Austinpreneur

Bad things happen every day. A lot of the times you hear different things in the news but they don't really capture the full effect of everything going on. In the first few months of 2020, there has been increased violent behavior on college campuses. Pocket punch is looking to make a change with a four-in-one self-defense device. Founded by five female college students at the University of Texas at Austin, Sydney Marvin and Ashley Raymond chatted with Nick Spiller about the story behind Pocket Punch and how they are empowering individuals to be in charge of their own safety.

Going to the gym can be intimidating and stressful. What if you could get the same workout at home or at your office that fits right into your schedule? Kanthaka is a marketplace for personal trainers where you can schedule highly vetted personal trainers for whenever you want to sneak in that daily workout. Sylvia Kampshoff started Kanthaka 2 years ago in Houston and is now nationwide with over 15 cities and more to come! Sylvia sees the future of Kanthaka to be the go-to, accessible app for anyone wanting to live a healthy and fit life.

In 2020 our word of the year is “Houston” and our goal is to achieve the same scale and synergies we have in Dallas with a unique Houston angle to it. On January 29th, Capital Factory official announced that it has merged with Station Houston and will be the first member of The Ion with Rice University and Houston Exponential! Gordon Daugherty traveled to Houston to chat with Gabi Rowe, Executive Director and CEO of The Ion to talk about what the merger means for the Houston Startup Ecosystem and a preview of what's to come with the Ion's new building.

Whether you're starting a business or looking for your next project, having a mentor is extremely important. Having a person that can tell you the hard truths and tell you when you're wrong about something can help you grow both professionally and personally. Maia Donohue, author of The Startup Mentor, sat down with Gordon Daugherty to talk about her new book, the relationship between a mentor and mentee, and personal experiences with mentorship.

With only a week to go until SXSW kicks off on Friday, March 13th with the Startup Crawl, we had the chance to catch up with Hugh Forrest, the Chief Programming Officer of SXSW to hear all about the new tracks, panels, and session that will be happening this year! If you have not signed up, be sure to register for the SXSW Startup Crawl with a group of friends and tour the latest and greatest of Austin's startup community. Also, be sure to listen to the previous episode recorded with Hugh from SXSW 2019 here.

In the early 2000s, Justin Siegel and his best friend didn't want to work for other people anymore and saw an opportunity for making mobile games. Fast-forward 20 years, Justin is now the co-owner of NRG Esports— a massive global esports organization with teams in Call of Duty and Overwatch that include investors such as Jennifer Lopez, Shaquille O'Neal, and Michael Strahan. Find out how Justin went from creating mobile games to earn some extra cash to helping run one of the most popular esports organizations in the world.

Finding a good mentor can be difficult and it's easy to fall into the trap of only talking about fundraising. Flip Kromer is a seasoned entrepreneur and mentor that has been in the Austin startup ecosystem for a long time. Flip built InfoChimp, a pioneer in the Big Data startup space that was later sold to CSC. Flip stopped by for a quick chat and broke down the common mistakes that he sees as a mentor, repeatable teachings that can elevate your next mentoring session, and his new startup Tooksome.

Learning a new skill to start a new career path can seem terrifying, especially when its to get into coding. Finding a class that fits your busy schedule can also seem impossible. Austin Coding Academy combines flexibility and affordability for anyone looking to change their life with coding. CEO of Austin Coding Academy Chris Lofton told us that "ACA is really about hope. It's about the hope that you're not stuck in the situation you're in that if you work hard, you can change your life and we're looking for people who have this desire and drive and can hold themselves accountable to the homework schedule and do all the work we ask them to do." Chris sat down with us and talked about how coding talent in Austin is some of the best in the world and why big businesses want to come here.

In 2012, there was a huge momentum of fitness wearables overtaking the market. The gamification of fitness became a popular new craze and competition between people. Today, 82% of U.S. adults own a wearable or health app, but less than .01% of brands or organizations have connected to these devices. This is where Patrick Hitchins and his team at FitRankings come in— they have created a universal fitness platform for wearables and apps, with enterprise software tools, support, and security built-in. FitRankings mission is to allow any organization to quickly and effectively connect to wearables/apps, and allow individuals to do more with their fitness data. Tune into this episode with Pat and learn all about how you can get your event connected with FitRankings!

Founded over 20 years ago by a student in Russia uploading guitar chords and tabs for his favorite band, Ultimate Guitar has now grown to become the largest collection of more than 2 million musical sheets that have been contributed by the musicians all around the world. Michael Trutnev broke down how the guitarist community is alive and rocking, and how a simple morning meeting routine built a strong company culture.