Over the years, large and small tech companies have relocated their headquarters to Austin or opened another office or campus in the Texas capital.
They dragged into the city for a number of reasons (currently (for the time being)), including living conditions, no state tariffs, a business-friendly environment, and the low cost of living. The impact on the city’s early ecosystem has felt by a growing number of entrepreneurs (most of who have worked with technology giants who have a large presence in the city) and investors are calling Austin home.
Recently, Tesla plans to build a gigafactory in the city and Oracle’s announcement that it is moving its headquarters here has made national headlines. Many comparisons in the Bay Area-from the ever growing, mature startup scene to the highly heated and competitive real estate market.
All the while, venture capitalists see the core area of opportunity as different. At one point, Austin was once a large enterprise software city. While the software is still large here, several other sectors are growing, including CPG (consumer package products) and real estate technology. The following is a survey of some of the city’s top VCs and their estimates of Austin’s ecosystem growth. Whom are we talking to here?
- Carey Smith, Unorthodox Ventures
- Joshua Baer, Capital Factory
- Morgan Flager, Silverton Partners
- Krishna Srinivasan, LiveOak Venture Partners
- Zaz Floreani, Next Coast Ventures
- Eric Engineer, S3 Ventures
Eric Engineer of S3 Ventures believes that by 2030 the Texas startup ecosystem could be the second largest in the country. “Tech ecosystems benefit from the virtuous cycle. The more talented people move to Texas, the more capital will follow them, which will attract more talent, and much more,” he said. Morgan Flager of Silverton Partners, a 16-year-old, said that more than 16 years after Silverton founded, the state’s largest VC firm has always bet on Austin and more clearly Texas.
“We’ve always felt that if Austin can win, we can win, and we’re going to run our business this way,” he said. Want to take on their role… Going forward, a key element of success is encouraging this existing philosophy of community collaboration, which has already contributed to building Austin as such an attractive place. Austin is a place where people want to succeed by helping their community succeeds and they are not willing to give up for the former. As we hold on to this core philosophy as we grow, we are looking forward to an amazing future.
