A Word On Gratitude

I started ABR almost a year ago, in part because – after a lifetime spent moving from one place to another – I’d never really known what it meant to belong somewhere.

Today, I’m grateful to say that’s less true than it was before.

Through this newsletter, I’ve been lucky to meet many of the community builders, artists, creators, and founders who make this city weird and wonderful, and it was in recognition of them that a few of us got together to make the first-ever ABR Holiday Gift Guide, which releases today.

Inside, you’ll find dozens of Austin brands, some of whom you’ve seen in this email before (like Morgan Potts, who took Granarly from a food truck to 500+ stores). Others, I guarantee you’ve never heard of, but you’ll want to.

This was a huge group effort. It couldn’t have happened without…

Marc Nathan and Bill Murphy who run two of the best damn founder communities in town
Jessica and Ian Haisley, whose shop, Parker + Scott, is home to hundreds of incredible Texas-made brands (be sure to drop by in-person)
And Emily Preble, of Unpack’d, who volunteered her time to design the guide, and knocked it out of the f*cking galaxy

I’m grateful to all of them, and of course, I’m grateful to you for opening this email every week. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving.

Upcoming Events

Still a bit of a slow week for business-focused events, but there were a handful that are business-adjacent and very unique!…

🗓️ Nov. 30: ATX Writing Club: Not strictly business-related, but Zac Solomon’s writing group is a great way to meet interesting people and get some focused work done

🗓️ Dec. 1: Art In The Age of AI: This is the last week of this exhibit, and AI + Art Columnist Julia Morton will be on-site Sunday to answer questions about it

🗓️ Dec. 3: Racing to the Future: Unicorn co-founder and CTO, Bryon Jacob, is discussing how and why founders should interact with AI these days

🗓️ Dec. 3: Sales OStin: This looks great – Valentyn and Lucy Yaromenko are hosting this event on founder-led sales, with perspectives from founders and investors

Side Note: If you like this, you’ll love the calendar that Kat Rector curates of other more technical events in Austin

🗓️ Dec. 5: Bits In Bio: A relatively new biotech meetup, hosted by Kesav Varanasi and Brendan McKenna over at Meanwhile Brewing

🗓️ Dec. 7: How To Be Bawdy: Okay… Hear me out… This one’s all about storytelling. Yes, it’s bawdy storytelling (host Dixie De La Tour is something called a ‘sex folklorist’) but the general theme here is how to tell incredibly personal stories in a relatable way. So it’s basically TED (…basically).

Anyways, you can’t convince me this skill won’t improve your LinkedIn posts. (This is either a brilliant idea by me, or an HR nightmare for you 🤷)

One More (Awesome) Thing… Real estate investor Brett Clark from Constellation Growth Partners is hosting a pumpkin chuckin event down at Stoneledge Vineyard December 7th & 8th.

BYO leftover pumpkins. Every glass of of wine you buy gets you one crack at the launcher (I love that math), plus there’ll be food, horseshoes, pickleball, and more. It’s family friendly, and did I mention you get to drink wine and launch pumpkins?

Hosting something cool? Email me the details below and I’ll try to share it in the newsletter or on LinkedIn.

Not An Ad…

Still Austin isn’t paying a penny for this. I just know from the weekly click-data that a lot of you are whiskey people. So, you might be stoked to hear they’re about to release this beauty – the Tanager Cigar Blend.

Made using an old-world technique from France, and blending red, white, and blue corn bourbon, along with rye and malted barley, then aged for five years, it’s their most premium bottle yet.

They spent more than a year on the packaging alone (and shot a little documentary on it). This puppy drops Dec. 6th at the distillery and a few other spots around town. More info here…

…because if you’re anything like me, you work too much already. So here’s some fun stuff to do around town that’s not necessarily related to business.

TONIGHT: Thanksgiving Karaoke at Hotel Vegas
Nov. 29: Bob Schneider & The Moonlight Orchestra at ACL Live
Nov. 30: Krampus Kegger at Far Out Lounge
Nov. 30: Vintage Pop-Up – 40+ Vendors at Beard Brand Campus
Dec. 1: Kitten Yoga to Benefit Austin Pets Alive
Dec. 1: Vino Vinyasa at Fall Creek Vineyards in Driftwood
Dec. 1: Open Canopy – 89 Art Studios In One Place
Dec. 3: Eberly’s Annual 21+ Gingerbread House Decorating Party
Dec. 3: Sourdough Workshop
Dec. 4: Winter Wreath Workshop with Burlap & Twine
Dec. 4: Trans-Siberian Orchestra Live at Moody
Dec. 4: The Moth Mainstage: Live Storytelling at Paramount
Dec. 5: The George Lucas Talk Show (comedy)
Dec. 5: Daou Wine Dinner at Pershing
Dec. 5-7: Baskerville – A Sherlock Holmes Mystery
Dec. 6: Lighting of the Tree at Historic Driskill Hotel
Dec. 6: Special Preview Party for the 60th Annual Trail of Lights
Dec. 7: Pick Your Own Vegetables at Farmshare Austin
Dec. 7: Studio Soirée – Art After Hours at Julia Ahmad Gallery
Dec. 7: St Elmo Brewing 8th Birthday Party
Dec. 7: Movies Under The Stars: Home Alone

One Last Thing… First Light Books (one of my favorite spots in town) is doing a double feature movie night on Dec. 7 – kicking things off with A Charlie Brown Christmas, followed by You’ve Got Mail.