SXSW 2026: Same Stage, New Play; Austin’s Tech Throne Is Slipping & Bumble Lays off 30%

0:07 Welcome to the Austin Business News podcast where business meets public policy and maybe a martini. I'm Tina Canon, your host and CEO of the Chamber. On today's pod, we're going to talk local business news. And the headlines this week, South by Southwest 2026, same stage new play. And then Austin's text throne is slipping. and our good friends at Bumble are buzzing off 30% of their workforce. We'll be right back. [Music] What's happening group? Joined with Amy, Fiona, and Colton. Hey. Hello. Happy July 1st. Not yet, darling. Oh, well, actually, I guess. Yeah. Sorry. It's

0:54 It's here. We finally month is over. Is over. It's fine. Don't worry. We get a repeat next month. Yeah, we we do. We have to revisit it. And all Pride Month, the remix hotter. Yeah. Very true. Very true. Good weekend though. We had lots lots of events. Still recovering from Sunday night. We all sound like we're recovering from the entire weekend. I am recovering from a whole season of Pride. I'm a big fan of let's just let's just do Pride Day. Pride day. Pride day. Just get it all over with in 24 hours. Oh, you know that would never fly. What are you talking about? We wouldn't be able to attend all the events. That'd be one event. I'm all about a Pride year. Plus, there's like the whole hangover

1:41 time period that has to be attached and bookended to all these events. And oh my god, the amount of I say it was like 20 22 events I think by all was said and done. That sounds right. I think that was just Saturday alone. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The picnic was really lovely. The Peace Park picnic. A congrats. Yeah. No stuck at our booth. The booth. We worked for six hours and it was delightful. And we have lots of people interested in joining our chamber of commerce. That's great. Yes. A lot of our members were out there already. It was good. Had a really fun time at the drop in. Yeah. Yes. What an amazing

2:26 event. I know. It has grown so so much and it was beautiful to see our health and wellness members out there for the Pride Health Fair. Packed. Yeah. It looks spectacular. The lawn was packed. That's great. That's what you want to see. Even in the heat, we we still turn out. All puns intended. Yep. Well, good. We'll uh we'll get to more events that you can be a part of later on in the show, but let's check out our first headline. So, South by Southwest 2026, same stage new play. You've probably gotten emails about panel picker deadlines. It's hard to believe it's going to be coming out, but it is back. Uh like a washed up boy band doing a reunion tour. Uh, hoping nostalgia and a few fresh acts and some corporate cash can keep the crowd

3:11 coming. South by Southwest is planning a quote concentrated 2026 festival. Translation shorter, cheaper, and tighter. They're trimming the fat. Uh, and focusing on core programming. Think music, film, tech, and whatever buzzword the VC crowd is high on next March. Well, let's call it South by Southwest isn't just a festival. It's a brand in search of a bottom line. Since selling a controlling stake to PMRC, it's Penske Media, Rolling Stone, and Billboard, the vibe has shifted away from scrappy little cultural incubator to a more polished sponsorship activation. So, less let's change the world and more. Brought to you by Salesforce. What's really happening? Attention is the new oil and South by Southwest is drilling with less acreage. They're consolidating. No more FOMO. Introducing

3:58 uh tres across the city. Efficient. Sure. iconic, not so much. Pricing is being listed as of accessible, which is PR for we need bodies. The marketplace is saturated. Everyone in their AI startup is throwing up a summit that used to be a can't miss show is now a quite uh I can't afford to go. So, and then there's Austin. South by Southwest, of course, helped put it on the map, but housing prices through the roof. Traffic makes it a little bit more like an LA blush storm. state political environment of course is veering toward a Puritan cosplay. So the city's brand as a cool creative hub is also under pressure. Bottom line, Southby is trying to refind its footing in a world where every city wants to be the next Austin and every brand wants to be part of the culture.

4:44 The question is, can South by Southwest still make culture, or is it just another trade show with a DJ? That's a lot. That was a lot of big words, too. Good grief. Um, I am interested in the like industry specific badge and like industry specific neighborhoods that they're going for this year. Mhm. Um, I saw music, film, TV, and then innovation, which I guess is taking interactive place. Innovation. Innovation. Interesting. Um, one thing I noticed was missing from that list is comedy. So, I don't know if that will be looped into film and TV or music neighborhood. I I was like I never really attended any of

5:30 the comedy showcases because I think we we're spoiled we've got Moon Tower. Mhm. Right. That's a really comedy forward specific city. Yeah. Festival. Yeah. I mean, we do have a lot of um big time comedy venues here where I don't think we're short of people visiting Austin that you really want to see and what's being showcased. But um I don't know. I'm also kind of like if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Like there's a lot going There's a lot of change for the first year. Yeah. Well, I'm I'm leaning towards I really like it. Yeah. Yeah. Less FOMO. Like just make it shorter so I don't feel like I'm missing out on so much because it's going on for like 3 months. Oh, yeah. I Yeah. I'm here. I love I love the shortness of it, tightness of the schedule, and of

6:17 course, my passion and history with South by Southwest is very much in the film lane. So, all the other stuff is, you know, very peripheral for me. Um, so I looked up to make sure I was curious to see what the film community is saying about South by Southwest in general. And it appears it's still um staying at one of the top tier film festivals. So, that's a little more pointed. Um, is what you're No, I mean, what in general? Yeah. I like I like the idea of having less days, more focused. Yeah. And because typically I think people come to South by Southwest, even like locals, with a very specific purpose or a specific industry and you actually don't overlap too much. You think it gets lost in the sauce of a fluffiness of change the world. Yeah. Plus, if it's more concentrated, right, then they come and

7:03 it's more of making sure you're scheduling yourself to attend instead of coming and making sure you're partying your ass off and then catch a panel or two, right? Well, and the other experience that I've had as well is like there's been a few times when I've either bought a ticket or I've been given a ticket cuz I'm working the event. Um, but then there's also those years where I don't have a pass, but there's so much going on and all the extracurricular events and networking is just as valuable. Agree. Um, than actually buying the pass. I'm not surprised they're having to do this because I think that a lot of industry people in different industries, that's what they're doing. They're going to different events that happen to be at the same time as Southby because they know everyone's going to be in town and their company's paying for them to get here. And maybe with the the the film fund that film may be more forward that Austin is again looked to as a creative since we don't have a music industry in

7:49 the sense of we don't have the supporting network of music. We don't have you know massive recording studios. We don't have a record label here, right? I mean, there was like a few tiny little independents, but we don't have like Nashville. Nashville has like a ton of like massive labels. And so, maybe with the film industry grant and some of that coming back to Texas between now and and next March perhaps that film will be a little bit more prominent. But film for me um fil South by Southwest Film Festival has been one of the top tier film festivals for years and years, well over a decade. like strategically if you want to get your film sold you get it premiered at one of the top tier film festivals and Southby being one of them. So I think you know so film has always been big in my mind and the tech industry was started to really pop a few

8:35 what 10 years ago or so mainly because tech came with money right so you would you would get Southpai would get all the big sponsorships from the most of the tech companies in town but there are so many tech events to go to yeah outside of Austin that I don't know that it's going to be as big of a draw. So, it'll be curious to see what the what are they calling it? The innovation, which I think makes a little more sense because I think what I hear the biggest complaint from uh veteran Austinites is that it's oh, I used to be a film and music festival and it's not that anymore. Um, so I I think yeah, I guess I can come around to I'm just here for a panel. Like if I'm interested in the topic, I want to hear the experts speak to it. And the fluffiness is a lot. It's distracting. Yeah. the

9:22 partying, the houses, the uh which are fun. Like Colton and I don't come for my market. Stop it. We're big fans. But as long as it can be worked in and it's still an option. Um, yeah, I'm here for like maybe a little more pointed one week conference of like you either understand it or you're about to learn today and maybe like real tech innovation, not just like the latest AI thing or majigger, but like you know the big forwardlooking almost like if you equate to like the the car shows, right? They do the big futuristic cars and and then eventually like some of those elements get adopted into vehicles that we buy, but they're really like really futuristic. So I'd be more interested in seeing on the tech side what are the big big things coming down the road kind of

10:09 the big hairy goals of of technology instead of just one more tech panel after another after another saying big hitters. Yeah. Like also if I I'm hoping that Southby will plug presenters and panelists that it's not just filling a room. It's not just like because the Southby sampling. You would sit down and you'd be there for five minutes and be like this is this is hot garbage. get me out of here. Like and and then you have to run to the other thing that you're interested in. Yeah. Yeah. I went to two different panels last year around the future of podcasting. Right. Cuz I wanted to hear and they were diametrically opposed in what their vision of what the future of podcasting was. It was just so like one was like two different events or the people on the No, two different panels. Completely

10:54 two different panels. So one was leaning in hard on video. Yeah. And saying that's the future. That's the future. That's the future. And then I went the next day to a different panel and the guy was like, "Video's dead. It's all about audio." Video killed the podcast. Yes. But we'll see. We'll see what's uh what's what's up what Southpai's got up their sleeve. Dang. That brought me back to playing Grand Theft Auto by City. That song. Oh. On a little car radio. Oh, Colton the Gamer. That's old school, man. Yay. Austin's tech throne is slipping. So, let's take a look at who took the crown. Austin's uh swaggered into the tech stage in the mid 2020s, stealing the

11:40 spotlight from Silicon Valley with elbow room, no income tax, and warm shoulders. But that encore, it might just be fading. According to venture capital firm Signal Fire, in 2024, big tech counts in Austin dropped 1.6%. Startup headcounts shrank 4.9%. So, let's take a look at some of the numbers. Uh, talent is retreating to the coast. Don't believe me? San Francisco is up 1.8%. New York 2.2 for tech, 3.7 for startups. All growing again driven of course by AI hype and the return to office mandates. Um, infrastructure of course for us, what are our Achilles heel? That's that's a big one. Housing costs. Uh, they're a big roller coaster ride. Networking vibes that feel more like a regional startup town than a global tech mecca. So, some self-awareness and soriy sobriety in

12:27 that economic boosters remind us that this isn't a V-shaped crash crash, but a modest correction. After hyper growth, tech jobs and software, IT, and system designs are still up 46% since 2018. Bottom line though, Austin is not collapsing, but its myth as the next modern Silicon Valley, well, that era is cooling. What's rising in its place is a mature regional powerhouse. Strong, self-aware, but no longer pretending to dethrone the coasts. Thoughts, feelings, emotions? Boo. I don't know. Bring back the Silicon hills. I do love the coin Silicon Hills, but I also am here for like we are a self sustaining little tiny metro that we're growing beyond just being like um

13:14 like in one vein of centric ability like we're doing a lot more. Yeah. And we're definitely leaning into advanced manufacturing more in the Austin greater Austin region. Right. So you're seeing the bigger shops kind of leaning into that that innovative tech and but that type of technology also takes space and so you're finding those hubs all the way down to San Marcos and out to Hutau Leander Cedar Park where there's available land that you can you can scoop up and it's bringing people and like with the people comes more industry. You would hope we would hope and but we changed right as a city. We we never used to be, you know, as big of a city as we are. And we put years ago in 03ish and before we put all of our eggs into very tech specific and then that tech bubble crashed and then it

14:01 crashed a little bit in 2008 with the the economy taking a turn down. But we then kind of started to broaden our portfolio, right? We brought in fintech, we brought in health tech, we brought in the other kind of the other avenues besides just what's the next killer app that you take a picture of what the freak you ate for for lunch that day. we really started diving a little deeper. But I'm excited for advanced manufacturing. But yeah, I think housing costs and we saw we talked about on our last pod, housing costs are going down because right people are leaving. I mean, it doesn't sound big when you talk about 1.6, but then when you talk about startup, that's the 4.9% shrink and that's a pretty significant shrinkage in startup because there's not a lot of venture capital here. And why I was just like rereading this like why why is this happening? Do we move? Well, I think that that Achilles heel, right, of

14:47 everything from housing costs uh to like who we are as a city and a lot of state politics probably play into that. You think people came over here and then realized, oh, it's Texas. No, I think, oh I should go back to New York and Well, maybe that's part of it. But I do feel like this is also yielding, like I said, to other industries. like we're still we're still like incredibly tech heavy but like the data farm out in Calwell County that's massive and then the cold storage that they just put out there it it's still showing growth it's just in other areas right we're just changing the portfolio a bit and I don't think that people need to live in the Austin core which was where this data is from and so like part of that too might be what's the

15:32 migration that people are living outside the city center and living in those smaller communities is where advanced manufacturing is happening, right? Mhm. And it'll be cool to see as public transit catches up with those things. Oh my gosh. I'll be in a wheelchair by then. But yes, y'all aboard. Y'all aboard. Still holding out for that tram. I'm still holding out for like a like hop the gondola. I'm here for the gondola. But like even like up 130. Could you imagine taking a gondola in from like Lockheart or Hutto or Cedar Park and it brings you into city the city center? That'd be crazy cool. But we have all these like autonomous ride share. What? Like how come there isn't a bus route that's autonomous? Well, there was there is a company that's doing the

16:17 we talked about last time they had a little drone thing that you fly yourself in that looks like about eight drones kind of strapped together on a hula hoop. Cool. What does FAA say about that? I don't I don't think it gets high enough that FAA can regulate it. Well, I know like for a fact in the city of a like downtown core um even like the flight crew with APD can't fly in and out of city of Austin because the buildings are getting too tall and it's an FAA no so if they have to like monitor something from the air Yeah. they got to kind of go around the outskirts. I remember like 15 maybe years ago when I was at city hall, I remember a company reached out to us and they were trying to get council to approve a a permit for them to to do robo taxis, flying robo

17:03 taxis. And I remember we all cackled thinking it was the most hilarious thing because they wanted to be able to test fly it into some parking garages, see if they could kind of split the garage and go into it. Fifth Elements Can you imagine not even like just having like a docking station on our floor? Yes. See, that's the type of innovation I want to see. Just comes to like Yeah. Yeah. And it just opens like an elevator. That'd be great. Yes. Just walk right out onto Fourth Street from our 11th floor window. I'll just zipline down there. Can we have like a little pop open window? And anyway, I saw another article today that um somebody bought somebody's new car, a Tesla, drove it, there you go. drove itself from the shop to the new

17:49 owner. How many people did it kill on the way? That was not reported. That's I mean it is incredible though, isn't it? Like Well, we took our first Fion and I took our first Whimo drive last the other day after the after the I can't say ballet. Uh and granted we'd had a couple of cocktails, so it was it was it was even more fun, but it was very it was very freaky how it just navigates. feel like did you feel like you were in a cushy like soft on the brake? Mhm. Yeah. It felt weirdly safe. It really literally felt like there was somebody an invisible person driving the car. Watching that Whimo maneuver between the lineup to get into the garage was pretty

18:34 amazing. I was like, "What? I didn't think they were going to be able to wiggle through all that." And it wiggled through just like there was a human in there. Yeah. like calculated, smart, and I don't even see humans do that. They're like, "Oh, I don't fit. I'm not going to." I'm like, "Go, you fit. You have plenty of room." Yeah. I'll tell you right now, sometimes I'm not smart. You probably smarter. Skinniest car. It always fits that. And it's always the tiniest cars where I'm like, "Go." I don't I've got a friend of mine. He's got a big truck. Uh, and he is probably the worst at parking I've ever seen in my life. Really absolutely terrible at him. I'm like, "Bro, let off the brake. You've got to apply gas. Does he have cameras on the truck? Yes. Just don't use it. Just real hesitant to go for it. Like backing in or forward parking.

19:21 Either way, he's just not the best parker. I just get nervous in those car washes where you're like have to put it in neutral and then like it pushes you along and there's cars on both sides of you. Hate it. I know. Pretty soon we're not going to have cars. We're just going to fly to work. I can't wait. No, maybe maybe your car can just drive itself to the car wash. I'm gonna have way too much fun with that, too. I'd be like, um, just a couple minutes late. It's going to go for a little tool. I did see your robot that you were talking about last week. I didn't physically see it in town, but I saw a couple of videos about it and it's very Probably because I sent you one. Probably. Yeah. Filled up my my feed. The one where the guy was like trying to say hi to his cat. He's 3,000 miles away and he's like, "Come to daddy." And he doesn't realize he's on the stairs and all you hear him go is no. No. No. And it's like boom boom boom

20:09 down the stairs. And then he gets the body. He's like, "Oh my god." And his wife's like, "Are you okay?" He's like, "Am I okay? I don't know. You got to check me out. I'm 3,000 miles away." So maybe that's what the workforce of tomorrow will be. You won't actually even go to your office. You'll just send your little robo ball into the office. I vision of myself. Oh no. I'm getting I'm getting visions of uh Wall-E here. We're all going to put on 300 lb. Oh my gosh. [Music] Well, swipe left on stability. Bumble lets go of 30% of its staff. Another day, another tech trading a headcount for stock price. Bumble, the Austinbased dating app that once made waves by

20:55 letting women make the first move, just made its first move on 240 employees. That is straight out the door. That is 30% of its workforce ghosted in one corporate announcement. CEO Herd says this quote transformation plan is all about growth and innovation. Translation: Wall Street wants blood and headcount reductions are the sacrificial lamb. Herd claims it'll streamline decisionmaking. Fewer employees equal fewer opinions equal fewer people to tell you your app UI still looks like it was optimized for 2016. This, of course, comes as Bumble's stock has been in a long-term relationship with mediocracy, hovering near its all-time lows, post IPO, spark completely fizzled. Investors were promised a big market disruptor. Instead, they got another tech company struggling to monetize beyond the first

21:42 swipe. Let's be honest though, Bubble isn't battling just Tinder apps anymore. or they are up against Tik Tok, Instagram DMs, and creeping realization that maybe dating apps are the new casinos designed to keep you spinning without ever cashing out. To Bubble's credit, they're offering severance, job support, and probably a you're so amazing, it's not you, it's us type of email. But in the end, 240 people got unmatched by a company that was built on its brand of empowering connection. So, swipe responsibly, folks, even if it's on a job listing. Yeah, Amy, be careful with your swipes. I'm so careful. I want to know if they assess the gender of the employees that they let go first.

22:27 I know. Jeez. Well, and maybe does this mean that just single women are just fed up with the that's out there? I will tell you firsthand the dating app pool is garbage. It is trash. Like I I I'm I still stand by six to seven out of every 10 people I speak to are that is not who they say they are. It's a bot of some sort. It's not even a bot. It's like a team of people. Oh. Who are using the same account just like and and I will give it some time even though I already know. I know with your opening line that this is and like I'll entertain it for like just a minute just to see if it's like nerves and then I'm like this this this is fake and then you see them on another app. Oh the same account on

23:15 another app and they're like hey how are you like what's going on in your world and um what are you looking for out of this app and I'm like fake. Also how do you not remember me from the other app? I know right. How much did I mean to you that you wanted to meet me? There's an old lady with a profile picture who was just her neck. Very wrinkly neck. No, y'all had to click on that picture that I sent. It was a screenshot. Best opening line yet, though. Truly, it was she had game. What did it say? It was something like, "Do I need to entertain the like compliments and kind-hearted opening lines or do you just want to skip to exchanging the same flannel shirt over the holidays?" And I I was like, "That that was good.

24:03 However, I am not your Sarah Pollson, and your profile says you're 68 years old." So, yeah, I just I don't see it working. But um fair play to you and good luck. But yeah, no dating apps. I mean I think yeah they're having to lay people off because people are unsubscribing. I've already unsubscribed it to two. I'm paid through but like n this is this is no fun. It's not. It's not. And and you know you got to wonder like because I think it's gotten so full of crap that people just like I don't want to keep doing it. I will say I appreciate on one of the apps you can verify your account. I thought that was kind of the whole Bumble thing that it was unhinged. Yes. So on one of the ones that I'm on and then one of the others No. And then

24:50 Facebook dating is now Oh gosh. That's like the new thing. That's the old thing. No, that used to be the way that it's like a very specific dating portion that's built into Facebook now. Oh, okay. It's been around for a few years. It has. Yeah. But I think now people are finding because you can see who they know. Mh. And and that way it's like, okay, they're they're a real person and I am not going to message you before I message my friends about you. Yeah. Like, tell me about this person. Like I showed you a picture the other day. I was like, isn't this And you were like, "Oh my god, I don't know. Maybe the account's been stolen." Mhm. Yeah. They looked very similar. I watched a a Netflixy type of docu on a woman who'd been I guess called catfished by somebody, but she was in this what she thought was an online relationship with

25:36 a guy for like almost 10 years. Oh my gosh. What the And what? Because she felt like, oh, we have mutual connections, but what he did is he went to her account and then he made fake accounts of some of her top connections. Yeah. And then he connected to those fake accounts that looked like looked like her friend's real accounts. Oh my hell, that is a whole added layer of suspicion that I'm now going to hate. And then the photo he used was a random photo, but then she randomly ran into this guy at some club and said hello to him and he was kind of weird about it and she's like, "Oh, maybe he's out with his his his bros." So, she left him alone. But then she went and found where that guy lived and went and knocked on the door and said, "Why are you blowing me off?" And his wife's like, "Who the hell are you?" And he's like, "Yeah, who

26:23 the hell are you?" And it became this whole thing. But yet she had sent of course money to help him out. No person 10 years on a phone phone and uh cuz he would call her. Yeah. So that really fed into the believability that this was a real I mean he was a real person. Yeah. But he was totally scamming her and tons of other women. Yeah. Absolutely. So no matter what system they put in play, there will be a scammer that will go to great lengths. I mean, for him to recreate all those different profiles and then keep it together of who he was talking to, it's pretty pretty incredible. I wish that guy would just get a job. Sounds like he gets highly productive. If you would apply half of that brain power to an actual career like you would be so successful. I have

27:08 I have changed so much since I started the dating app thing 10 years ago. And now I I don't even give you common courtesy to say like I don't think this is a match. is just when I'm done with you, block. You just ghost. I just block. Oh, I just don't have time for it. Like, it's not You won't see that I'm available anymore. It's It's no broken hearts. It's just like not available, not on the app. And done. Like, moving on. All right. And And the first the fastest way for me to do that to you is when you send hi. And you know my next move? Block. I know I'm not responding. Block. Like that's the best you got. Oh, hey. Was a what was that? It was in Arthur.

27:55 That movie. I love Arthur. And he said something about it was he had a British what was his name? The guy who was his like butler and uh the Arthur had gone to bed with the hooker that night before and Oh, great. He comes into the room, the butler does, and like opens the blinds and and he's like, "Please, you must leave immediately." And uh he she opens her eyes and she looks at him and she goes, "Hi." He's like, "Yes, yes. I greatly anticipate your next syllable." So it's kind of the same thing. Jesus. Hi. Hi. Not the cartoon Arthur. Got it. No, the old drunk. Got it. The movie where he he was drunk driving throughout the entire movie. Oh, great. I don't know that one. Well, let's take a look at uh some fun

28:40 facts with Fiona. um give us a little bit of uh knowledge today. Yay. So, this is the July 4th edition of Queer Fun Facts with Fiona. So, we're going to talk about America's first Independence Day, which might have had a little gay sparkle in the years that followed. Um so, the first official July 4th celebration happened in 1777, exactly one year after the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776. Shortly after, in comes Baron Frieditch von Stuben, a brilliant Prussian military officer with a very gay reputation. Von Stubin fled Europe in 1777 amid accusations of quote improper

29:28 conduct with young men and was recommended to General George Washington by none other than Benjamin Franklin, who met him in Paris. So then von Stuben arrived at Valley Forge in February of 1778, right after when the Continental Army was at its lowest with no formal English skills, but plenty of flare. He trained the troops with strict drills, discipline, and humor, and literally wrote America's first military training manual used for over hundred years. He lived openly with his male companions, William North and Benjamin Walker, who later became his heirs. And today he's buried in New York with his chosen family. So Washington and Von Stuben didn't celebrate the very first July 4th together, but by July 4th, 1778, he was

30:15 right by Washington's side, helping win the war and likely celebrating the spirit of independence with all the fireworks, cannons, and possibly even a little camp. Oh wow. Wow. That is incredible. So, it's more the not the founding fathers, but the founding daddies. There you go. Those power thr. Yes. Great bit of info. I had no clue. Isn't that cool? You have the best fun facts. Thanks, Amy. I try. I just wanted to mix up. Okay, July 4th this week. And I was like, what was gay about July 4th? Turns out other than the fireworks. I thought it was really interesting as well because like I needed this reminder of the history because I did have to learn and memorize all this stuff when I became a citizen

31:01 of like July 4th and what year it was founded. Yeah. But yeah, 1776 the um Declaration of Independence, but we didn't like celebrate July 4th till 1777. I'm sure Melania knows all of that, too. Oh, I'm sure. I just have that Einstein visa after all. Good. We were actually talking about this in the coffee shop the other day that if you are to run for federal office, should you have to pass the citizens exam? Hell yeah. Because it's not easy. It's not at all. No. My mother took it. And I I would be fascinated to see some of the scores that come out from our legislators and current administration. After watching some of the Senate and and congressional hearings, I can tell you what those scores would be. What was it that came

31:46 out the other day when the Declaration of Independence was pointed at? Oh, yeah. He said it was about unity. I'm like, bro, it's in the title. Oh, and no. And he said he said it came out of the Civil War. He was like, you know, the civil the Civil War was uh you know, but look look what we create. We have the Declaration of Independence. Oh my lord. I'm like, bro, rack a book. Please rack a book. It's not hard. Brought to you by the Wharton School of Business. Perfect. That's where he graduated from. Great. They're proud. One of the things I remember mostly about that hundred questions you have to memorize was who wrote the Star Spangled Banner because that's so important to know. Um, yes.

32:32 Uh, Scott Francis Scott Key. Yes. Francis Scott Key. And I remembered it because of the bridge and it's a poem, right? And it's much more violent than the the lyrics that we sing. If you read the whole poem. Yeah. It's the most allegedly I've heard that. I You have to fact check me, but allegedly our anthem is the most violent anthem on the planet. Real surprised. Yeah. Wow. Bombs and and the country's not even 250 years old. I mean, my dad's house is older than that. Yeah. I love it. I'm not exaggerating. No, the house the house that um he had prior to the one currently was 250 years old and excuse me, the house was like 400 years old and the new extension was 250 years old.

33:18 It's the same is the same as David's estate. Yeah. And an estate in England is not the same as here. Like it's it's just like a collection of homes. And uh I think 1600s. Yeah. Um Yeah. And they're still living in it. It's no wonder this country is behaving like a freaking teenager. You are a teenager. We are a teenager. But we have antique stores. We do have antique stores from the 1980s. Like it's not old. It's not an antique. It's just freaking old. And we're still digging through trying to just find suffragette pens cuz like those are disappearing and that's what's important to us now. Well, it kind of goes with our rights though. They're they're slowly evaporating as well. Like man, we just burned through it. Talk about a statistic.

34:03 Well, great fun fact. So, happy Fourth of July to everybody out there. Um Amy, walk us through what do you got for uh some different uh membership news. Okay, we have um we had loads of renewals this month, but I want to do a deeper dive into uh what you're missing out on with your membership. And I don't want to steal Colton's thunder, but we do have an upcoming event in August. August 1st, our DECA small biz opportunity summit. Um, we're going to be talking commercial real estate, procurement, hiring and retention amongst other things. But when it comes to commercial real estate, are you looking to own your brick and mortar? Are you looking to rent? What does your contract look like? How are you building it out? Who are you talking to? What makes sense? Is it 5 years? Is it 10 years? Is it 20 years? Um, we're going to do a deep dive on that. And

34:49 then as well as procurement, we'll be talking things hub. We'll also be talking business certification. Uh this these are these are things that you want to consider when you want to get to the top of the list to provide the services or products um to a a general audience where bigger buyers are going to look to you to help supply that. And then hiring and retention like it's a revolving door in Austin. We keep talking about it with tech obviously with um the dating app right now. If anybody was working for Bumble in Austin, um this is maybe something that you want to consider when you're going out and looking for a job or you're doing the hiring and firing. Why are you losing those employees? And then additionally, uh we do have a grant opportunity. Unfortunately, the current one has

35:36 closed, but if you receive our newsletter, the Verizon Small Business Digital Readiness Grant through the NGLCC will most likely come around again in the fall. It is a $10,000 grant opportunity, and all it takes is an hour and a half of your time. So, use the link in the newsletter. It is a very unique link to our chamber. You click on it, you create your portfolio, you watch three classes. is they're about 30 minutes a piece and that will unlock the grant to apply for $10,000 opportunity to put back into your business. Fantastic. Absolutely amazing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's free, free, free, free. And the summit's going to be huge. It's it's grown every year. Uh council member Zoadri will be out there giving a

36:24 proclamation officially from the city recognizing the continuation of this event. I mean, there are uh over a hundred different uh business owners that have come out repeatedly to the event along with we have several different folks working different booths, whether it be from accessing capital or whatever your needs might be as a small business owner. Uh it's definitely something to make sure that's on your calendar to attend. And how much does it cost? Oh, you know, it's only um the right amount of zero. Yes, Z for small business attendees. We are selling sponsorships for this event. Yep. So, if you would like to get your brand in front of small business owners, this is a really good opportunity with all four of the Deca Chambers. If you're a bank, if you're a software company,

37:09 whatever product or services that you are, your sweet spot is small business. This is a great thing for you to get in front of these folks and they'll be out there for a couple hours. We're going to feed their bellies and feed their minds with information. It's a good time had by all for sure. It's it's got quite a few people. So I think uh last year we had somewhere between like 250ish to 275 attendees. So in addition to the plugged breakouts and and speaker opportunities that we have throughout the day, the networking that you'll receive with um county and city will be out there, especially folks with ABIA. So, when we're speaking to procurement, uh, one, if if you provide something that small business owners need, come talk to us about boothing. But also, if

37:55 you're trying to get your do you like that? Boothing boothing. Boothing. Um, but if you are trying to get your name out there on the other side where people will hire you, um, you need to get in front of some of these folks and and really strike up a conversation, especially with our City of Austin folks because they have plenty of other free opportunities, classes. They will sit down with you across the desk, look at your business plan, and plug some of the holes that you may be missing. Yeah, you can visit with our friends at BCL of Texas that'll be there. We have a million-doll uh, DECA loan fund for our small businesses that you can take advantage of. They have little slightly easier underwriting rules than what would be a standard business loan. Uh and they're designed to make sure that you're successful and not just handing you a check. I mean, of course, they'll hand you a check, but moreover, that

38:42 you're su your business is set up for success. So, be sure to take advantage of that small business. What's the date again? August first. Do it. Colton, a a gazillion events have passed us in in June, but there are still a few things on the radar. What do you got? Yes, my list is a little bit shorter today. You can join us today at 11:30 a.m. for a rainbow ribbon cutting and oneyear anniversary party with CCRM Fertility. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy one year. And we'll see you soon with the ribbon and the scissors. We might already be there. Depends on what time you're listening. And then there are a couple spots left for tomorrow's lunchon at Murray's Tavern. Register now to secure your seat. We are very excited to welcome

39:27 Caleb Parsons of Edward Jones as our speaker. Caleb will share insights on financial literacy for small businesses, offering practical tools to help you plan, grow, and sustain your business. We also have a virtual health and wellness committee meeting on June 9th. I mean July 9th. We're done with June. I know. It's Yeah. Yeah. It's right. My birthday is July, so it's July 1st. Forget it. But stay in the know with what's going on with our health and wellness committee members. Um, we had a fantastic time at the drop in the other night for the Pride Health Fair. If you are one of our health and wellness partners and you were sad to miss out on that, please join our health and wellness committee calls and you can

40:14 sign up for the next one. On July 16th, we will be officially welcoming Austin Emergency Center to the chamber with a rainbow ribbon cutting. And our monthly chamber happy hour is on July 24th at Drinks Lounge. Woohoo. This will be our first time as a chamber at Drinks Lounge. Uh check out their newly renovated patio, have a beverage or two, network with some chamber members, and check out the record shop. Yeah, Amy and I are big fans of Drinks Lounge. Yeah, I spent way too much money on vinyl last time I was there. It was Recon. Y'all were doing Recon for the location. Yeah, only a couple times. Quality control here at the chamber. Well, we had to go We had to go back and make sure that's where we wanted to be in July, right? No, we just had to make

41:02 sure the vibe was right for July. They have their sister location drinks backyard way out on 183. So, it's on the way home for me. It's like out in the middle of nowhere. It looks so unassuming from the highway and then when you park and you walk in, it's like a whole ass complex. Nice. Huge, huge LED screen. Maddie and the Dead Names was there or the Dead Names as they've been rebranded. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um and and the last I saw Maddie posted that everybody in the band has a dead name, which is amazing. So, they're so good. I've became such a fan. Yeah. Drinks Lounge, Drinks Backyard. I'm really excited. And there's a Little Drinks. Did you know that? No. Little Drinks is on uh South Congress right like literally Alpine Road right next to Out Wellness. So that uh in the

41:48 bottom of that apartment complex. It's called Little Drinks. I love it. I love also that somebody put some anti-LGBT review on their website and they turned it into a t-shirt and then and now the a portion of the proceeds go back to the queer community and those that are doing the work. A I love them. That's amazing. It's like no no American flags anywhere. It's all pride flags. Staff is real gay. Uh, and everybody in there was weird. If you put up some American flags, I'll change this review from a one star to a five star. And they're like, "Thanks for your consideration. We're putting your review on a shirt." I mean, way to own it. There was there's some bar here in town that does it. They take all their negative Yelp or whatever reviews and they're all in the bathroom

42:34 as wallpaper. That's awesome. Oh, I love that. Wow. I still I apologize monthly to Kay for her one three star review. That was my fault. And you were there. You were in attendance. Tina and Colton were in attendance. It was the day of my birthday last year, not this year, where we were blasting Shaniah Twain and this cute, quaint, quintessential wine shop and some, you know, tourists came in and they were like, "It's not really what we thought it was going to be." Um, people were really getting off their tits and like, you're welcome. blasting Shaniah Twain three stars and I was like, "Oh my god, it was her first three star review. I'm so sorry. Best little wine and books. Go visit Kay and give her some

43:20 five star reviews." Oh my gosh. Well, as always, thank you for joining us. If you want to learn more about becoming a chamber member or a full list of events, visit us at austinlgbtchamber.com. You want to be a guest or a sponsor, email us at info@ austin LGBT Chamber. Listen to our show every Tuesday wherever you get your podcast. Be sure to follow. Thanks. We'll see you next time. [Music]