Startup America Partnership, Austin-style

I was invited to attend a luncheon this past Friday hosted by the Austin Chamber of Commerce and the Austin Technology Partnership to discuss the soon-to-launch Startup America Partnership Austin program.  Startup America is a national program launched this past January at the White House and founded by the Case and Kauffman Foundations to further entrepreneurship across the country.  It’s mission is to provide entrepreneurs with the resources they need to conceive, launch and grow new companies and it is taking a local approach to mobilize resources supported by the muscle of a national brand.  There are some heavyweight influencers tied to this effort including Steve Case, Michael Dell, Reed Hastings (Netflix), Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn) and Magic Johnson.

Austin, through the leadership of the Austin Chamber, is taking a pioneer role in being one of the first handful of communities to officially launch its program under the SA brand.  The idea is to gather expertise, talent, customers, services and capital and package these resources at highly discounted rates and/or unique offerings to assist entrepreneurs at various stages of their company’s development.  Another large part of the Austin mission is to create a net inflow of entrepreneurs from other cities to choose and build their companies in Austin.

I was introduced at the lunch by John Price, a friend, serial Austin entrepreneur and Chair of SA Austin, who is spearheading much of the launch effort for Startup Austin in conjunction with other local organizations including the Chamber and SXSW.  In many ways, the story of my new company BlackLocus and its relocation from Pittsburgh to Austin combined with my relocation from Los Angeles, reinforces what Startup Austin is trying to achieve on a broader scale – promote entrepreneurship not just by home growing it, but also by attracting talent from other places in the country to start and grow their companies in Austin.

I’m excited to work with John in any way I can to assist in bringing additional talent and new businesses to Austin.