How Media Distorts the Truth About Regional Ecosystems – Apparently Austin is on Life Support

There’s a reason the phrase “don’t believe everything you read” never dies.

Because even when it’s printed in The Wall Street Journal, a brand so synonymous with business credibility that your uncle still calls it “The Paper,” the story can be skewed, shallow, and — let’s not mince words — wrong.

In this case, we’re talking about my home of Austin, Texas, and the breathless claim that its tech economy is “kind of dead.” That phrase, flung into the national consciousness via SignalFire’s latest report and dutifully parroted by WSJ, isn’t just an oversimplification. It’s a disservice. A distortion. And frankly, a little embarrassing for anyone who claims to understand how economic ecosystems actually evolve.

But let’s dig into this with the seriousness (and sarcasm) it deserves, because what’s really at stake here isn’t just a reputation for one city, but the broader understanding of how regions grow, thrive, and sometimes stumble on the way to building the future.

How Media Warps the Economic Map

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: media narratives matter. They shape investment decisions, government strategy, migration trends, and startup formation. When the Wall Street Journal signals that Austin is losing its luster, it’s not just reporting, it’s influencing. And when that report is based on cherry-picked data from a VC firm with its own coastal biases, presented without sufficient regional context, and published as if it were the full story? That’s not journalism. That’s branding.

And not even good branding.

SignalFire’s report shows that tech employment in Austin declined modestly in 2024; Big Tech down 1.6%, startups down 4.9%. Yes, that’s a trend worth a momentary consideration of whether or not it’s actually a trend. But here’s the rub: these stats are plucked from a post-pandemic, post-bubble world where even Silicon Valley is laying people off and “growth” looks more like “stability.” So, using a single-year dip as proof that Austin’s tech hub “never materialized” is like declaring the end of capitalism because your Robinhood portfolio is red this week.

More egregiously, the article quotes a few anecdotal voices — an ex-remote worker who didn’t find enough tech mixers and fled back to San Francisco, and a founder who missed the innovation culture of the Bay Area — to argue that Austin lacks vibrancy. This isn’t data. It’s Yelp reviews.

And to anyone who actually lives and builds here, it’s laughable.

Austin Isn’t Dead. It’s Just Not a Startup Fantasyland

Here’s what the article missed: Austin is evolving from hype to substance.

We’re no longer a “cheap alternative to the Bay Area.” We’re a region laying long-term infrastructure for AI, semiconductors, transportation, biotech, quantum, and yes — energy, the real engine behind the internet’s next act.

As Neha Sampat, founder of Contentstack, put it in response, “I respectfully push back on Austin’s tech scene as “kind of dead.” That’s not what I experience every day as a founder and CEO building a scaling company here, and as someone deeply connected to both the startup and enterprise ecosystems in this city. Sure, tech employment is down slightly, but that’s true in many places post-peak. Headlines focused solely on short-term numbers miss the bigger picture: Austin is evolving from a hot market to a mature one. There’s still plenty of funding, top-tier talent, and innovation, especially in AI, enterprise SaaS, and creator tech. I’ve seen this through the Mayor’s Task Force for Entrepreneurs, where the city is actively supporting the city’s innovation ecosystem and fostering collaboration across sectors. Austin’s small business community is also thriving. Like Austin Woman, which regularly spotlights successful local entrepreneurs. Austin attracts people who want to build, not just chase the latest hype cycle. RTO policies may have drawn some talent back to the coasts temporarily, but they haven’t erased what Austin offers: quality of life, community, and a culture of possibility. Tech may not look the same as it did in 2021. But the real builders are still here and just getting started.”

In fact, between 2018 and 2024, Austin added 30,000 high-tech jobs and posted a 7.79% increase in tech GDP—second only to Silicon Valley. A 0.63% dip in employment in 2024? That’s a rounding error in macroeconomic terms. Not a death knell.

Texas Is Not Just Competitive, It’s Redefining the Playing Field

What makes this narrative even more absurd is what’s happening under the radar: Texas is quietly rewriting the rules of economic development.

Earlier this year, Governor Greg Abbott signed legislation that finally puts Texas on equal footing with Delaware for corporate formation.

According to the Houston Chronicle, this law allows Texas-headquartered companies to form their legal entities in Texas — bringing home the legal, financial, and employment infrastructure that previously flowed east. Delaware was the default because of its pro-business legal system. Texas just built the same thing; except it’s attached to the world’s energy capital, a massive tech manufacturing base, two international borders, and the lowest state tax burden in the country.

“This law provides business decision makers the certainty that sound business judgments made in the best interest of shareholders will not be second guessed by courts, absent things like acts of crime,” Abbott said. “Business decisions are to be made by the elected officers and their shareholders, not by unelected judges.”

If you’re building in AI, quantum, space, or autonomous logistics, ask yourself: do you want to be where energy is abundant, talent is growing, and regulation is light? Or where rent’s $7K a month and the power grid collapses if the sun shines too hard?

That’s not a rhetorical question.

What the WSJ Didn’t Tell You (But Should Have)

Behind this narrative is a profound misunderstanding of how innovation ecosystems develop. Regional tech hubs aren’t magic mushrooms that sprout overnight. They’re complex, adaptive systems that thrive on consistent public investment, research infrastructure, and long-term private sector collaboration.

Austin has all of that.

Adriana Cruz’s Texas economic development playbook, “Bigger. Better. Texas,” isn’t just rhetoric. It outlines aggressive strategies for expanding venture capital, workforce pipelines, infrastructure modernization, and targeted recruitment in strategic industries. It’s the anti-coastal elite model: build from the ground up, not the top down.

Yes, Oracle shuffled its leadership back to Nashville. That’s news. But the AI, fintech, and chip design startups spinning out of UT, Dell, and the Texas Institute for Electronics? That’s the future.

“However, the story still inadvertently stumbles on a truism about modern Austin — or any relevant regional economy. Leaders must be hyper focused on ensuring ‘what’s next’ in edge tech happens in your home town. If Samsung isn’t even or ahead of TSMC, if Texas Institute of Electronics isn’t world class in semi adv packaging, if VISA falls behind other credit cards in tech, if our start ups are not at the edge, if we aren’t graduating leading edge talent, if we don’t significantly grow sources of local venture capital, then Texas and Austin will quickly be a legacy technology economy competing globally on cost. Technology is moving that quickly and we are relatively higher cost.” – Drew Scheberle; Executive Director of National Security Innovation Council.

In other words, the fight is about what’s next. And that fight is hardly lost. It’s just beginning.

Media Literacy in the Age of Narrative Warfare

So why does any of this matter?

Because in 2025, media isn’t just reporting on economic shifts. It’s helping to manufacture them.

Founders decide where to move based on perception. Investors look for “hot” cities. Governments prioritize regions with good press. And when major outlets like the WSJ publish pieces that lean on outdated tropes, biased anecdotes, and incomplete data, they distort the flow of capital, talent, and opportunity.

This isn’t just a shame for Austin, the point is that capital and talent flow to where likely allocated to poor returns on investment while the opportunities most meaningful to workers and investors are overlooked.

This is where media literacy matters. Readers must ask: Who wrote this? What’s their source? What’s left unsaid? And what does local data, experience, and insight tell us instead?

You wouldn’t base your startup’s product roadmap on a LinkedIn comment. Why would you base your economic worldview on a few job market swings?

Let’s Be Clear: Austin Is Still Austin (except SXSW is questionable now)

Yes, return-to-office mandates have shuffled some remote workers back to the coasts. Yes, not every startup that landed here during the boom stuck around. That’s not a sign of failure. That’s natural selection. The builders stayed.

CEO of Opportunity Austin, Edward Latson: “What we’re seeing in Austin isn’t a retreat from tech, it’s a recalibration after several years of unprecedented growth. It’s worth noting that the Austin region has added 30,000 high-tech jobs since 2018 and tech GDP grew 7.79% in 2024—second only to Silicon Valley. Our employment shift was just 0.63%, which signals stabilization and hardly counts as an exodus. Austin has a diversified economy, ongoing infrastructure investment and an innovation ecosystem that continues to attract global companies and talent. Frankly, one that I’d put up against any other major metro in the county. These trends reflect a maturing market that’s well-positioned for long-term strength.”

Still skeptical? Fine. Here’s a simple formula:

• AI needs energy ? Texas has it.
• Space tech needs real estate + regulatory freedom ? Texas owns that.
• Autonomous transportation requires infrastructure and low-regulation testing zones ? Hi, Texas.
• Quantum needs research institutions with defense and aerospace crossover ? Texas again.
• Massive data centers? Try building one in San Francisco.
• Cloning? we made wooly mice for crying out loud!

Challenge Headlines

Don’t let a lazy narrative shape the future of a city / or your business.

If you’re a policymaker, founder, journalist, or just someone who cares about where the economy is headed, start digging deeper. Hell, we’re right here; economists and local leaders who study this stuff rather than sharing opinions as facts. Question the sources. Ask whose voices are missing. Find the local perspective. And consider that maybe, just maybe, the people actually building something have a better grasp of what’s happening than the consultants scanning LinkedIn data from New York.

As I said in my own commentary on the WSJ article: “On one hand, I suppose I’m in favor of this article hitting the WSJ because it might dissuade people from moving here and give us a chance to manage the growth. On the other hand, I find it odd that it seems like the outcome of a press release from a data company hoping to get some attention, because it’s a pretty poor representation of the Austin community and potential.” But if journalists want the deep dive into WHY Austin and Texas are still booming? We’re here. Ready to talk. And building the next generation of everything.

Just don’t expect to find it all on the coasts anymore.