Austin Tech Connect: The Podcast For The Austin Technology Ecosystem, Business Leaders, and Tech Entrepreneurs!

In this episode of Austin Tech Connect, Thom Singer sits down with Brett Hurt, one of Austin's most recognized entrepreneurs, investors, and technology leaders... and a recent inductee into the Austin Tech Hall of Fame.  Brett has founded and led companies, had major exits, invested in more than 150 startups, and helped shape the Austin tech ecosystem for decades. But this conversation is not just...

In this episode of Austin Tech Connect, Thom Singer (CEO of the Austin Technology Council) sits down with Ben Barnes, the former Texas Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the House, for a wide-ranging conversation about leadership, public service, Texas history, resilience, and staying engaged in life at every age. Ben's political career began when he was elected to the Texas House of Representativ...

Peter Zandan has been part of Austin's technology story since 1977... long before anyone was calling this city a tech hub. In this episode of Austin Tech Connect, Thom Singer sits down with the long-time entrepreneur and community leader (and recent inductee into the Austin Tech Hall of Fame) to trace that journey from the beginning. Peter shares what brought him to Austin, what kept him here, and...

Thom Singer sits down with Kathleen Lucente, founder and CEO of Red Fan Communications, for a conversation about how AI is rewriting the rules of brand visibility. Kathleen has spent nearly two decades advising B2B tech CMOs and founders on messaging, M&A communications, and crisis response.... and she's now watching AI answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google Gemini replace the click-t...

In this episode of Austin Tech Connect, Thom Singer talks with Stephen Straus, co-founder and CEO of KungFu. AI, about what it really means to lead in the age of artificial intelligence. Stephen started KungFu. AI in 2017, years before ChatGPT made AI the topic everyone was talking about, and his perspective is shaped by seeing the early internet boom in Austin and now watching AI reshape every in...

In this episode of Austin Tech Connect , Thom Singer talks with Jess Lowry, Laura Timmis, and Rachael DiGiovine of Mindful Collective about career transitions, layoffs, and the very real human impact of uncertainty in today's tech-enabled economy. Mindful Collective is a community of practice that helps people stay active and connected while they explore what comes next, linking members to mentors...

The Austin Technology Council hosted the third annual Austin Tech Hall of Fame at the offices of Wise at The Domain in Austin, Texas. Two hundred members of the Austin tech community came together to honor the builders, founders, and leaders whose work laid the foundation of one of the most dynamic technology ecosystems in the world. In this episode, Thom Singer recaps the evening and goes deeper...

On this episode of Austin Tech Connect , Thom Singer sits down with Skip Balch , founder and principal consultant at SalesHandicapper , for a wide-ranging conversation about sales, leadership, artificial intelligence, and the Austin technology community. Skip has lived in Austin for more than 13 years and brings nearly five decades of sales and sales leadership experience to the conversation. His...

Bruno Spruth - CTO at Q.ant In this episode of Austin Tech Connect , Thom Singer talks with Bruno Spruth , the newly appointed CTO of Q.ant , a German deep tech company expanding into the United States with its U.S. headquarters in Austin. Q.ant is working on one of the biggest challenges facing the future of AI, energy consumption. As AI systems grow, the demand for compute power continues to ris...

Some episodes of Austin Tech Connect are about startups, leadership, and innovation. This episode is about all of those things, but it is also about grief, courage, and purpose. In this conversation, Thom Singer talks with Michael McCown, founder and CEO of H27 Technologies , about the deeply personal story behind LinnESync . Michael shares how a season of unimaginable loss changed his family's li...

What does it mean when an top local leader in engineering says, "We don't hire engineers"? In this episode of Austin Tech Connect , Thom Singer sits down with Balazs Barna, Head of U.S. Engineering at Wise, to unpack that statement and explore what engineering leadership looks like in an AI-driven world. Balazs explains that Wise is not looking for people who simply execute tickets. They want "pro...

In this episode of Austin Tech Connect , Thom Singer sits down with Dr. Nick Hallman, professor at The University of Texas at Austin, to talk about one of the biggest business questions of the moment, how companies are actually using AI, and whether they are measuring success the right way. Drawing on research conducted with KPMG, Dr. Hallman shares what his team learned from studying real workpla...

In this episode of Austin Tech Connect , Thom Singer sits down with Taylor McHargue of Cushman & Wakefield. Taylor is a new board member at the Austin Technology Council, and is a good example of the next generation of people in the tech ecosystem that want to show up and help build the future for all. In this interview we explore what the commercial real estate market can tell us about the curren...

This episode  of "Austin Tech Connect" (the official podcast of the Austin Technology Council) features a conversation between Thom Singer (CEO at ATC) and Paul O'Brien about Paul's new book "Startup Ecosystems." Paul discussed his career journey from Michigan to Silicon Valley to Austin, where he has lived for 17 years working in public affairs for startup ecosystems. They explored how Austin's t...

The episode of Austin Tech Connect is an interview with Christine McDannell , an M&A advisor who recently moved to Austin from San Diego. Christine discussed her entrepreneurial journey, including her experience selling multiple companies and founding The Magnolia Firm , which specializes in helping digital businesses and SaaS companies find buyers. She explained her unique approach of turning awa...

In this episode of the Austin Tech Connect podcast, Thom Singer interviewed Phil Gilbert, author of "Irresistible Change: The Blueprint for Earning Buy-In and Breakout Success," about his career in technology and his experiences transforming IBM after its acquisition of Lombardi Software. Gilbert shared his journey from founding a PC consulting company in the 1980s to leading design at IBM, where...

In this episode of Austin Tech Connect , Thom Singer sits down with Matt Zilli, the new CEO of Planview, for a grounded conversation about leadership, career growth, and why real relationships still matter in a tech world chasing speed. Matt shares his unusual path through SaaS, from computer science at Santa Clara, to Marketo, to leading private equity backed software companies, and how a strong...

What happens when a single, outdated $5 semiconductor can stall an aircraft program, delay medical equipment, or freeze production lines? In this episode of Austin Tech Connect , Thom Singer sits down with Ryan Hatcher , CEO and founder of Phoenix Semiconductor , to unpack a supply chain problem that quietly cripples industries: "end-of-life" chips that are no longer manufactured, but are still es...

In this episode of Austin Tech Connect , Thom Singer talks with Prakhar Agrawal , CEO of Senseloaf AI , an Austin based startup using AI agents to make recruiting faster, more human, and less frustrating for both candidates and hiring teams. Prakhar shares his path from mechanical engineering to entrepreneurship, and how a broken job search experience in 2017–2018 pushed him to build an "automated...

In this episode of Austin Tech Connect, ATC's Thom Singer sits down with Brandon Tigges, co-founder and CEO of Austin based Job Machine. Brandon grew up a military kid, was homeschooled, moved eight times before age 18, and learned early how to adapt, learn fast, and build relationships. That path took him from finance to tech sales, then into entrepreneurship, fueled by mentors, books, and an obs...

Austin did not become a tech city by accident, and it will not stay an innovation center on autopilot. In the first Austin Tech Connect episode of 2026, Thom Singer sits down with Jan Ryan, CEO of Three Hills, a longtime operator in venture backed startups, a builder of community, and a force behind expanding opportunity for women founders in Austin. Jan takes us back to the mid 90s when Austin wa...

Austin Tech Connect closes out 2025 with a milestone episode celebrating the podcast's three year anniversary and ending the year with a high energy conversation about entrepreneurship, custom software, and what it takes to keep building in Austin. Thom welcomes Scott Kenyon, founding partner at Applaudo, a firm that helps companies go from early stage ideas to real products, covering strategy, MV...

This week on Austin Tech Connect , we are sharing the keynote from the 2025 State of Tech breakfast , hosted by the Austin Technology Council and the Austin Chamber of Commerce . Tyson Tuttle, CEO of Circuit and former CEO of Silicon Labs, unpacks how AI is accelerating into the physical world, why energy and compute infrastructure matter more than ever, and what the convergence of AI, semiconduct...

Austin Tech Connect welcomes back data and AI expert (and ATC board member) Ronnie Sheth for a very real conversation about what is actually happening inside companies trying to adopt AI. Ronnie helps organizations design human first experiences with data and AI, and she brings both a strategic lens and a deep sense of responsibility to how this technology shows up in our businesses and our commun...

In this episode of Austin Tech Connect , Thom Singer sits down with Austin Tech Hall of Fame inductee Bob Fabbio, a founder and leader whose career is woven into the story of our region's tech ecosystem. Bob shares how a reluctant interview trip from Massachusetts to IBM Austin in 1987 turned into a one way ticket to a city he quickly fell in love with. After realizing he was "a fish out of water"...