way about their films that really isn’t replicated elsewhere? Why is Arizona State University a “party school” that produces highly social people? As entrepreneurs, we like to THINK
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How the “Bootstrap Culture” of a Place like Austin Changes Entrepreneurship From an “Equity Culture” of a Place Like Silicon Valley

Tuesday, 27 November 2018 by
Bootstrap or VC? It’s a question on so many minds as entrepreneurship flourishes beyond Silicon Valley, in cities where venture capital seems inaccessible.   It’s a question that not a day goes by in which it doesn’t come up for me, based in Austin, TX, having professional roots along Sand Hill Road. What strikes me as
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When an Economy needs Co-Founders – And Seems to have a Tech Talent Gap

Tuesday, 11 September 2018 by
A characteristic of local economies that I never experienced much before leaving Palo Alto, California: “we can’t find co-founders!” Many know that I’ve spent half of my professional life in Silicon Valley and the other half in the new economy’s most appealing innovation region: Central Texas.  I’ve touched a few times on the stark differences
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Conspire to Change Austin Startups

Friday, 11 August 2017 by
Peter Thiel, notable by way of PayPal, Founders Fund, and Zero to One, if you’re not familiar, noted once that, “a great company is a conspiracy to change the world.” I was honored recently to be asked by one of Austin’s great mentors and investors, Ryan Merket, to keynote Amazon’s AWS Startup Day in Austin.
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The Vision For Austin

Wednesday, 08 March 2017 by
You know that licking of your lips and grasping at air that one does when trying to put in to words a dream. How you think through, as you’re talking with someone, something you just can’t quite simplify. What I’m thinking about is not a dream but a vision. Something magical is happening by way
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52 Comments

Where are Austin’s Venture Capital Firms?

Tuesday, 03 May 2016 by
Of late I’ve been exploring, discussing, and working with Austin’s venture capital economy. We’ll not belabor the ongoing discussions of the state of venture capital, lack of funding, future of financing, and otherwise here; rather, what struck me as potentially helpful is a mere layout of where venture capital is found. Certainly, before we can
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