WHY TEXAS? AUSTIN COMMERCE The Plus Side of a Pandemic Texas metros like Austin have long been attractive to businesses stuck in higher-cost areas of the country. Today, COVID-related pressures may actually be making Austin even more appealing to businesses—particularly those in the growing tech sector.

As 2020 wound down, the “With the continued success We have found that attracting The company’s goal is to allow Austin region’s large economic of this work, we will see more talent here has been easy,” control of satellites with a base was poised to grow in locally grown businesses Feigley says. “We have been handheld device like a phone. the new year. Some of that taking the leap to expand one of the fastest-growing expansion will come from and hit the $1 billion cap,” offices in the company, having Hypergiant Galactic Systems is business relocations—including she says. “This will enable started with roughly 25 people working with the US Air Force many technology companies— job growth and bring in in July ’18. Our plan is to on building the Chameleon as COVID-19 made CEOs executive-level talent who are expand further in 2021.” Constellation, a planned outside Texas rethink the experts in company pivots.” system of roughly 36 satellites geographic Technology is also creating that can be reconfigured in areas where their AUSTIN opportunities at Cedar Park’s real time through software companies operate. TECHNOLOGISTS Firefly Aerospace, a supplier updates. The project has LEAD THE WAY of launch vehicles, spacecraft, $100,000 in funding from the “From a business COVID is creating opportunities and in-space services. The Air Force’s Small Business development for many Austin tech shops. 300-employee firm moved Innovation Research grant here from California in 2014. We’re seeing standpoint, we have For instance, some now program, or SBIR, with the 196 active projects help the healthcare industry aim of landing another grant a lot of interest in our pipeline,” said understand their data and “The next of up to $10 million, according in nearshoring Adriana Cruz, how to use it to reduce generation of to the Wall Street Journal.1 and reshoring. Executive Director the disease’s spread. the information of the Economic revolution is In a similar vein, Switzerland’s —Adriana Cruz “As the medical and banking Development and space,” says Acutronic Holding AG turns industries turn more to tech Tourism division in the office Eric Salwan, to partners in the defense during COVID, there will be an of Governor Greg Abbott, Firefly’s Director of Commercial sector to help fund its increase in the conversation speaking at the YTexas State Business Development. research and development. of how [tech] plays a role in of Business Summit. “We’re “Everything you’ve seen with A maker of technologies in those fields,” Gunst says. seeing a lot of interest in the Internet over the last areas like motion simulation 20 years, that’s what we’re nearshoring and reshoring.” PIMCO, a global investment and robotics, the company’s going to see with space manager that employs more turbines and actuators over the next 20 years.” Cruz says that more prospects than 250 people in Austin, business is based in Austin. have reached out to her adapted its internal and client agency since the pandemic communication during the CONTROLLING A “In our began. “There is a lot of pandemic by increasing its SATELLITE WITH experience, the interest in medical device use of technologies like video A PHONE government manufacturing, personal- conferencing, according to Pat The large software is one of the protection equipment Feigley, a Managing Director. development industry in best sources manufacturers coming metro Austin is helping of funding,” to the state. In the past Since the California-based fuel growth at Hypergiant says Acutronic’s CEO, they automatically would firm opened its local shop Galactic Systems, which Florian Aigrain. “We’re have gravitated to the in the summer of 2018, its builds and deploys artificial doing first-in-the-nation type East or West Coasts.” area technology team has led intelligence–powered satellites stuff.” Acutronic is turning the charge with automation into low-Earth orbit. hobby-grade turbojet engines The region’s tech of all types, including into systems that can run industry will benefit data processing, artificial It operates the craft with unmanned aerial systems, from a growing intelligence, and creating a combination of industry- urban air mobility craft, or focus on mergers faster, more efficient ways standard flight control even small missiles, he says. and acquisitions of doing most everything. software and its own product, Austin is also home to one and initial public called Hyper Intelligent Vehicle Enhancement, offerings, according “The business community 1Sara Castellanos, “Air Force Readies to Amber Gunst, CEO has greeted us with open or HIVE for short, which Launch of In-Orbit Network to Support of the Austin Technology arms and our employees helps with functions like AI Applications in Space,” Wall Street Council, a trade group. have really enjoyed the city. predictive maintenance. Journal, July 30, 2020.

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of three Innovation Hubs for for a broad range of jobs Silicon Valley to Cedar Park in AFWERX, where the US Air focused on modernization 2009, he got an unexpected Force and Space Force work through innovation. benefit beyond lower costs with military folks, academics, and less regulation. “When we and entrepreneurs. The Command’s presence became a Texas company, in Austin has also led to about 30 percent of our “The Air the establishment and business became the oil and Force has a growth of related jobs in the gas industry,” Trevis says. “We checkbook they region, leveraging Austin’s had 12 different customer can use for entrepreneurial ecosystem segments, but we had never innovation,” says in its strategy for success, been in that market.” Tony Cucolo, a according to Ellen Troxclair, retired US Army the AFC’s Director for Steve Raucher Major General who now runs Strategic Partnerships. found similar the Austin nonprofit National growth after Security Innovation Council, “We’ve invested $157 million moving his which helps connect people so far in strategic partnerships technology in national security with folks with higher education, including company, who can solve technological the University of Texas, RapidDeploy, problems. “They’ve broken Texas A&M, Rice University, to the area from South the code on that and are and Baylor,” she said. Africa in January 2019. The doing very well.” He adds company makes software that SBIR grants, like the A BRIGHT FUTURE, that helps cut response one secured by Hypergiant DESPITE COVID times for emergency services like police, firefighting, and Galactic Systems, can be CONCERNS attractive sources of funding. ambulances. “We now employ What about 80 people in the US, including the non-tech 70 in Austin,” he says. ARMY INNOVATION businesses that NEAR SIXTH STREET are also such a AFWERX Austin is located critical part of downtown in Capital Factory, Austin, including a startup accelerator, along festivals, live music, and with working space for the travel? Jacqueline Yaft, Army Futures Command, Executive Director of Austin- or AFC, which was created Bergstrom International in July 2018 to modernize Airport, is optimistic, but also that military branch. acknowledges that things will be different post-COVID. “Standing up an additional “The profile of business Army Command travelers and first class [flights] hasn’t been is going to change for airlines, done since as will the infrastructure of 1973,” says airport lounges,” she says. Command Sergeant Major Michael Similar modifications are Crosby. likely in store for the many events Austin hosts. “The Though its headquarters are entertainment and music within walking distance of festivals will come back,” Austin’s famed Sixth Street says Yaft. “They might have entertainment district, the a different way of holding AFC has nearly 26,000 Army them and a different way scientists and engineers of handling the passengers spread out across 26 and customers.” states, 11 countries, and five continents, Crosby While COVID may bring shifts said at the Summit. in many areas of society, other CEOs also remain optimistic The AFC is working on about the long-term prospects machine learning that can of doing business in the state. discern friendly vehicles Whether they’ve come recently from foes and robotics to or a decade ago, businesses breach obstacles surrounded seem uniformly pleased with by barbed wire and mines. what Austin has to offer. And like Hypergiant Galactic Systems, the AFC is building When Ed AI systems that can tell Trevis moved people when vehicles his industrial- need maintenance. computing The AFC is actively business, recruiting forward-thinkers Corvalent, from

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A Helping Accelerating Hand for the Change in Higher Ed Unemployed Since March of 2020, COVID-19 is pushing Austin’s colleges and universities to countless jobs have been offer more virtual classes, even as they adopt flexible training lost across the state of programs and coursework in entrepreneurship. Texas. Fortunately, there’s been no shortage of Change brings opportunity, Despite the Austin region’s offers dual credit for high programs designed to help but seldom of the scope or wealth of colleges and schoolers and programs to get speed that COVID-19 has universities that focus students ready for higher ed. the newly unemployed created. That’s true across a on science, technology, upskill for new opportunities. wide swath of Austin’s higher- engineering, and math “We believe college is education and workforce- education, its tech employers for everyone,” says Dr. One is the Pflugerville development institutions. are growing faster than the Richard Rhodes, ACC’s number of students entering chancellor. “The beauty of the Manufacturing Academy, “Today, Austin has a rare college. Workforce Solutions community college is that we founded in the middle of chance for jobless residents Capital Area is working with can do a lot more while still the pandemic to train locals and workers to reskill, re- the Austin Technology Council, providing the same level of for jobs in plastic injection engage, and come out of this a trade group, on a study excellence students deserve pandemic stronger,” says of what types of middle-skill and employers expect—all molding and additive Tamara Atkinson, CEO of technical training could help at a much lower cost.” manufacturing (the latter Workforce Solutions Capital its clients find jobs in tech. also known as 3-D printing). Area, a nonprofit that plans, ACC is working to move oversees, and evaluates “Our membership was low- and middle-income workforce development eager to get involved residents into more stable The program has operated activities in the Austin and with this, as it solves the and high-paying jobs by lining in rented space in area Travis County area. problem of talent and offers up education and training facilities as a way of programs with employers’ opportunities for people avoiding the expense of a Workforce Solutions Capital looking to better their lives,” needs, Rhodes says. That has Area offers tuition assistance, says Amber Gunst, Austin happened through partnerships bricks-and-mortar location childcare, transportation, and Technology Council’s CEO. with the Austin Chamber of and training equipment that other help to train people for Commerce and local schools. would get outdated. “We’re “middle-skill jobs,” or those AN EVOLVING In 2020’s fall semester, thinking we need more requiring more than a high DEFINITION OF ACC provided deep tuition school diploma but less than training for our residents COLLEGE discounts for fast-track training a college degree. COVID who lost jobs in retail and Higher-education institutions programs in some of the most prompted the organization in Austin are also playing a in-demand careers. “As in service centers,” said to rework its Community significant role in building a any crisis, we discover the Amy Madison, Executive Workforce Plan, which aims workforce with the skills that power of community,” Rhodes to move 10,000 people living Director of the Pflugerville match the needs of local says. “We are adaptable at or below 200 percent Community Development employers. In fact, COVID hit and stronger than ever.” of the federal poverty line as higher education in Austin Corporation, which into middle-wage jobs. was becoming more flexible Many have emphasized, developed the Pflugerville than students of previous however, that training and “Updated for the era of Manufacturing Academy in eras may have seen. development cannot end once social distancing, [this plan] conjunction with the Texas a student earns a degree. focuses on rapid retraining The Austin Community College Ongoing job-related training for Workforce Commission. for the digital environment, District, for instance, provides people already in the workforce emphasizing safety, speed, fast-track options that can is also vital and sufficient supports to “We’ve got plans to partner lead students straight to the to keep up provide pathways out of with other organizations workforce. ACC can also give with changes poverty for workers who students transfer options that in various to provide and deliver lost jobs because of the lead to a four-year degree vocations. seminars and training for pandemic,” Atkinson says. at another institution. It also “The half-life of them in various ways.”

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degrees is less than 10 years,” Texas governor Greg Abbott higher learning, the historically “There are says Wade Allen, President and the legislature dedicated black school—whose 68 different and CEO of the Austin executive $175 million of federal stimulus roots date to 1875—had programs at the placement firm Cendea. “People funds to higher education, no fully online degrees. University of Texas need to embrace change with the top priority being focused around because the occupations of need-based financial help “We had built up entrepreneurship the future may not have even for students, Keller says. the infrastructure and innovation,” says Mitch been thought of today.” to be able to go Jacobson, Executive Director of “We recently distributed online, but we were the Austin Technology Incubator HIGHER ED ADAPTS contracts to about 150 public in this perpetual at UT’s Austin campus. QUICKLY and independent schools to testing mode,” said Beyond running the nation’s make sure we could maintain The recession that COVID-19 Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette, longest-running tech incubator, our current need-based aid created has also lent new who has served as the Jacobson also heads the program,” he said at the Summit. urgency to the 60x30TX plan, university’s President and CEO National Science Foundation’s “It will also help public institutions an initiative whose aims include since 2015. “Higher education Southwest I-Corps Node, over 60 percent of Texans provide additional emergency aid which helps faculty build to help keep students on track.” does not make a hard right ages 25 to 34 having earned a turn. We are an ocean liner. So companies around something certificate or degree by 2030. they’ve invented at UT There is good when COVID-19 happened, that Austin, Texas A&M, the MD reason to focus pushed the ocean liner to turn to After the Great Recession of Anderson Cancer Center, Texas on education avoid the iceberg, so to speak.” 2008, some 85 percent of new Tech, or Rice University. jobs created in if we hope to Texas (and 99 recover from the Huston-Tillotson does not downturn of 2020 want to be fully online forever, He also heads up the percent of those We’ve seen that Blackstone LaunchPad, created nationwide) as quickly as because it wants to retain communities with possible. Tracye the culture of its campus. which provides education in required some kind entrepreneurship and on how of post-secondary better-educated McDaniel, But having done the work to populations really President of TIP go online means it can find a to launch companies out of UT. education. “The opportunities today are Strategies, an hybrid operating model of virtual recovery faster. massive in terms of the different “We have the Austin consultancy, and in-person instruction. —Tracye McDaniel programs, competitions, and opportunity to notes that there other things offered on [the UT accelerate innovation in what is a correlation “The landscape of higher Austin] campus,” Jacobson said. teaching and learning looks between post-secondary education is changing like in a way that we’re going education and how quickly drastically,” Burnette said. Those include internships, to look back on 2020 as the economies emerge from “We are a stronger university which increasingly have become year it all changed,” says recessions. “We’ve seen that and a different university.” Harrison Keller, communities with better- part of students’ preparation Commissioner of educated populations really for jobs in various areas. NEW OPPORTUNITIES Higher Education recover faster,” she says. for the Texas ON CAMPUS “We have 46 interns over the Higher Education TAKING Beyond new ways of connecting summer,” says Eric Salwan, Coordinating Board. EDUCATION ONLINE teachers and students, higher Director of Commercial Business Just as COVID-19 is changing ed’s degree programs are Development at Cedar Park’s The agency is spearheading the job market, it is also forcing adding new coursework to train Firefly Aerospace. “And we work on 60x30TX. colleges and universities like students in areas that are key consider that a big part of our While many states have made Austin’s Huston-Tillotson to workplace success but that program. We have people deep cuts to their colleges’ and University to do things differently. historically may not have been who started as interns that universities’ budgets in 2020, As Austin’s oldest institution of part of college curriculums. now run departments.”

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A Spirit of Helping More than

Music, nightlife, and technology geeks get the most attention in just talking Austin, but the region also prospers because of its population’s about willingness to lend a hand—especially post-COVID. diversity When Tiffany says. “A lot of times, that won’t of the Pflugerville Taylor and affect the bottom line right Community “There is a lot of work to do Leon Chen away. But all of a sudden when Development around diversity, equity, and started delivering you need people the most, Corporation, inclusion in Austin,” says hot-from-the- they want to be there for you.” which organized oven cookies the calls. “Several Austin Technology Council as an Austin business in Austin’s broader spirit of have wanted to work together CEO Amber Gunst. “But 1999, their packaging wasn’t helping was also readily as an industry cluster.” our companies are poised to great and their service was apparent to the Australian only so-so. But because founders of BigCommerce, Elsewhere in make strides in this area.” the cookies were delicious, an e-commerce company, the region, the customers supported what as they considered moving Austin Chamber One area Austin has made became known as Tiff’s Treats, their headquarters to of Commerce which today has 62 stores the United States. has worked progress on is women in and 1,500-plus employees. to connect leadership. Gunst notes Driving past farmland soon struggling businesses with that “women make up “We went through years of after their arrival in Austin, one services that could help 30 percent of people in not making money and just founder wanted to leave. them survive in the heart of working really hard,” says a downturn. “We created a Director to C-suite roles Leon, who has since married “The other said, ’No, let’s do pro bono marketplace so in area tech firms. . . . Tiffany. “As we’re saying why the meetings,’” says Robert businesses that have a few This is one of the highest we didn’t quit, part of it was Alvarez, BigCommerce’s extra hours can provide legal we got so much support Chief Financial or financial support, strategic percentages in the United from the community.” Officer. “They planning, whatever it is that States and beats Silicon went downtown our smaller businesses need Valley. The level of female The Austin metro may be and found right now to stay afloat,” better known for technology how helpful says Laura Huffman, the leadership we have puts and weirdness, but residents people were.” chamber’s President and CEO. us in a position to make say the willingness of its The company now has its significant impacts.” people to help each other out headquarters in Austin. Efforts like these showcase is a hallmark of its culture— Austin residents’ willingness to and a major reason they are Partnerships have also been lend a helping hand, whether Dr. Colette Pierce optimistic it will succeed in the on the agenda as companies it’s developing brand new Burnette, President and wake of resurgent COVID-19 and local government agencies citywide programs—or simply CEO of Huston-Tillotson and a national recession. work together to tackle staying loyal to their favorite problems that COVID-19 neighborhood cookie shop. University, a historically Tennis star and and a slow economy have black school in East Austin, Austin resident brought to Central Texas. has also seen more energy Andy Roddick, who has invested In Pflugerville, located about going into issues of diversity, in Tiff’s Treats, says 20 minutes northeast of equity, and inclusion. that people there downtown Austin, a series of supported the brand during 7:00 a.m. Zoom calls starting “We’re an honest broker the pandemic because of in March resulted in some its corporate culture. of the city’s manufacturers in that conversation,” helping each other with she says. “I want it to He remembers overhearing an equipment, hiring, and continue and not be employee describing what it supply chain disruptions. was like to work at Tiff’s Treats something where we all all the way back in 2007. “It took a pandemic to get get lulled back to sleep “You’re going, ’Oh, they still them together,” said Amy when COVID-19 is over.” love working here,’” Roddick Madison, Executive Director

18 Texas CEO Magazine Q1 2021 WHY TEXAS?

Lifestyle in Austin’s second downtown Northwest Austin on a major facility nearby. and where with the region’s roughly in particular has there are a 2.2 million population. attracted many These expansions in turn significant headquarters recently. helped draw the region’s amount of fun “Austin is a very first major league sports recreational Millennial, multicultural, Large West Coast tech team: Austin FC will activities being added and tech savvy companies like Apple kick off its first Major as well,” says Andy market,” Loughnane and Amazon have League Soccer season Loughnane, President says. “That aligns well expanded there, with in 2021 at a $260 million, of the soccer club. with successful Major Amazon growing its privately financed League Soccer markets. location at the retail and stadium it is building Austin FC’s ownership, Lifestyle for us is office complex known near the Domain. which includes actor important. If you love the as the Domain (often Matthew McConaughey, Domain today, you will referred to as Austin’s “This is an area where chose the Austin area really love it in five years “second downtown”) and companies are putting in partly because the when development Apple breaking ground large office presences sport’s audience jibes is further built out.”

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