The Top 55 Austin Connectors Every Founder Should Know

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 highlighting 55 of Austin’s top business connectors: the people behind the rooms, meetups, communities, and introductions that help the city’s business ecosystem actually move.

Here’s everything that’s happening this week:

Let’s get to it.

— Ken & Warren

This edition is sponsored by Austin Founders Feed.

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One of the fastest ways to make progress in any business ecosystem is knowing the right people.

At Austin Founders Feed, a big part of our mission is helping founders and operators make more of those connections in real life.

Every week, we curate 40+ business events across Austin. And after eight months of attending those events, meeting hundreds of people, and learning who actually makes this ecosystem move, we decided to take it one step further.

We compiled a list of 55 of the most connected people in Austin’s business community.

These are the people who bring the ecosystem together.

They run the rooms, meetups, walks, newsletters, communities, and events where founders meet investors, operators find partners, and new opportunities start with a conversation.

And this wasn’t just our opinion.

The list is peer-referred. We asked many of Austin’s top connectors one simple question:

Who are the best-connected people in Austin?

The names that came back again and again are the ones you’ll find on the list. If you’re trying to plug deeper into Austin’s business scene, these are some of the people worth knowing.

You just saw 55 of the most connected people in Austin.

The next step is obvious: go connect with them.

But sending a blank connection request from a half-finished profile probably isn’t the best way to introduce yourself.

Our Founder’s Guide to LinkedIn is designed to help you make a stronger first impression before you reach out.

Inside, we break down how to:

You don’t need to already be well-connected in Austin.

You just need to know who you want to meet and how to get their attention.

Tiny Grocer is closing its original South Congress location.

But the five-year-old Austin business isn’t shrinking. It’s putting roughly $1 million into its next location.

Founder Steph Steele is moving the concept to 2411 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., where Tiny Grocer is building out a 3,500-square-foot grocery and restaurant inside the former Longhorn Meat Market.

The new location is expected to open this fall and will include:

The location has some serious Austin history behind it. Longhorn Meat Market traces its roots back to 1892, and Tiny Grocer plans to pay homage to the former tenant through its new butcher and barbecue program.

It’s another major step for Steele, who spent 24 years at Whole Foods before becoming an entrepreneur at 50 and opening Tiny Grocer in 2021.

Tiny Grocer’s former space is being taken over by Louisville-based leather goods company Clayton & Crume. Tiny Grocer hasn’t said rising rent drove the move, but the strategy is clear: trade a small South Congress footprint for a much more ambitious East Austin concept.

Austin is officially in the running for a multibillion-dollar investment that would include a new NHL franchise and arena.

The numbers:

Houston remains the frontrunner, but Austin is still under serious consideration. The NHL launched a six-month evaluation of both cities in June, and commissioner Gary Bettman has said either market would require construction of a new arena.

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