TiE Austin Community,
As this year moves to a close, so does my 2-year tenure as President of TiE Austin. I am delighted to transition to a new incoming President – the enthusiastic and energetic Will Simpson.
I have been proud to lead TiE Austin and feel that we have made a significant turnaround from where we were two years ago and I want to thank all the members, sponsors, board member, and event participants who helped make this possible. In this final missive to the TiE Austin community I wanted to recap some of the progress that we made in the last two years and share some thoughts on the future.
Most of you know the details of what we have accomplished in 2020-21… so I’ll keep the regurgitation concise.
Membership We have gone from 5 Charter Members at the beginning of 2020 to 34 today. General membership has increased from 10 to 100.
Financials TiE Austin had an income loss of over $25K in 2019 and our cash position was almost negligible. Since then we have had cumulative net income of $21K on revenues (membership, sponsorships, etc.) of over $55K. At the end of the year TiE Austin will be in its strongest financial position in over four years.
Events Even in the midst of the Covid pandemic, TiE Austin averaged one event per month for the last year and a half. We had well-attended and well-received virtual events on a varied set of subjects: the Central Texas economy, Women’s Entrepreneurship, Cryptocurrency, Raising Capital in Distressed Times, Autonomous Vehicles, and several more. (https://austin.tie.org/past-events/)
Women’s Pitch Competition One of the highlights of this year was this very successful contest in which we had 12 submissions with 4 presenting on the event day. The winner, Clocr, made it to the TiE Women’s Global gathering in Dubai in October. (https://austin.tie.org/initiatives/tie-women/)
TYE School & College Program
College – our chapter College pitch winner reached the TiE Global final round;
High School – Mentored by our TYE committee members, a Del Valle high school student made it to the final round of the Texas A&M Ideation competition.
TiE Austin Angels – the initiative has been launched. First pitch is in November to the Investors community. Our chapter has directly enabled $750 K+ funding to startups in Central Texas already.
Mentorship/Incubation During the past 18 months, TiE Austin has helped eight startups with mentorship and/or placement in accelerators that have aided each in moving forward in their development.
Some final thoughts on moving forward.
Like any similar organization the success of TiE Austin is entirely dependent on the active participation of its members. There is a duality in the membership – we want members to benefit from the resources and initiatives of the chapter, while at the same time said resources and initiatives would not be possible without the contributions of the members. This cycle is virtuous only if it is nurtured regularly through constant participation and interaction.
Charter Members have a special responsibility. They are individuals of distinction whose leadership and financial contributions help sustain and grow TiE Austin. In addition, I would encourage them to participate in or even lead key initiatives of the chapter, and help in growing the general membership, the latter being the next generation of entrepreneurs.
With the continued growth of the Austin and Central Texas economies, the opportunity (and need) for TiE Austin to contribute will also increase. However there are many other community and business organizations that are also working to encourage entrepreneurship, and for TiE Austin to remain relevant and grow, the chapter must retain its energy and vibrancy. A continued effort to diversify the membership and an outreach to under-served communities while leveraging its presence in the South Asian diaspora, broadening initiatives into a variety of industry segments while building on its presence in the technology sector, are a couple of directions we started to move on that should be nourished.
I am grateful for the opportunity to lead TiE Austin and will remain actively engaged with the chapter. My thanks to all who have helped me over the past two years and who continue to be committed to the success of TiE Austin.
Wishing you all a happy and safe holiday season and a tremendous 2022!
Jayshree