What 30+ Austin Founders Want You to Know

A few weeks ago, we took a look back at every Founder Friday interview we've done and asked a simple question: what makes Austin's business scene different? We loved putting that one together, and we promised ourselves we'd come back and do it again.

Near the end of almost every interview, we ask some version of the same question: what advice would you give someone building a business in Austin? More than 30 founders later, we have a pretty good collection of answers. They come from people running CPG brands, film studios, hot pot restaurants, recruiting firms, media companies, and everything in between, and a lot of them landed in the same place.

Here's the advice that kept coming up.

What founders can steal from this:

Start before you feel ready.
Get honest feedback early.
Get out from behind the screen.
Find your community, or start one.
Give before you ask.
Build relationships before you need them.
Pick a narrow lane and win it.
Hire slowly and on purpose.
Use the levers most people ignore.
Stay with it longer than feels reasonable.

Here's what Austin's founders shared about building a business in their city:

Start before you feel ready

The most common advice we heard was also the simplest: stop planning and go do it. Several founders pointed out that the cost of starting has never been lower. You can build a website in a day, test an idea for a few hundred dollars, and get in front of real customers within weeks. The founders who struggled most were the ones who waited for the perfect moment.

"Just go and do it. In the beginning, it's about getting the feedback… The hardest part is getting started. It's okay if you fail. If you fail, that means you're actually learning something. Can you put your ego aside and say, 'Sure, I lost $100 on this, but can I try again'?"
Aasim Sayani, Fuse Jewelry

"Right now is such a golden window. You can go build anything, at least the MVP of whatever you think the longer-term business will be… The barrier to entry is so low that people have no excuses for not getting started."
Alok Gupta, AutoReel

"Go fast. Everyone is moving fast right now, and you don't need two years of groundwork before you're in market anymore. Fast doesn't mean sloppy, get your legal right, get your ducks in a row, but get to a real customer before it feels comfortable. Real users tell you the truth; friends don't."
Blake George, SummitPoint Collective

Get honest feedback early

Austin's friendliness is one of its best qualities, but a few founders warned that it has a downside. When everyone is supportive, it's easy to go a long time without hearing that your idea has a problem. The fix they suggested was to get in front of customers yourself, early and often, and listen closely to what they tell you.

"[In Austin] there are fewer people who will say, 'That sucks. That's a bad idea, and here's why.' Nobody is as sharp elbowed about that, so people run along with bad ideas."
Jason Scharf, Austin Next

"Are you talking with them and engaging with them and getting feedback from them about what you've built?… You can glean so much more when you actually talk to somebody, especially if you can show them what you're building."
Greg Keogh, Curios

"Be in the face of your customers. Don't hire somebody up front. Do it yourself for the first few weeks and months so you can hear the feedback and understand what people are saying about your label, brand, taste, and pricing."
Marc Nathan, Wakeup CPG

Get out from behind the screen

With AI making it easy to send a thousand cold messages, many founders said the real advantage now is showing up in person. Walking into an office, shaking hands at an event, or knocking on doors gets you remembered in a way a DM never will. And in a city as compact as Austin, your first customer may only be a few miles away.

"In the age of AI, where contact is increasingly impersonal, the hack is to go in person. At the beginning, Declan thought our biggest competitive advantage was that we showed up in person. We were terrible, but we were there. Think about how many people DM you offering to edit your YouTube videos. A billion, all saying the same thing. How many have shown up on your front porch?"
Aidan Evans, DSE Media

"There's a quote I believe in: an empire was never built behind a screen. It's a mix of new and old."
Conley Miller, Fit Local

"Don't feel like you need to look elsewhere in other cities to make a few really solid connections that could really change the trajectory about where you're going. The person that could be your first customer for your business could be in the zip code right next door, or at a coffee shop downtown."
Darby Rollins, SideHustle Live

Find your community, or start one

Austin has a group for almost everything: founders who run, CPG operators who meet for coffee, writers, creators, young professionals. The founders we talked to said joining the right one early can save you years, and that it's worth exploring again even after you've found your people. If the community you need doesn't exist yet, that may be your opportunity.

"Find a community around what you do, as specific as you can get. And if you can't find one, start it."
Chris Taylor, Red Fridge Society

"What you find very quickly is that there are about 20 people hosting most of the events in town. They're all more than happy to help introduce you around… Just lean in. Stop thinking about Dubai or wherever else. Lean in in Austin."
Ethan Brooks, Austin Business Review

"If you just moved here, dive in and ask everybody, 'What event are you going to? How do I get plugged in?' And if you've been here a few years, find new events and new pockets of people. It's easy to settle into your group. Go explore again."
Aleric Heck, Ad Outreach

Give before you ask

Nearly every founder who talked about networking said the same thing: walk into the room thinking about what you can offer, not what you can get. In a city where people talk to each other this much, your reputation travels fast. Being known as someone who helps is one of the best growth strategies available, and it costs nothing.

"Those who add value to others don't do it accidentally. They do it with intention."
Alec Rios, Young Professionals Network

"Lead with value. See if you can help other people, and people will want to help you back. You'll grow connections in the community, which is what's super valuable: making friends and having people in your corner rooting for you."
Michelle Rueda, WhatsGoodATX

"Don't hold your cards too close to your chest. Austin rewards people who are open. Yes, there's competition, but view it more as a rising tide that lifts all ships."
Nate Strayer, Stray Vista Studios

Build relationships before you need them

Founders who have raised money or scaled production told us the relationships came first. Investors, accountants, manufacturers, and partners are far more willing to help someone they already know. The time to meet them is months before you need anything.

"Start sooner than you think you need to. If you want to close in Q1, the relationships need to start in Q3… Lastly: Your network matters so much more than many realize."
Blake George, SummitPoint Collective

"Once you've started and want to scale, that's where the key players come in. You need the community, the people, the good accountant… Same with manufacturers. Build the relationship, so there are moments when you'll want them to go the extra mile. If you have that relationship, they will. If you don't, there's an extra bill to pay."
Aasim Sayani, Fuse Jewelry

Pick a narrow lane and win it

Trying to reach everyone usually means reaching no one. Founders who grew quickly told us they picked one audience or one channel and went deep before expanding. In Austin, that can be as specific as a single neighborhood.

"Don't try to market to Austin as a whole, it's too broad. The traffic on I-35 doesn't help. Focus on specific neighborhoods or communities and dominate those areas first."
happyhopper

"The most important thing is paying attention to what's working right now in your industry and focusing on the one or two growth channels that actually move the needle."
Mike Black, Talent Stream

Hire slowly and on purpose

Early hires shape a company more than almost any other decision, and the recruiters we interviewed said founders often rush them or default to friends. Their advice was to get clear on what the business actually needs first. Sometimes the answer isn't a full-time hire at all.

"Don't be afraid to talk to people, and don't just hire your friend. Founders have a way of keeping things in-house and only looking at a select group."
Jami Adkins, People ATX

"Hold out for talent. That doesn't mean slowing the process down. It means taking time to dissect what you need. You may not need a hire at all. You may need a consultant for three to six months… One hiring decision at the early stage can make or break the company."
Andrés Traslaviña, People ATX

Use the levers most people ignore

A few founders shared tactics we hadn't heard anywhere else. Get to know the people who run your city. Partner with the creators who already live here and have the audience you want. Host or sponsor events so customers come to you. None of these are complicated, and most of your competitors aren't doing them.

"Getting engaged civically is an underrated hack for networking with the people you want to do business with… Nobody knows what a city manager is, but your average city manager knows a ridiculous number of people and is central to any contracting or development in a city."
Aidan Evans, DSE Media

"There's an opportunity to partner with influencers who live here. They'll do distribution for you if you give them a great deal and your product aligns with their audience… You live in a city full of people with audiences."
Leon Hendrix, DRVN Community

"Get into the event game, whether you sponsor someone else's event or host an event, because there are so many moments of capture that can happen when you create environments for people."
JaMarr John Johnson, EntrepreMedian

Stay with it longer than feels reasonable

Almost every founder had a stretch where nothing seemed to be working. The ones who made it through said they kept going after the excitement wore off, and they were willing to be bad at something long enough to get good at it. Sagun Sedai's story is our favorite example. He posted for 45 days with almost nothing to show for it before his first video took off.

"With Austin Report, I went 45 days with no results. I could have quit on day 40. We joke about it: you could quit on day 44, and there could be a video that blows up on day 45, and you'd never even know, because you quit."
Sagun Sedai, Austin Report

"Just because something doesn't feel novel anymore doesn't mean you can't do it. A lot of people stop doing something, or start something new, because the feeling has faded."
Nicole Skotz, Momentum ADHD Coaching

"It's okay to be bad, because then you get up next week, learn from your mistakes, and try again."
Conley Miller, Fit Local

How can the Austin community help?

Reading back through all of this advice, what stood out to us is how little of it is about tactics. Most of it comes down to starting, showing up, helping people, and staying with it. That's good news, because none of it requires a big budget or a perfect plan. Thank you to every founder who has sat down with us this year. Your stories are the reason we keep doing this. If one piece of advice here hit home, or if there's a founder you think we should interview next, reach out and tell us.

Where can people learn more?

You can read every full conversation on the Austin Founders Feed interviews page, including the companion piece on what makes Austin's business scene different.