This was not the episode we planned. Will Johnson, founder and CEO of Gyde, and Alex Cohen, founder and CEO of Hello Patient, came on to talk about innovation in the business of health. Instead it became our off the record conversations, but behind the microphone.
An unfiltered field report on what it actually feels like to build a startup in Austin right now. The talent math, hunting for mid-size office space, the venture culture, Austin vs Miami, the press gap, and the political friction.
All of it from two founders who chose this city, are hiring here, and are naming what needs to change because they want it to work.
Agenda
- 0:00 Why Alex and Will chose Austin
- 5:17 The engineering talent gap
- 14:10 Who gets hired and the conference hustle
- 20:58 Miami, Palantir, and competing for wins
- 26:02 What SF's venture culture has that Austin is still building
- 32:58 Operator density problem and the office gap
- 41:05 Why selling to Main Street works better from Austin
- 50:16 More storytellers needed
- 59:16 SXSW's decline
- 1:05:18 King of Austin for a day
What is Austin Next?
Austin is building the new tech, cultural, and intellectual stack. The region is a living laboratory to answer a single question: How do you build a global innovation superpower?
Host Jason Scharf dissects innovation from the individual to the ecosystem. From the soundstage to the data center to the fab, we decode the mechanics of Austin's innovation ecosystem.
As Atoms, Bits, and Intelligence converge, we explore how Hard Tech scale, digital velocity, and creative density collide. This is an audit of the future. We map the physics of the flywheel so builders and investors can navigate the chaos.