We are glad that you are part of the FIESTA community and hope to see you at our February 15th event. As a refresher, this community exists to help startup founders/entrepreneurs/newcomers feel welcomed, find a place of belonging, and find the help they need.
Announcements:
Kickoff @ Capital Factory
150+ attendees were at our January Meetup!
A huge thank you to all the volunteers who came out this past FIESTA gathering! Forgive me for not putting up everyone here, for the list is too long, but you know who you are!
We had a whole new round of sponsors:
Bunker Labs - a national nonprofit organization providing community, programs, and courses to help military veterans and their spouses start and grow successful businesses and startups.
KOYA Innovations - a hyper-personal connection platform creating the future of connection.
Capital Factory - the center of gravity for entrepreneurs in Texas.
Texas Beer Co. - brewing delicious, locally sourced beer that makes Texans proud.
Josh Cliffords with Free Water provided water for our event.
A good amount of pitches,
Daniel J Donaldson with eve Vehicles - an autonomous charging surveillance drone called CROW.
Jen Houston with Peak Focus.
Jeremy Lowell with KYO Group - a veteran-owned professional services firm that specializes in software development, marketing, and staffing solutions.
Gabe Cavazos with Bunker Labs - provides community, programs, and courses to help military veterans and military spouses start and grow successful businesses and startups.
And even played a card game to help people connect with one another. (it was chaotic!)
Chaos ensues as everyone tries to find their 3 identical cards
We also did a coworking event, which was a huge success. We had 20 people join us and Jen Houston, the founder of PeakFocus, did an amazing job facilitating the time with a brain exercise and 4 focused work sessions.
Co-working event facilitated by Jen Houston
We will have another co-working event on the 3rd Thursday in February, the 17th!
🎉 Celebrations 🎉
🎉 Congratulations to Ariel Lee and Alex Porter who were part of the 23 named on Forbes’ Next 1000 list, chosen from the thousands of small business owners in Austin, Texas.
🎉 Congratulations and a big shout out to Alex Porter and Timothy Porter with Modtech Labs. ModTech Labs was one of four Austin startups selected from among the 45 finalists for the upcoming SXSW Pitch competition. Wishing y’all much-continued success!
🎉 Chris Beaman with Astronomic was on Fox News yesterday. Congrats!
🎉 Congrats Luke Simianer for being highlighted by builtin.com as a company to keep an eye on for 2022.
Additional Photos
Networking begins!
FIESTA Company and Founder Pitches
Post-Pitching Networking
You can check out and add to the album of photos here.
Thought-Provoking Quote
Every single person is an introduction to something else:
Another person, a unique skill, a new project, or something you inevitably will learn about yourself. It should never be about, what will I get from this person? But instead, What can I learn? What can I discover? Or, Who could I connect this person with?
— Lost Art of Connection by Susan McPherson
Here’s how you can say connected and keep informed between gatherings:
Access the #events channel for the FIESTA Google calendar, your guide to important events, deadlines, and fun happening in the tech community and Austin.
Invite others to join you at our next Meetup on February 15th.
Special thanks to Eric Leefor putting this newsletter together!
