10 Steps to Plug into the Austin Startup Scene

Meet these people, follow these Twitter accounts, join these Facebook groups, and attend these Meetups to get instantly plugged into the Austin Startup Scene!

If you’ve signed up to attend one of our Intro to the Austin Startup Scene meetups, you should go through this checklist before you arrive.

1. Sign up for the Austin Startup Digest

This is your first step and the easiest one. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Go directly to startupdigest.com/austin and click the Subscribe button in the upper right hand corner.

Tweet at me with links to news and events that should be included in the weekly email to the Austin Startup Community.

2. Follow these people on Twitter

Okay this is easy too. How hard is it to follow someone on Twitter? In case you need extra help, here is a handy Twitter List with even more people to follow.

Inventor of Ethernet and founder of 3Com. Recovering venture capitalist. Professor of Innovation at UT Austin and all around amazing human being. Follow him to find out what’s happening with the UT Austin startup and innovation community.

Damon is the most prolific community organizer in Austin — responsible for starting Austin on Rails, Open Coffee, Cafe Bedouins, Founder Dating and many other great meetups. Follow him to get the insider scoop on the Austin hacker community.

Jacqueline is my co-organizer of Austin Startup Week and runs events for Techstars nationally. Jacqueline is one of the people most plugged into the national startup scene in Austin. Follow her to find out what’s going on with Startup Week and other great community events.

Julie is the Queen of Austin Tech — also known as CEO of the Austin Technology Council. She works with some of the largest companies in town to coordinate their policy and leadership efforts. Follow her to find out the tech perspective on the City of Austin and to hear from some of the largest companies in town.

Dan is the founder of BuildASign.com and one of the most active angel investors in town. He’s helped create the Startup Games and Philanthropitch and supports many of the largest charities in Austin. Follow him to find out what’s happening with impact investing and social good.

Brett is the founder of Coremetrics and Bazaarvoice and is another one of the most active angel investors in town. He blogs regularly at Lucky7.io and is connected to venture capital on the east and west coasts. Follow him to get the angel investor perspective on Austin.

3. Join these Facebook groups

Facebook Groups seem to be the most popular online forum these days. You’ll find vibrant groups on many different topics where people post news, jobs and discuss the topic of the day.

The most important group is Austin Startups. Moderated by Noah Kagan, this group has more than 10,000 members and is the defacto voice of the Austin startup community.

If you’re looking for a job, post your resume to Capital Factory Jobs and Austin Digital Jobs to reach another 10,000 people combined. You might also get noticed by volunteering at an event posted on the ATX Tech Volunteers group.

4. Get your news here

The traditional news source is the Austin Business Journal. Part of the national BizJournals network, they publish a print edition, online edition, daily news emails, and a great Twitter feed. Plus they host many different events and awards throughout the year. The reporter on the tech beat is Christopher Calnan.

There are also a number of online-only media outlets that cover the startup scene and are worth watching.

5. Hang out at these coffee shops

Coffee shops are natural meeting places and are high traffic so you’re more likely to just bump into someone there. The places to hang out downtown are Houndstooth in the Frost Bank Tower, Medici in the Austonian, on Jo’s Coffee on Second Street. If you’re near West Lake or Barton Creek, drop by Lola Savannah because lots of investors live in that area.

6. Go to these Happy Hours

Sometimes it’s easier to meet people when there is some lubrication. Three regular happy hours that you don’t want to miss:

• BASHH (Big Ass Social Happy Hour) by Lani Rosales
  This is a massive recruiting and networking event and is one of the biggest regular happy hours.
• Intro to the Austin Startup Scene Happy Hour at Capital Factory
  Check out the views from the exclusive Capital Factory members lounge on the top floor of Austin Centre downtown. This happy hour happens every month after the Intro to the Austin Startup Scene meetup and is the first stop if you’re new to town or new to the startup scene.
• Tech Happy Hour by Bryan Menell
  This is one of the longest running happy hours in town and is where many of the tech executives in town show up who are notorious for not showing up to anything. Great place to make connections and swap business cards.

7. Go to these Meetups

Meetups are the lifeblood of the Austin Startup Community and you can find a half-dozen going on any given night on Meetup.com. If you can’t attend in person, you can watch the live stream or archived video of events at Austin Tech Live.

The first meetup you should go to is the Intro to the Austin Startup Scene which I host once a month at Capital Factory. I cover every thing you need to know if you are new to Austin or just new to the startup scene. There is a happy hour afterwards so you can make connections while you are there.

Another place to start is Open Coffee, organized by Damon Clinkscales. It’s at Houndstooth Coffee on the 1st & 3rd Thursdays from 8:30am-10:30am and is a casual place to meet other entrepreneurs.

Here are some of the biggest and most well organized meetups that are worth attending once or twice just for the experience and to meet people.

8. Go to the next hack-a-thon like 3 Day Startup or Startup Weekend

One of the most common questions I get asked is how to find a co-founder and I think that hack-a-thons are one of the best places. The people who attend are self-selected startup types and you get to really see what people are like and how hard they work under pressure. I know a number of startups teams that formed at these events such as Apotact Labs and Chiron Health.

9. Sign up for a Co-working Membership at Capital Factory or WeWork

Surround yourself with entrepreneurs by getting a membership at a co-working space that caters to tech startups. Bump into like-minded people in the kitchen and at events. Sign up for “office hours” to meet with mentors and investors.

10. Learn to code

Teach yourself to code on CodeAcademy or attend a 3 month intensive course. Attend meetups and hack-a-thons and work on side projects at Cafe Bedouins.