13 AUSTIN

Considered to be culturally rich and progressive by the majority of the United States, and full of hippies and commies by the state of Texas, Austin is a vibrant entrepreneurship city that talks and walks like San Francisco. While venture capital funding in the area pales in comparison to other startup scenes, this in turn translates to less arrogance and more helpfulness in the community, with entrepreneurship networking events every week. Add in a low cost of living, cultural events like South by Southwest, the thriving nightlife of Sixth Street, and you’ll see why much of the talent that graduates from UT Austin and its CS program has no reason to leave.

VENTURE ACTIVITY Q4’15 - Q3’16

VC FUNDING: $1.5B

DEALS: 286

EXITS: 87

5 YEAR YoY FUNDING GROWTH: 3.9%

5 YEAR YoY DEAL GROWTH: 11.0%

Source: CB Insights

ANGELS

Bradley C. Harrison

David Cohen

Joshua Baer

Kenny Van Zant

Michael Dell

Robert Metcalfe

VCs

Advantage Capital

Austin Ventures

Sevin Rosen Funds

Silverton Partners

Texas Emerging Tech Fund

ACCELERATORS

Austin Technology Incubator

Capital Factory

Dreamit Ventures

SKU

TechRanch

ENTREPRENEURSHIP EVENTS

Austin Startup Week

Austin Tech Happy Hour

ATX Startup Crawl

Co-Founders Wanted

RISE Week

SXSW

Q4’15 - Q3’16 TOP FUNDING ROUNDS

Civitas Learning—$60M

Pivot3—$55M

Spredfast—$50M

Xerox Pharmaceuticals—$41M

Open Lending—$40M

BALLIN’ ON A BUDGET

Here’s what to do when bootstrapping your startup…

Food Your food options are limited to Cup of Noodles (with those little plastic frozen vegetable things—you need your veggies), whatever you can scrounge from the college club meetings, and if you’re Steve Jobs, the Hare Krishna Temple.

Consulting You are a startup. No matter how big your problem, please for the love of God don’t pay anyone to solve it for you. As the saying goes, “A consultant is someone who borrows your watch to tell you the time and then keeps the watch.”

Interns There are thousands of high school and college students who are willing to do anything for a little résumé pick-me-up, so don’t hire some part-time contractor. Studies have shown that hiring an intern to fan you with palm leaves is more cost-effective than air-conditioning.

Launch parties A $5 million Series A round is great, but it does not warrant strippers, three yachts, pounds of cocaine, and flying midgets.

Share VC firms say that the surefire red flag for any prospective investment is if multiple Netflix accounts exist among a founding team. Everything needs to be shared, from access to Mom’s homemade cookies to clothes to gym memberships to garage space to towels.

Hacker Space If Steve Jobs had known about Hacker Space, an 8000-square-foot estate dedicated to any kind of builder, Apple would have been built there instead of in his garage. Hacker Space defines itself as a place for artists, computer scientists, engineers, and more who share a “hacker mind-set,” defined in terms of community and a focus on intellectual growth rather than the “hacking” of security systems more often seen in the media. Hacker Space also hosts bimonthly member meetings as well as an open house every Tuesday from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Capital Factory Instead of getting hellaciously wasted on Sixth Street, you can go just a little bit farther to check out Austin’s most influential accelerator, located at the corner of Seventh and Brazos. While the amount of money given to accepted startups is a bit underwhelming, the community is unparalleled.

SURVIVING SIXTH STREET

Navigating Austin’s hectic, rowdy nightlife.

BEFORE

POOP It’s called dirty 6th for a reason, and those bathrooms go through hell and back. While many men and women have gotten away with a pee on the street, a poop is on another level.

DRINK Bars in Austin have far more reasonable prices than most big cities, but pregaming is often the most fun part of a night, with no huge crowds of people in between you and your friends.

CHARGE YOUR PHONE With the iPhone’s tendency to drop from 60% to 3% when in any pocket, it is advisable to bring a portable battery as well (Anker batteries are great).

DURING

IDs While girls can get away with a pass back or a South Carolina fake, guys are in no such luck. Even if it scans and black-lights, an ID only works when accompanied by a beard.

WHAT TO DO You can dance, you can hit on boys and girls, you can drink with friends, and you can always stand, watch, and (ashamedly) realize many of these people can vote.

AFTER

FIND YOUR FRIENDS Never has Marco Polo been more fun than when surrounded by thousands of drunk teenagers and homeless “drag rats.”

RIDESHARE HOME It’s never worth the risk to drive your own car to and from 6th. Don’t be too drunk; there’s nothing worse than spontaneously vomitting in a car that isn’t yours.

13

AUSTIN

VENTURE ACTIVITY Q4’15 - Q3’16

AUSTIN AT A GLANCE

Power Breakfast

Coffee Shops to Start Up In

Best Pizza

Best BBQ

Best Bars

Local Beer

Transport

“Must Be At” Local Events

THE TOP