Meet Dan Dillard!
Dan is an entrepreneur based in Austin, Texas, and the founder of Founding Austin Magazine, a magazine that shares different stories from entrepreneurs that live in Austin. Dan doesn’t just call Austin his home, he loves the city and is the perfect example of what makes the people who live there so great.
Having interviewed over 150 different entrepreneurs for his magazine, Dan has a huge wealth of knowledge and is happy to share what he knows to inspire others to follow their dreams and passions.
Sebastian and Kevin meet with Dan at a rooftop hotel bar just as the sun begins to set over the Texan skyline. Dan doesn’t only talk about the business side of Austin, he also shares his belief in how one’s life is transformed by saying ‘yes’, and the importance that the community has for entrepreneurs.
“The purpose of life is creation, we’re here to create.”
“We’re going to accept you, and appreciate you for who you are and the value that you bring to this earth.”
Time Stamps
1:02 - How fear works and the way to overcome it.
2:21 - Who Dan Dillard is and what he does.
3:19 - What Founding Austin magazine is and where it originated from.
6:40 - Dan’s inspiration and why he wants to share his entrepreneurial knowledge.
8:49 - How the magazine is distributed and where to find it.
11:32 - The serious message that’s behind the magazine.
12:41 - Dan’s podcasts and how he shares even more Austin locals stories through that medium.
16:03 - The grittiness needed to become an entrepreneur.
17:06 - The entrepreneurial path and the importance of learning from others.
19:04 - The community of Austin and the culture of giving.
21:40 - The need for connection and how fear can prevent abundance.
23:55 - The transformative effect moving to Austin has on people.
26:21 - How accepting people in Austin tend to be, no matter who you are.
27:36 - The nurturing side of Austin and how people are there to help.
28:55 - The spirit of Austin and the focus it has on the community.
Resources
Connect with Kevin Turley: Website
Connect with Sebastian Sauerborn: LinkedIn
Connect with Dan Dillard: LinkedIn
Episode Transcript
Episode 6: Meet Dan Dillard!
In the United States, everybody is really friendly towards entrepreneurs, it’s a great achievement when you set up a business
I love Austin because it has a little bit of everything, it has a nightlife, it has-
You’re listening to Move Your Business to the United States, with me, your host, Kevin Turley.
-Fresh greens, it’s got, you know, music scene, it has-
Kevin: Today Sebastian is taking me to the top. We are sitting in a rooftop bar, perched upon one of Austin’s most iconic hotels, and we are just about to meet a real life Austin entrepreneur, Dan Dillard.
Dan: Well, we are not doing any video, let’s just do it here. If we are doing a video, it makes sense-
Kevin: That’s Dan Dillard. Among others who are watching American football and sipping cocktails, we talked a different sport, the kind entrepreneurs like to play.
Dan: I mean, if I had one message to say, it’s this, and it’s- we live life in fear. As a, from the time that you’re about ten years old, you adopt a fear that stays with you for the rest of your life, whether you’re- and fear guides everything that you do, unfortunately, from stopping you from taking another job, stopping you from making the leap to entrepreneurialism, stopping you from that relationship. It’s weird- we’re getting in the way of ourselves, and then my message, through everything we do is an inspiration, say, you know what, get out of your own way. Fear is only an electrical spark in your head. If you understand that, it’s not real. I’m here for a purpose, I’m here to create. My entire life, every one of us, the purpose of life is creation. We create things, whether it’s a family, a business, a relationship, we’re here to create. And so, let’s get to create a living life.
Kevin: So, I am sitting here in one of the most beautiful spots, I think in Austin, and it’s a rooftop bar at one of the nicest hotels in Austin, the Fairmont. And we’re looking at over a beautiful blue sky and Sebastian and I are here with a very special guest who’s going to introduce himself to you
Dan: Dan Dillard.
Kevin: Dan, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Dan: Right now I’m doing “foundingAUSTIN” which is a media company. Go back to founding media actually which also does a podcasting and YouTube channels. That’s one of the things we do, I’ve also been a wealth manager I’ve done that for 18 years, and father to a beautiful fifteen-year old daughter, and got a wonderful Weimaraner that I really love and a wonderful girlfriend and I love Austin.
Kevin: You love Austin, that’s the key thing. Now, you know Sebastian and I are on this personal odyssey, visiting Austin, it’s my first time, obviously Sebastian lived here, and I’m finding out so much about Austin, but I’m afraid you are now part of the stereotype I have, that everybody being in Austin seems to love it here.
Dan: You are exactly right, I love Austin, I love it, the reason I created Founding Austin is because I wanted to hear more of the inspiring stories of all the founders of Austin, people that make this city good and create companies and do what not-
Kevin: Okay, so Founding Austin, Dan, tell us a little bit about it, it’s a beautiful magazine, I’ve just been looking through, it’s beautifully produced, you’re editor in chief, can you tell us a little bit, how often does it come out, is it monthly, is it -?
Dan: Once a quarter.
Kevin: Once a quarter, right.
Dan: So I’ll tell you the story behind Founding Austin. I actually- wealth management for 18 years and during that time as a wealth manager, learning thousands of stories of different clients, and the path that they are following, which is, saving for kids college, giving their kids a bump-up into the world and try to make an easy street for them, I realized that they’re putting a lot of pressure on themselves and a lot of finances, especially as colleges are getting more and more expensive.
And then to put their kid in a college at 18 years old and, they know that their kids brain hasn’t fully developed yet, I mean, brain is developing until you’re 25 years old, so, you know, you put someone with a lot of pressure into picking their career and if you’ve got or had a teenager, you know that that’s- one week they gonna do something, the next week they want to do something else. Very difficult thing and so, people are spending a ton of money, and putting kids into a college that 90% of people aren’t using those degrees after they come out of college. So, I scratched my head after 18 years, I said, why is this in society happening, I look around and I see that entrepreneurs have a different story.
They go and they follow a burning desire in their gut and they, literally, whatever it is they’re trying to create, they put everything into it, and spend, you know, five-ten years eating Ramen noodles, but at the end of the day they truly create their life that is more stable for themselves, and their life is happier because they’re following their passion.
Kevin: That’s really interesting, Dan, and if I may say, that’s one of the best descriptions of entrepreneurialism, and the people involved in it. And that they’re really are seeking something, it’s an adventure they’re seeking, and as you know, Sebastian and I are discussing what is an adventure for a lot of Europeans, which is coming to the United States, and the you’re from here and your challenge, which is what an entrepreneurialism is also about, I suppose, it’s about challenging oneself constantly going to the next frontier, the next level in one’s life and not staying and resting amongst one’s laurels. Sebastian, you’re an entrepreneur, you’ve been an entrepreneur for a number of times, you’ve worked with entrepreneurs, you discuss with entrepreneurs, do you feel that that’s- that what Dan has been saying, you can sort of identify with?
Sebastian: I started a number of businesses throughout my life, some of them successful and others, you know, and I can totally identify with this. I think that one of the most important things is this, to create, what Dan mentioned that you need to have five years eating Ramen noodles, you need to really be prepared to go the full length and to follow your dream. It’s not always easy, but it’s definitely worth it.
Kevin: So, Dan, Founding Austin, when I first looked at it, I thought, well this is another glossy magazine, and it’s very nice and it’s about entrepreneurialism in Austin, but there is actually, what you’re suggesting, I think there’s a much deeper philosophy here, how important is that to you, in terms of the production, but also how much is representative of what entrepreneurialism is, within the Austin area?
Dan: So, I’m going to take that in two different parts. First of all I’ll tell you my inspiration, because I’ve got a fire in my belly, that I’ve got to do something. So, when and as I look in my path and how is taking me through life, what I learned is that it was up to me to go and share these stories that people are out there doing it, making it happen and following their own path. So, for me, Founding Austin, building this Founding Media company, is really a company about inspiration. When you look at a world that media is known as, “if it bleeds, it leads”, you know, and faking news and all of the sort of thing. Or you’ve got social media which is kind of noise. I wanted to create a media company that inspires others to change their life and follow their own passion. And so the entire purpose is that. So that’s what Founding Austin means all about.
Now there is only the style is creativity, his courage to dream, his knowledge and his experience, to bring forth a beginning, a starting point of place of departure.
Sebastian: The format is, really that you speak to entrepreneurs and tell their story really.
Dan: So when I came up with the concept, it was like, I want to go and do a hyper local magazine, so that people can identify with their neighbors. Cause at the end of the day, I don’t necessarily want to hear about someone across the world, because I don’t identify as much, but if I visit, the salon or if I visit the restaurant or if I know of that brand in my city then that interests me, so, that’s why I wanted to create a hyper local magazine, the idea is to go and- every other city would do the same thing. But, so your question is, yes, the idea is to go and actually interview entrepreneurs all over Austin and we’ve done probably 150 interviews in the last two years, and gotten to know the city more in two years that I’ve been here in 17 years. So I get- the appeal to be behind the curtain and look behind and see how things are made, and the thought process of the problem that the entrepreneurs are trying to solve.
Sebastian: And how do you distribute the magazine, I mean, how can I get it?
Dan: As an entrepreneur myself, I know that print and as you can imagine, if you look at the magazine, my intention for the magazine is for to be coffee table quality.
Sebastian: Yes.
Dan: So it’s expensive to print.
Sebastian: It looks amazing, yeah.
Dan: As an entrepreneur and a wealth manager I knew that I needed to control the distribution, I mean I needed to select what I want in these publications. So, I hand select where to go with this, and anybody can get a publication, digitally, you go to website, read the stories. But if you want to put your hands on the beauty of this magazine, is that you gonna have to select a location or contact us. I go to co-working spaces all over Austin. Austin’s got over 30 co-working spaces with tons of entrepreneurs. So I put the media where other people that they’re going to absorb this media are at, I also go to the fanciest hotels in Austin and have deals with them to put in every room so that when people visit Austin they can hear about the stories that are in Austin, read the stories. So we are very methodical about how we distribute because I don’t want to just blanket it to people that aren’t going to read it. That’s why media isn’t a print, as expensive it is, we have to be thoughtful of how we distribute
Sebastian: And how many print edition -?
Dan: Well now we’re printing about five thousand every quarter.
Sebastian: Wow, amazing.
Dan: And, but again, our readership and eyeballs on it because of high traffic space is much higher than traditional magazines.
Sebastian: Yeah, I can imagine. Do you have an estimate, how many, what the readership is -?
Dan: Well if you look, if you think about, the traffic that’s inside co-working spaces, or hotels for that matter, every quarter they’re going to have new people in each room, every night. So I would think fifty- a five thousand print is going to get you thirty to forty thousand readership, eyeballs, and which is much different than just being done and that’s the whole thing about being entrepreneurs, how can I be more efficient with the way I print, other than just doing it as “it’s been done”. And trust me, I work with editors and writers and all the time, “well, I’ve done this, this way”, well that’s not the way I do it, I am bringing a new philosophy to how we do things.
Kevin: Just listening to you speaking Dan, because I’m really impressed, because I’ve worked in journalism and I know that there’s a lot of idealism and sometimes a lot of misplaced idealism about launching product. But it sounds to me like you, you’re coming at this with a very cool business eye, but a very bright eye for the content and for the message that you’re coming across. I mean, this is a beautiful medium, but there is a very serious in the best sense message behind it, is it not?
Dan: If I’m an entrepreneur, like the entrepreneurs that I interview, I learn from them, I own this collective knowledge of all these 150 interviews I’ve done so far and more every day. And so I take those best practices and I put it into place and try to just create that. One of the things that I don’t want them, in the magazine, to keep it beautiful, I don’t want 60 or 70% adds. I wanted stories, and I want a beautiful adds as a part to us, versus just anybody who is willing to pay us. And what happens in media so much is that they’ll just promote anything because it’s paying the bills. So I didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on our magazine. So that’s why I built our Founding Media company that now includes over 10 podcast titles and we’re going to YouTube channels, so the idea is like, if I can pay for print through much, much more types of media, and reach people, where they are absorbing the media, then it all works together.
Kevin: Just give us a name of your podcast, Dan.
Dan: So one of the podcasts, the one that I produce is Masters of founders, and interestingly enough, when I do Founding Austin, the limitations are these, it’s got to be a company that has been in Austin, founded in Austin and we try to get someone over ten years so they can get the experience and story behind it. The limits that I have, is that I have about twelve stories I can tell every quarter, whereas you can imagine in Austin that’s not a lot, and there’s people asking me on a daily basis to give them the magazine.
We couldn’t do it, so I decided well, I’m going to create a medium just for you, because those stores are important to me as well. And so we created Masters and Founders. Master is anyone that has spent ten thousand hours or more at their craft, so take Austin is also the music city capital in the world so take one of our first masters, the first podcast we did was Jimmie Vaughan, who has incredible story about his passion for music and where he learned. So, I love Jimmie Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan, his story, what gets me the most is, and the funniest thing is, he picked up a guitar because he had a broken collarbone in playing football.
And he got a broken collarbone because he knew that the way to impress a girl was to either to play football or play music. Well, broken collarbone, he was stuck at home, picked up the guitar, had a family that thought him, fortunate enough to have family, uncle that taught him some things about the guitar, and he was self-taught. But as he moved forward, he’s passionate about guitars, cars and music. And that’s- and he follows his passion his entire life, and made a great career in famous stages and playing with many other famous musicians, doing what he loves, and that’s the story.
Sebastian: He is the brother of Stevie Ray Vaughan you said, right?
Dan: Stevie Ray Vaughan is his brother so they have had bands together and just so spend in music for years and years and years. I think we counted how many hours Jimmy has actually played guitar, it’s well over a thousand I think it is thirty to forty thousand hours of guitar. But one interesting thing about him that I really love is that he still takes guitar lessons. And so that’s a big lesson that I give to entrepreneurs and anybody that is following their craft is that you never stop learning. And even him, being, I think he is over 60 at this point 65 something like that, I don’t know the math however, played guitar for over 30 years. And some consider him as the best guitar players in the world. And he still takes lessons.
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Kevin: Sebastian, there’s something of an echo in some of the things you’ve been saying to me about entrepreneurialism, because one of the characteristics you identify in an entrepreneur is not so much starry eyed dreamers, but a grittiness through failure, through success there’s a certain grittiness. That story seems to echo that.
Sebastian: Yes I think that one of the things that Dan said I can totally share this is, I mean this is kind of a well-known figure that you’ve said that become an expert in something once you’ve done it ten thousand hours. Could be anything, could be driving, could be cooking, could be writing, we really need to do something for a prolonged time. The problem is with many people, I guess, many that want to be entrepreneurs, nowadays is- I see young people that they give up far too quickly, you know. They never reach that stage, and give up, because they are disappointed, because there are difficulties they need to overcome. So you need to really be on the ball, and keep on working, keep on struggling, keep on practicing, and I think what Dan says is a beautiful example, that someone who is really famous and excellent guitar player, has still taking lessons because he still know, you know, I haven’t reach the end of the road, you know, I still need to learn.
Kevin: I’d like to join a little bit about what you are saying, because, you triggered something when you said about Jimmie continuing to take lessons, something about the entrepreneurial path, do you know what I mean by that, that it’s a path of humility as much as it’s a path of grittiness and determination but there’s also something about that it’s an unfolding mystery, it’s not a chore to keep practicing you know -?
Dan: No, no, not at all, it’s one of those things where you know, what I’ve learned- and again, when I started this medium, the magazine, I wasn’t wanting just to tell stories of success I want to hear the good, the bad and ugly of building a business, because at the end of the day, I want my readers to pick this magazine up and really learn from it. So if you’re trying to start a restaurant, I want you to hear from restaurant owners and what they struggled with, so because, the only way we can grow as society is learning from others. And so, if I can be this source, and you’re a source as well, the people that are doing this job, as you said, before collectively, we rely on each other to share a message. And we share this message together to help others to see that there is a path, that people can take and there’s alternatives it’s not just what you hear from your neighbor or your school teacher or your parents. It’s what others are doing and you get to choose that every single day.
Kevin: Now, Dan, you said something before we started taping, I just want to draw out here, because Sebastian and I are discussing the business of Europeans coming from Europe over to America, particularly to the Austin area. Entrepreneurs, people moving businesses, moving families moving lifestyles and entering to a completely new adventure. But you said something when we first met, which struck a real cord and it wasn’t what I was expecting at all, was something about the concept of community and this magazine. Could you just for the listeners expand, because, I’ll tell you, I worked in journalism I never heard anybody talking about community I’ve talked about readers and I’ve talked about advertisers, I’ve never heard about community.
Dan: That was the second part only earlier you asked the question and I said it into two parts. And one was what I love about Austin. And the second part, I’ve been asked many times, since I’ve- and I hear from so many people in Austin and obviously I love the city, if I can describe Austin in one word, what would it be. And the word is community. No, no doubt about it.
Yes, sure it’s beautiful, sure there is outdoor life, sure there is a lot of business, sure there is much of entrepreneurialism, but the heart of Austin is this community.
Meaning that you can pretty much email, contact, LinkedIn anyone in Austin, and say, “hey wanna grab a coffee, I need some help with my business”, and 99% of the time, they’re gonna say “yes”, no matter if it’s a CEO of a big company, or whoever it is. They’ll say, yes, they’ll take time and give, because Austin is also about giving and they know that it takes a community to build and so, I consider Austin as this garden of entrepreneurialism, and the reason that you have a garden is because you have cultivators that give, give, give, and want to give back through these coffee meetings and knowledge sharing. And that’s what makes this city so great, above everything else, it’s a great climate, and location and a lot of music and a lot of things to do, food is second to none, but just, community, just be able to pick the phone up and say I need some help with my business.
Sebastian: I think we’ve met that exact same experience, while we were here, right, everyone we wanted to meet us always said yes, straight away, made time, some time, a significant amount of time.
Kevin: I’m almost suspicious that the Austin tourist board is been paying everybody before we came here [smiling] because it’s been such a positive experience I can’t believe it. But just, Dan, going back to that, it’s very interesting, the idea that community, because you know the old, slightly hackney expression now, from Africa I think originally, that “it takes a village to raise a child”. And it’s almost what you’re saying there, it takes a community to create entrepreneurs. You know that the entrepreneurs do not drop from the sky. And with the wand, saying “right here we’re gonna go” I mean, most of the entrepreneurs I know are connected with other people, and need other people, you know the creative people need the software, the software needs the accountants, the accountants need the bankers, and you know we are all connected in a sense.
Dan: Yeah, for sure.
Kevin: Which goes again so much of what the modern world tells us.
Dan: Yes so, I’m going to take this into more philosophical thing that I’d like to talk about, and that’s this thing that’s called fear. I think that a lot of the world has a fear, and this fear in every aspect of life causes them to be crippled and not act. Or, causes them to try to protect, causes them to try to like- fear that you’re going to lose something. When you’re living in fear, you’re not living in abundance. You have to live in abundance every single day before you create abundance. And so, the thing that I love about Austin is that there’s no fear. I go to so many meetings, and share a coffee with so many people and there’s never like, “hey sign this NDA before I assure my idea with you”. It’s not that at all. It’s like “hey tell me about your idea, yes, I want to help”. And truly there is this altruistic thing there, where you want to push the ball forward because at the end of the day, you never know how that karma is going to come back and help you, and you’re not doing for that reason, you are doing it to serve. But at the end of the day people serving each other is what makes this community so great.
Kevin: Sebastian you’ve lived in Austin, do you recognize what Dan is saying?
Sebastian: I totally recognize what Dan said, yeah I’ve met this very much the same experience, but hindsight something there’s a wish I would’ve have made more use of, you know, of the options and possibilities that were available on Austin in that regard but I also feel a lot has been- I mean in the entrepreneur’s world in Austin, a lot has happened in the last ten years, a lot of has developed, a lot of new people moved here. I can share this very much and this is one, certainly one of the reasons why I lived here, and even move back here, you know, and after I went back to London for a few years. I can totally agree with that.
Dan: I do want to say one thing, as you said Austin has a lot of entrepreneurs here, coming here, and I agree, we probably doubled in size in the last ten years, you see the skyline was ten years ago and now what is- probably doubled.
Kevin: So, I mean in London there’s a lot of building work going on, but I think Austin must be second to London in terms of skyscrapers and cranes and building works.
Dan: It’s kind of crazy, I mean we have cranes in town it’s like, crazy.
Kevin: But that’s also a sign of hope and future.
Dan: Hope, future, growth, but I do want to say something, I think Austin has done a great job, when you move to Austin, people have adapted the Austin community feeling and spirit. So it’s not like, all these people have transferred to Austin, brought their own ideals. Yeah, ideals are great, however, the community, the heart of Austin is, transforms them as a person. This is what I’ve witnessed.
Sebastian: I would agree with that, however, I’m not exactly sure that, I mean, certainly when I moved here, initially, I wasn’t aware of that. I mean, I didn’t move here, for that particular reason. I moved here for other reasons, you know, and it took me some time to understand that. So this is why I think now we’re having a different approach, now we have realized ourselves and now we’re inviting other clients to come here from Europe, particularly to Austin, because we believe that this is probably one of the best places in the United States at the moment to set up a business.
Dan: Definitely, Austin has your back. No matter where you’re coming from, we’re open to ideas and we’re going to share- I mean it is also Texas, right, Texas is very warm, welcoming, it just got this great spirit about being southern and welcoming, and we got lots of land, come on in, and we’re gonna give you some southern food and all that kind of stuff, so there’s a lot of culture here that, and spirit that’s indescribable, but at the end of the day, it helps entrepreneurialism. And helps cultivating ideas, we say yes, to ideas, we say, how can we help, take that to the next- you know if you compare this to the American football, it’s like I would’ve take this to the next five yards. Cause it’s you win again by every single five yards, every single ten yards, you get the first down. So how can we take this to the next- how can we help you to take this another ten yards, to achieve your dreams and goals.
Kevin: And Dan when we were driving through Austin today, I saw a bumper sticker and it said, something like a, keeping Austin weird. And I said it to Sebastian, what does that mean. And Sebastian said something like, well that’s the kind of theme of the place. And, just what you’re saying, I mean, maybe you’d like to explain it, but, what you’re saying is that weirdness can be frightening for some people, but it seems in Austin it’s kind of like, there’s no fear. Whatever you’re bringing we’d look at.
Dan: Weird is a cool way to say acceptance, at the end of the day. Keep Austin weird, bring us whoever wants to come in and we’re going to accept it. And that’s what I take it from this after 17 years of being here, we have had all the types of people have come through and we were accepting. We had an icon in Austin, his name- he was an attorney, his name was Leslie, if you haven’t looked him up you should look him up, he’s no longer with us, but he was definitely his own person and well known in Austin. And to me, it’s just the acceptance of Austin whether you are all tattooed up and artful, or you’re an artist, a musician, a business owner, whatever it is, we’re going to accept it. And beyond that, we’re going to appreciate you for who you are and the value you bring to this earth.
Kevin: That’s something incredibly powerful and welcoming statement to European entrepreneurs who are considering Austin as a future home for themselves and their families and their businesses.
Dan: Yeah.
Kevin: When you use the word community, and there is- and the other of things you’ve been saying is, I haven’t experienced this in the past few days I’ve been here but there’s almost like a- I’m struggling for another word, there’s almost like a nurturing, you know that, once you’re inside the home, you’re part of the family type thing.
Dan: Sure, that’s a southern and Austin and Texas way of being, once you’re here, how can we help, how can we help, because, it’s not to say that we are not competitive, obviously we had UT football and all this kind of stuff, we love our football, we love our competitors we love all that, but in the spirit of becoming better humans on this earth, and we know that entrepreneurialism is so vital, so important, because you have this creativity that sparks from anywhere, that’s meant to improve the earth. We’re all here on earth for a purpose. The universe is giving us a sign and says, here’s your calling, whether you’re take it or not, it’s up to you. But if you are gonna take that ball and run with it, we’re gonna be here to help. And if it’s not that, it’s another thing.
Kevin: And do you think that, I mean, I don’t know you Dan I don’t know you well enough to know if you lived in other parts of the United States, but do you think that, I mean, it sounds to me like Austin is a kind of spiritual center, I’m using those words deliberately, for entrepreneurialism, in that, it’s the environment in which anybody can come and make a contribution and, through that, somehow not just contribute to society as a large but also find their true calling.
Dan: Yes, for sure, I’m well-travelled all over the States, and I love the United States, and I love the world. It’s one of those things I just have a passion for, everything world, but every city has some kind of spirit and that’s something. And, I appreciate the beauty of San Diego, I appreciate the sun of California, I appreciate Maine and it’s fishing, and I appreciate Florida, I appreciate Oregon, I appreciate Portland, I appreciate all these cities. I do think that Austin has its own spirit, I know it’s going to sound spiritual and that’s why my passion is talking and teaching the world that our spirit is community. I would love to spread the spirit of this community across the world. So that people know that you can do things differently. You can do things with the community you can do things with a welcoming spirit and help others and help yourself at the same time.
Kevin: Sebastian that’s seems to be your manifesto, there on the table.
Sebastian: Yes, yes, definitely, that’s really what we do and that message that we want to transport to and then convey to European entrepreneurs that will get to set up a business in the United States, that Austin has exactly that spirit and that’s what’s good for.
Kevin: Cause you’ve consistently said to me that Austin is the place, Austin is the portal for the United States, you know, that is the place for entrepreneurs to come.
Sebastian: Yeah, I totally believe that, I totally- I’m on the same page there with Dan, totally I think that for anyone, making that step here, come through us, it’s a great way to get started and to hit the ground running, you know.
Dan: We’re busting on the same already I know that a lot of fellow long time often say, like [smiling] oh no more people, but at the end of the day they say it like that jokingly, because, we welcome people. And yes, the rest of the States, as I’ve mentioned, are great, I’ve been to Nashville, Dallas and Houston, and all these places, every place has its purpose. But if you’re embodied entrepreneur, that needs some support, needs some ideas, needs a community around it, that’s all we’re about.
Kevin: Well, thank you very much Dan, for coming on our podcast and talking about Austin, talking about foundingAUSTIN which is a must read and if anybody can check out on your website, and because it can give you an insight about the entrepreneurial community that exist here in Austin. And I have to say that this is where we are taping this podcast, which I’m afraid our listeners can’t see, is just the most incredible night sky, there’s just a wonderful atmosphere and I want to thank Dan for coming on this show, and yes, thank you very much
Dan: Thank you for having me, I’ve certainly enjoyed it, I run many podcasts myself and welcome people to come check us on foundingAUSTIN, Masters and Founders podcast as well, to learn more about the Austin community, and we have several other titles in our network but I really appreciate the time that you’ve spent with us, I really love, spreading the word across the world, what we’re doing and, welcome anybody
Next time on Move Your Business to the United States, coming to a startup in America, failure is not an option, because that’s going home is submitting failure, so for us failure is not an option.
You’ve been listening to Move Your Business to the United States, with me, Kevin Turley. A huge thanks to my producer, Emmett Glynn, who produces this podcast for Mount Bonnell Media. To find out more, go to mtbonnell.com and remember, ‘Dream big, dream America’
