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Whether you're a fan of all classic rock, an uber-lover of Led Zeppelin or you just happened to watch Dazed & Confused and thought to yourself, "what a great soundtrack!"...this show is for you. All you have to do is go to Do512 and give a big thumbs up. Then show up on Saturday.
I was reading this post about some new Facebook features that will encourage users to spend even more time on Facebook and less time elsewhere and I came up with this image to match a friend's phrase that Facebook may be the online Vegas. Not that I mind. I mean haven't you seen The Hangover?
Meant to post this a couple of weeks ago when I met with Lance Armstrong Foundation CEO Doug Ulman and fellow LAFer Chris Brewer. Not only do they have an awesome new HQ facility (with workout rooms and zero closed-door offices) they also have this cool installation of different bikes Lance has rode. I highly recommend the tour of their East Austin digs.
Whenever I come to New York, I think of that saying, but my first response is always "sort of..." I saw a cool coffee shop-meets-skate shop called Homage in Cobble Hill this morning, and thought to myself, "this place would be a lot cooler in Austin." Not just because Austin people love coffee and skateboarding, because not all of them do, but also because a shop like this would contribute to the city more significantly. It'd add to the Austin "experience".
I mean everyone knows New York is the largest city in the U.S. and the financial (and fashion) capital of the Western Hemisphere, but it's also very old and familiar. I mean, come to think about it, the essence of New York hasn't really changed all that much in the last decade or two. There's less crime and Brooklyn is more habitable, but "making it" in New York is pretty much the same as it's always been...
Either you bust your ass and try to make it to the top - this applies to the financial, legal and media industries especially - or you try to carve your own path and hope someone at the top anoints you their peer or successor, which is more likely in the fashion and food industries.
So as I step out in the entrepreneurial world - yes, I left my job last Thursday - and make my way around New York for a few days for some fun, inspiration and relaxation, I can't help but think about how great Austin is. Sure, it's not a major metropolitan area - there aren't any pro sports teams or chefs with their own network TV shows and the public transportation system is certainly not worth bragging about - but as a small business owner and budding entrepreneur, Austin is definitely a much better test market than the Big Apple.
Why? Because if you can make it in New York (or L.A. for that matter), that only proves one thing: it proves you know how to follow the paths of others long enough to carve your own. I'm not saying this is to be chastised or trivialized, but simply that it's not everything there is. I mean there are plenty of people who were making millions before the recession and there are plenty of people surviving in the retail industry here too, but I question whether or not they really bring value to their city.
Is New York better off because of you?
That's a question that a much larger percentage of Austin business owners, of almost all kinds, can answer affirmatively. In the last six months, I've heard people raving about everything from new bar Lustre Pearl to music/film/interactive festival SXSW...why? Because these endeavors aren't being measured simply by how much money they pull in or how many people have heard about it. They're being measured by the "experience".
In other words, in Austin, their success depends on whether or not they make the city better or worse. Why do you think so many people in Austin hate The Domain or what's happened to West Campus? Simple: neither one helped the city beyond its bottom line.
In New York, The Domain and West Campus high-rises would either be applauded for revenue brought into the city or loathed for their impact on various neighborhoods, but in Austin people could care less if high-rises mean more money for sidewalk construction in West Campus and most people don't even know what neighborhood The Domain is zoned in.
All they know is that if your idea/business can make it here, it better not be because it's made it elsewhere.
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