Startup Grind What Makes Austin a Startup Hub
Startup Grind presents three diverse views of what makes Austin a more successful startup town than some larger cities. The panel will present perspectives from the City of Austin, an economic development consultant from TIP Strategies and the CEO of Stormpulse, a tech company that relocated to Austin. Learn why Austin is uniquely positioned as a strong startup community and what strategies other communities can apply to be more entrepreneur friendly.
Presenters
Andi Gillentine
Dir Austin Chapter
StartupGrind
Bill Boebel
CEO & Founder
Pingboard
CEO and founder of Pingboard, the modern company directory. Serial entrepreneur, director at Capital Factory and an investor in a bunch of really cool companies.
Previously, CTO and founder of Webmail.us, where we grew it to $8M with 72,000 SMB customers and an amazing team of 65 employees. Sold the business to Rackspace in 2007, then did partnerships and M&A at Rackspace.
Prior to all this, launched a couple of startup projects that failed, but ultimately pivoted into Webmail.us. And going WAY back, I was born into an entrepreneurial family and started working for my parents printing company at age 7 stuffing envelopes for 3 cents each. I worked their until heading off to Virginia Tech, but not before digitizing our pre-press operating, bringing it from camera & film to Mac + film printer in 1995 before Apple was cool and before people knew you could print anything but paper.
Jon Roberts
Founder
TIP Strategies
Oregon Technology Fund - Portland, Oregon
Founder, Fat Tire Farm
Director of Business Development - Ann Richards administration
Principal, TIP Strategies, Inc.
Matt Wensing
CEO
Stormpulse Inc
In late 2004, Matthew Wensing began writing the software behind Stormpulse while his family in South Florida lived through the threats of hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Jeanne. Believing that the market was underserved, Wensing embarked on a mission to develop the world’s best interactive weather maps. Since then, he has continuously cast and refined a vision for the company in tune with the needs of weather-affected individuals and industries.