Top Connectors in Austin

Marc Nathan

Austin Active Networking

Putting the right people in the same room for over a decade.

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Marc is one of Austin's best known super connectors, linking founders to investors, partners, and the resources they need to grow. For more than a decade he has run the rooms that built Austin's startup and CPG scenes, from Open Coffee Austin to the monthly Wakeup CPG meetups. He also publishes the Texas Squared newsletter and mentors early stage founders at Capital Factory. His whole job is putting the right people in the same room.

Ethan Brooks

Austin Business Review (ABR)

Betting that as tech accelerates, people will value face to face time even more.

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Ethan founded the Austin Business Review, a newsletter and event series that connects local founders, investors, and business leaders. ABR's core bet is in person: he curates a weekly roundup of local business events and runs the ABR Insights gatherings, wagering that people will value face to face time even more as tech accelerates. He also profiles some of the city's most interesting founders, making him both a chronicler and an introducer for Austin's small business scene.

Cherie Werner

Fiesta

The welcoming force who turns "nice to meet you" into real belonging.

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Cherie is FIESTA's co-founder, community heartbeat, and the welcoming force who turns a room full of "nice to meet you" moments into real belonging, warm introductions, and founder friendships that last well beyond the event. She hosts each gathering with a warm welcome for newcomers and a thoughtful eye for connection, helping founders become seen, supported, celebrated, connected, and resourced with the people and opportunities they need to grow. She also founded FoundHERs, a monthly gathering that uplifts women founders.

Alec Rios

Young Professionals Network

Proving community compounds when you get the right people in the room with intention.

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Alec founded the Young Professionals Network, one of the fastest growing professional communities in Austin, on the premise that you can combine success, contribution, and fun. Its connector role lives in events: large social gatherings at venues like Top Golf and Q2 Stadium, plus volleyball tournaments, paintball, and service oriented meetups. By blending recreation, service, and networking, he brings together young professionals who might never connect through a traditional mixer, making him a hub for the city's emerging professional crowd.

Tomer Soran

SideHustle Live

The work happens in the co-working space. The bonding happens on stage.

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Tomer is the co-host and operator half of SideHustle Live, a former NYC structural engineer who left skyscraper design for entrepreneurship. He owns and runs Effortless Hire, which embeds self-managing offshore operators, from executive assistants to ops and phone sales closers, who run their own lane and think like owners. He co-designed the show's model, where the work happens in the co-working space and the bonding happens on stage.

Cameron Hogan

The Board Walks

The architect behind a walking movement now in a dozen plus cities.

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Cameron is co-founder and head of expansion for The Board Walks, the architect behind the movement's global growth. A writer, coach, and community builder, he owns the city by city scaling that has taken the walks to more than a dozen cities and 20,000 plus attendees. His role is the growth engine to Elle's originator role.

Thanh Pham

Asian Efficiency

Austin's human router, connecting founders to the people they need.

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Thanh is an Austin entrepreneur and AI operator known as "the human router" for connecting founders, investors, and operators to the people and opportunities they need. He founded Asian Efficiency, which he started as a blog in 2011 and built into a company that now trains executives worldwide on AI and productivity, and he co-hosts The Productivity Show, a podcast with millions of downloads. His connecting happens in rooms he designs himself: intentionally small, often sold-out AI workshops capped around fifteen people, curated investor and founder dinners, and LATT3, his coffee-and-DJ mornings. He is also an equity partner in Padel Society. Through cohorts, dinners, and gatherings, he brings Austin's builders together around AI, productivity, and real relationships.

Matt Worthington

Best Day Ever Foundation

400+ tailored experiences for families going through their hardest seasons.

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Matt turned personal loss into a movement, founding the Best Day Ever Foundation, an Austin nonprofit that has delivered more than 400 tailored experiences to individuals and families going through their hardest seasons. He rallies local businesses, volunteers, and donors around each custom day, which makes him a connector of Austin's philanthropic and small business communities. Through partnerships and events he turns the city's goodwill into concrete joy for people who need it most.

Alice Huang

Growth Magic

An operator who built her career around solving problems and connecting people.

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Alice is an operator and real estate developer who has built her career around solving problems and connecting people. Since landing in Austin in 2024, she has put that into practice, hosting founder meetups inspired by podcasts like My First Million and Modern Wisdom. When she's not making introductions, she's building businesses, teaching others how to build community, training Muay Thai, and helping run the Austin Under 40 Awards among other community initiatives. Before Austin, Alice lived in nine cities across eight countries and four continents.

Saleem Ahmad

Anti-VC

Connecting pre seed founders with each other, with mentors, and with first checks.

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Saleem is the founding partner of Anti-VC, a global founders community free of VC bias that helps pre seed founders raise a first investor check, reportedly serving more than 1,000 founders with mentorship and a fundraising playbook. In Austin he organizes the Meet Your Co-Founder ATX meetup, directly matching founders with co-founders, and hosts Anti-VC founder events. He connects bootstrappers and early stage founders with each other, with mentors, and with first checks.

Moby Hayat

FireShow Media

Sharing the paid ads playbooks that actually move the needle for local founders.

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Moby is an Austin media buyer who runs B2B paid ad campaigns and is best known locally for helping a solo dentist scale from 40,000 to 1.12 million dollars in a single year. He shares his paid ads playbooks openly with the Austin founder community, including in his interview with Austin Founders Feed, translating performance marketing into plain steps founders can use. His connector value is as a generous teacher who plugs local founders into what actually drives growth.

Bill Murphy

Willpower

Personally vets every member. That's what makes the room work.

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Bill is the Canadian founder of Willpower, an Austin based, invite only community for operators building consumer, wellness, and performance brands from 10 million to over 1 billion dollars in revenue. He built it after a wellness community helped him quit drinking, merging his wellness and CPG events into one curated room of 250 plus founders, CMOs, and operators. Willpower runs three Austin anchored event series a year, including Wellness House at SXSW, Catalyst dinners, and a World of Sports activation at COTA during F1 weekend. Bill personally vets every member, which is what makes the room work.

Dani Smith

Brand & Community Strategy

Making meaningful introductions and creating unexpected opportunities.

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Dani is an Austin-based strategist who sits at the intersection of brand, business development, and community. She is known for making meaningful introductions, creating unexpected opportunities, and building genuine relationships that help people and businesses grow together.

Naven Dabria

RVVL ATX

Building an Austin community around the idea that life is better together.

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Naven is behind RVVL ATX, a faith based community in Austin built around the idea that life is better together, bringing people together through worship, service, and shared experiences. He also founded SXRGE, a marketing agency. He connects people across the Austin scene through the community he is building.

Heather Trumpfheller

Austin Women in Technology

Her LinkedIn headline literally reads super connector.

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Heather's LinkedIn headline literally reads super connector, and it fits. Her most prominent Austin role is with Austin Women in Technology, where since 2017 she has progressed from membership director to president to advisory board, helping grow one of Austin's leading communities for women in tech. Professionally she is a growth and partnerships leader at Switchboard, matching mission teams with skilled volunteers. Through both she does the same thing, creating meaningful connections across Austin's tech and social impact worlds.

Evan Baehr

Arena Hall

Built Arena Hall to connect Austin's builders with the people who accelerate them.

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Evan is the founder and CEO of Arena Hall, a private membership community in Austin housed in a restored South Congress church, built for founders, investors, artists, and civic leaders. He has organized his career around rebuilding social capital, and Arena Hall is his vehicle: invitation only firesides, roundtables, and salon style dinners that have drawn guests from investor Bill Gurley to nuclear energy CEOs. A serial entrepreneur who co-founded the fintech Able and co-authored the bestseller Get Backed, he is also a managing partner at Learn Capital. Through intentional hospitality he connects the city's builders with exactly the people who can accelerate their work.

Neville Medhora

Kopywriting

Hosting Austin's marketing crowd for coworking out of his own house.

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Neville runs Kopywriting, the marketing and copywriting community he launched in 2012 that now teaches more than 60,000 members. He lives in Austin and is a hub for the local marketing and creator crowd, hosting casual coworking sessions and meetups out of his own house and inviting cool people over to work side by side. He also runs weekly live office hours and X meetups. His whole style is low key, in person connection around getting real work done.

Zack Pennington

Zappy

Connecting Austinites both socially and professionally.

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Zack is an Austin entrepreneur who loves building products, companies, and communities. He co-founded Zappy, Austin's favorite happy hour finder, a searchable database of more than 500 local happy hours built to get people out exploring bars and restaurants and gathering their friends. He is also CEO of Nacho (formerly Trusty Oak), a talent partner that connects business owners with US based fractional talent, and he shows up as a speaker at Austin small business events. Between the app and the agency, he connects Austinites both socially and professionally.

Zac Tinney

SVC at SXSW

Assembling unlikely rooms of founders, creatives, and civic leaders.

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Zac is an Austin event producer who works at the seam between the city's faith community and its startup, tech, music, and film scenes. As executive director of SVC he grew a small Sunday gathering for SXSW attendees into a multi day program that drew more than 7,000 participants across two days, and for 2026 he pulled 400 plus founders, investors, and givers into Austin alongside an invitation only community leaders dinner and an official SXSW music showcase. He also founded the DCX Conference, an Austin leadership event he emcees that has featured speakers like Tim Tebow, Patrick Lencioni, and Jon Acuff. His pattern is assembling unlikely rooms of founders, creatives, church leaders, and nonprofit CEOs, then partnering broadly rather than building alone.