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

This week we are hosting a special "Crossover Episode" with the "Austin Next Podcast".  Do you remember the excitement when two of your favorite TV Shows had a "Crossover" (when characters from one appeared on the other show and vice versa).  Depending you age you might recall the 6 Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman.... or When the cast of Mad About You walked into Central Perk on Friends,  or w...

Collaboration for the success of Austin means all the different non-profits working together for the common good of the community.  The team at Austin Women in Technology has been a great friend to the Austin Technology Council, and we work together to help promote both organizations.   In this week's episode, Thom Singer sits down with Heather Trumpfheller and Emily Gupton from AWT to hear about...

James Beecham is a Founder and the Chief Executive Officer at ALTR, an innovator of automated data access control and security solutions. He has over a decade of experience leading technology and engineering teams in computer architecture design, database and operating system drivers, database security and data governance and privacy system design. James holds multiple software patents and a degre...

Mike Staples has over 15 years of experience in operations, stemming from his time in the Army as a Blackhawk pilot. Prior to Cruise, he brought two early stage tech startups to market, launched a non-sortable facility for Amazon, and launched remote markets for Uber. Mike is passionate about empowering people through tech and super pumped to scale the future of transportation, starting in Austin....

Suzi Sosa is the co-founder and CEO of Verb, a social enterprise dedicated to unlocking human potential.  Verb's breakthrough platform supports employees in their journey of human-centered leadership development through online practice-based learning. The capabilities employees develop on Verb include self-awareness, empathy, supporting others, collaboration, inclusive leadership, having difficult...

Razat Gaurav is chief executive officer of Planview, joining the company in 2021. Razat has over 20 years of experience in the enterprise software space, with a proven track record of driving innovation-based growth and scaling up technology businesses. He is a trusted advisor to leading executives, boards and investors on topics related to digital transformation initiatives.   Prior to joining Pl...

Joyce Durst is the CEO and co-founder of Growth Acceleration Partners, a strategic technology solutions partner headquartered in Austin, TX. An engineer by trade and visionary leader by nature — leveraging 30+ years of experience in the software and technology industry — Joyce started GAP in 2007 as a values-based company built on strategic, long-term client partnerships.   Joyce received a degree...

Brent Wistrom is senior editor at Austin Inno and a reporter at the Austin Business Journal. He covers startup news and tech trends through Inno's daily newsletter, The Beat, and news stories on the Inno and ABJ websites. Prior to joining Inno in 2015, he covered state politics, city hall and crime at The Wichita Eagle, Kansas City Star and Wichita Falls Times Record News. He graduated from the Un...

  Krishna Srinivasan is a co-founder of LiveOak Venture Partners and has been investing in early-stage Texas based companies and entrepreneurs since 2000. His active board involvements at LiveOak include DISCO (NYSE: LAW), Eventus Systems, Homeward, Iris Plans, Imandra, Ojo Labs, Rollick, SchooLinks, Talent Guard, and Virdee. His notable past investments include Digital Pharmacist (acquired by K1)...

Rob  is a serial software entrepreneur having built, scaled and exited multiple B2B and B2C venture-backed technology businesses. Most recently, Rob was co-founder and CEO of Convey, a pioneer in logistics and supply chain visibility software for some of the largest global retailers such as The Home Depot, Costco, Walmart and QVC. Convey was acquired by project44 in 2021 for $255M. Prior to Convey...

In his role as CEO and Founder of SailPoint, Mark brings almost 35 years of experience in technology, with over 20 years as a founder and leader of innovative identity management companies. Under Mark's direction, SailPoint has grown into the leader in identity security for the modern enterprise with over 2K employees worldwide, operating in 155 countries. Last year, SailPoint was acquired by Thom...

Following 4 years of R&D at the University of Cambridge in England, CEO and founder Angela Hood returned to Austin, Texas to build ThisWay Global Inc., a company that converges technology with talent networks (not job boards) to unlock human potential. Today, ThisWay is one of the fastest growing SaaS automation companies in the world, serving over 5000 company customers. ThisWay provides unbiased...

Richard Walker is the CEO and co-founder of Quik!. Having started 10 companies since age 12, host of The Customer Wins podcast, author of two books, and father to three boys, Richard empowers people to do their best work. Prior to starting Quik!, Richard was a financial advisor with Financial Network and a business consultant with Arthur Andersen. He started Quik! in 2002 to help people spend less...

John has founded and led multiple startups and early growth projects to successful exits by identifying market value gaps, matching innovative technology solutions. Early in the ATM technology curve he started Hartigan ATM and built a network of ATMs across CA and Arizona later selling to Marathon ATM/ Cord Financial. He then launched Mobile Cloth®, a CPG brand leveraging the touch screen device g...

Matt Stephenson is the CEO and Co-Founder along with his wife of Code2College (www.code2college.org), an Austin, TX based nonprofit that is building a national network of diverse, college-going technical talent. Through its skills-based, volunteer-driven program model, high school students – who are primarily Black, brown and girls – develop coding and professional skills, gain exposure to a varie...

For over 30 years, Lawrence Waugh has been rethinking the way that software is developed.  After graduating from MIT, he spent 7 years flying combat jets for the Navy before leaving to pursue his MS in Computer Science at Stanford. Recruited to Austin by Trilogy Software, Lawrence spent the next several years with various Enterprise Software companies, becoming progressively frustrated by their po...

Maren Miller is Americas EY Private Business Development Leader.  She works with high growth companies on how to navigate success through the services offered by EY in the areas of tax, audit, and consulting.   She works to provide high-growth, private or IPO-bound companies with the best EY services for their unique needs. Maren is committed to delivering exceptional client service and bringing e...

Tom Kieley graduated from Texas A&M in 2004 and co-founded SourceDay in 2015 after launching his first tech startup, RG in 2008. Earlier in his career, he started as a manufacturing supervisor at Dell and later into enterprise selling with software companies like Boomi and Pervasive.   Tom and his co-founder, Clint, started SourceDay to transform how manufacturers, distributors, and retailers coll...

Dave Parks has over 25 years of experience in the digital strategy and transformative solutions arena. Beginning his career as a software developer, he eventually transitioned into technology management, technical sales and solution sales roles. Dave founded Adjacent Technologies, Inc. in 2002, and was acting CEO until merging Adjacent with enChoice in late 2019. Dave holds a bachelor's degree in...

Justin Fischer has over 20 years of financial technology experience, with a heavy focus on community financial institutions and user experience. Before RiskScout, Justin was the founder and principal consultant of Launchy Consulting, which provided MSB and scale consulting to start-ups and financial institutions around the country. Launchy also worked with VC and PE groups for buy-side reviews of...

How can someone thrive as an entrepreneur with their startup, not only once, but many times over? CEO of Austin Technology Council, Thom Singer sits down with the Founder & CEO of Gembah Henrik Johansson and discuss his entrepreneurial journry here in Austin, TX.  \ Henrik Johansson is a serial entrepreneur who co-founded and built the product company Boundless into a $100M company. Currently he i...

AI is a major focul point in the world right now. Austin Technology Council CEO, Thom Singer sits down with the Founder of Macami.ai and discusses the quickly changing world of AI and  how it's impacting the Tech world, specifically in Austin. Carlos Martin is the CEO of macami.ai, a company focused in bringing efficiency to the enterprise by leveraging Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and AI. For...

As co-founder and CEO of BP3, it's my job to help our clients find a faster way. Our clients want a specific business outcome, and they want it in the fastest way possible, and that's what BP3 is here to deliver. We deliver those outcomes because we bring a more focus, more foresight, and more followup approach to every single client engagement. We leverage our experience in Process, Design, Robot...

This week Austin Technology Council's CEO sits down with the founder & CEO of data.world Brett Hurt and they discuss what startups need to grow, how the pandemic has impacted business, and so much more. Brett Hurt is the CEO and co-founder of data.world, an Austin-based Certified B Corporation and public benefit corporation. data.world makes it easy for everyone—not just the "data people"—to get c...

The future of technology and the future of Austin are entangled.  In this episode we hear from Whurley (Will Hurley), the founder and CEO of Strangeworks.  He is a leader in the quantum computing field and serial entrepreneur.  Hear his take on quantum computing's role in the future, and his predictions and advice for the Austin.    About Whurley:   whurley is founder and CEO of Strangeworks, a qu...