Here’s a newcomer’s look at the entrepreneurial support scene here in Austin. 

Last week I attended a Friday afternoon “Campfire” at Tech Ranch Austin.  About a year ago we ran the video above featuring co-founders Kevin Koym and Jonas Lamis, and I’m offering it up again because it tells their story so well.  Lamis has moved on to the Bay Area to focus on his own startup Piryx, and Koym is tending the Ranch.

The Campfire event is held every other Friday, open to all comers, and drew about 40 people on the day I attended.  My favorite expression of Koym’s is the headline “will be” entrepreneurs as opposed to “wannabes.”  Those are the people he is looking to identify and accelerate through the many services and connections provided by Tech Ranch.  The startup scene in any city is stimulating, but there’s a big difference between being part of the scene and actually starting something that has the potential to scale into a real business.

The format of the Campfire on this day was to group people in teams of 5-6 and have them talk about specific ways they could help each other.  It was a bit of a speed dating event, matching creatives with tech types, ideas with resources, and exposing concepts for peer review.  Some people were looking for a job with startup, or a consulting assignment, which is fine; others were clearly pretty far down the will-be path.  I thought it was a productive session, based on the many interesting people I met, and was a great introduction to Tech Ranch as a resource for entrepreneurs in this area.

Tech Ranch does a lot to help startups help each other.  It’s far more than co-working, but it has a bit of that flavor.  Koym is an experienced serial entrepreneur himself and is a good connector to money and other important resources.  His model is a bit like the “new ATDC” in Atlanta in its openness, and he’s looking for more space to accommodate demand.

I’ve written about the ATI before.  It has a much more formal admissions process and concentrates on selecting companies that can achieve forward financing.  Bart Bohn, Director of ATI’s IT and Wireless sector, has in particular been extremely helpful to me in opening doors relevant to projects on my plate, and in turn I’ve begun meeting with some of the ATI companies where my experience is germaine and I might be able to assist them in some way.  Yesterday, for example, I enjoyed getting to know two other Georgia Tech alums that have housed their company ihiji in the ATI.

Monday’s post was about an interesting perseverance story with Georgia connections that I discovered at the Venture Labs Investment Competition at the University of Texas.  Just prior to attending that I had the pleasure of meeting Josh Baer, serial entrepreneur, angel investor (many times over), and also an instructor at the McCombs School of Business at UT.   His current personal startup is OtherInBox, which helps organize your incoming email so that important things, like new posts from TechDrawl for example, stay close at hand.  And, he is the director of Capital Factory, which will run its annual YC-like program for 5 participating companies this summer.  Capital Factory has achieved national recognition and is another valuable Austin resource for entrepreneurs, although by no means limited to locals.

Thanks to all who have welcomed me to this city.  It’s certainly a vibrant scene here for tech startups in “Silicon Hill.”