Remembering Josh Baer

Howdy, Austin.

Welcome to Austin Founders Feed, your weekly rundown on the people, companies, events, and opportunities shaping one of the most exciting business scenes in the country.

This week, we’re remembering Josh Baer, co-founder and CEO of Capital Factory, responsible for building Capital Factory into one of the most recognizable hubs in Texas entrepreneurship today.

Here’s everything that’s happening this week:

Let’s get to it.

— Ken & Warren

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Austin’s founder community lost one of its most important builders this week. Joshua Baer, co-founder and CEO of Capital Factory, passed away after a private plane crash near Laredo.

There’s no easy way to write about that in a newsletter like this.

Capital Factory is not just another startup space in Austin. For many founders, it has been the front door into the city’s startup ecosystem: the place people go for events, investor conversations, pitch practice, mentors, coworking, and the first feeling that Austin might actually be a place where they can build something.

Josh helped make that possible.

He was one of the people who spent years transforming Austin’s startup scene from a loose network of builders into what it is today. That kind of work is hard to measure. But founders feel it.

They feel it when there is a room to walk into that welcomes them, before they even know anyone.

They feel it when someone makes an introduction that changes the next few years of their company.

They feel it when a city starts to believe that startups aren’t just built in Silicon Valley, but something Austin can build in its own way too.

That’s part of Josh’s legacy.

Capital Factory has become one of the most recognizable hubs in Texas entrepreneurship because he kept showing up to organize the room, connect the people, back the builders, and make Austin’s startup ecosystem more accessible for everyone.

Our thoughts are with Josh’s family, the Capital Factory team, and the many founders, investors, operators, and friends across Austin who are grieving this loss.

Austin’s startup ecosystem is stronger because Josh Baer helped build it. And the best way to honor that work is to keep making this city easier for founders to find their people, build their companies, and help the next person through the door.

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The Austin-born burger chain P. Terry’s, recently announced it’s transitioning into an Employee Ownership Trust, giving eligible employees a path to share in the future profits of the business.

The plan starts with 5% of operating income and is designed to rise to 20% over time for employees who have been with the company for more than two years.

That is a big move for a fast-growing local brand.

P. Terry’s started in Austin in 2005 and has grown into one of Texas’ most recognizable regional restaurant chains, with locations across Austin, San Antonio, and Houston.

But as most franchises scale, they eventually hit a wall.

More locations. More managers. More hiring. More systems. More distance between the founders and the front line. This is when culture either becomes operational, or it turns into nostalgia.

P. Terry’s employee ownership move is a bet that the people carrying the brand every day should also participate in the upside, that this will help propel the culture of P. Terry’s forward as the brand continues to scale from here in Austin, all across the country.

P. Terry’s has always been more than burgers for a lot of Austinites. The question now is whether employee ownership can help keep it that way as the company keeps growing.

Austin isn’t just a good place to build.

It also affords one of the best lifestyles of all capital cities in the country.

A new WalletHub ranking named Austin the No. 1 state capital to live in for 2026, comparing all 50 state capitals across 48 metrics including affordability, economic well-being, education, health, and quality of life.

The numbers explain why:

Austin’s super power is the combination of earning power, business formation, education, health, restaurants, attractions, and lifestyle that makes people want to stay.

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