Austin Next

The quantum & physics tech conversation often gets caught between the hope of the possible and the reality of meeting customer needs today. This week's Austin Next is a recording of a panel from Quantonation's Austin Day where our host Jason Scharf was joined by leaders from Strangeworks (William Hurley), Qunnect (Noel Goddard), Pasqal (Wasiq Bokhari), and TAU Systems (Bjorn Manuel Hegelich) to explore this tension. We discussed: ??Deep Tech Communication ??Scientific-Business Divide ??Hype vs Market Reality vs Innovation Progress ??Solving Customer Problems Today ??The Role of Patience ??Infrastructure and Horizontal Tech ??And of course What's Next The episode can be found on all major platforms with links in the comments below ?

The quantum & physics tech conversation often gets caught between the hope of the possible and the reality of meeting customer needs today. This week's Austin Next is a recording of a panel from Quantonation's Austin Day where I was joined by leaders from Strangeworks (William Hurley), Qunnect (Noel Goddard), Pasqal (Wasiq Bokhari), and TAU Systems (Bjorn Manuel Hegelich) to explore this tension. We discussed: ??Deep Tech Communication ??Scientific-Business Divide ??Hype vs Market Reality vs Innovation Progress ??Solving Customer Problems Today ??The Role of Patience ??Infrastructure and Horizontal Tech ??And of course What's Next Find the full episode here: [https://lnkd.in/eAqhjDmy] & on all major podcast platforms

This weekend University of Austin (UATX) hosted the 1st Annual SOMA Astronaut Summit. As a 3x Space Camp kid who now just wants more & faster, I was very excited to participate! Had the honor of moderating "Trailblazers of Discovery: Science in the Commercial Space Age" with space pioneers Rob Ferl, Chris Sembroski, & Anna-Lisa Paul. From space beans to sci-fi movies to protein engineering in microgravity, to what’s next. The conversation was incredible & fun too. (The full discussion will be coming soon as an Austin Next podcast episode.) SOMA stands for Space Omics and Medical Atlas, so the summit wasn’t just about talks & discussion, but there was real science being conducted in real-time. The most surreal, funny, & slightly disturbing moment… Being at the happy hour, in mid-conversation with an astronaut, when a renowned professor walks up asking "Did we get your blood, saliva..." and other stuff ?? The overall vibe just felt right with an Arena Magazine sitting on the coffee table. Absolutely amazing job Eliah Overbey and the whole UATX team for putting together such a fantastic summit. Can’t wait to see where it goes from here. And the coin, one of the coolest speaker gifts ever! What's Next?

Just finished recording with Rob Rosenthal, Udemy's Chief Revenue Officer on what's happening at the intersection of demand for skills, education, & tech. Jason even uttered the phrase "Kids these days" ?? Look for the episode in a few weeks.

?? This week's Austin Bio & Health Roundup highlights community events, innovative partnerships, key data insights, and more ?? ??? Community UT Austin’s Longhorn Neurotech & Synapse are hosting the “Future of Neural Engineering Forum” on November 18th, a student-led event bringing together experts in neurotechnology, AI, ethics, politics, philosophy, material science, and neuroscience. Topics include Brainhacking & Ethics, Direct brain-to-brain communication, False memory implantation, Human-AI Co-evolution, and Brain organoids & Robotics. Austin is quickly becoming the neurotech capital of the world! Registration link in the comments ?? Partnerships and M&A ShiftRx announced a partnership with KarmaCheck to streamline credentialing and lower background check costs for pharmacists and technicians by fully integrating the service into their platform. Great work Autumn-Kyoko Cushman, Leann Haddad and the team! ?? Data Peter Walker’s latest insights from Carta highlight 2024 post-money valuations and growth trends for Bio & Health: Biotech: -Seed: $16M median (Range: $5M at 10th percentile, $36M at 90th percentile) -Series A: $41M median (Range: $15M at 10th percentile, $119M at 90th percentile) -Series B: $125M median (Range: $44M at 10th percentile, $374M at 90th percentile) Healthtech: -Seed: $16M median (Range: $7M at 10th percentile, $36M at 90th percentile) -Series A: $46M median (Range: $24M at 10th percentile, $107M at 90th percentile) -Series B: $120M median (Range: $36M at 10th percentile, $349M at 90th percentile) In a separate analysis, Peter highlighted year-over-year growth across Bio & Health subsectors (Q1–Q3): Med Device surged +37%, Pharma/Biotech climbed +13%, and Healthtech rose +2%. ???Recognition David Franklin of knowRX Health was named one of MSN’s Top 15 Entrepreneurs Disrupting Their Industries. Well done David! ?? Texas Bio Triangle Dallas-based Conflixis raised $4.2M in seed funding to transform conflicts of interest management in healthcare. Congrats Aaron B. Narva and team! San Antonio’s Texas Biomedical Research Institute secured $23M across five R01 NIH grants to advance HIV and TB research. What’s Next?

Optimizing health needs more than tech; it needs new models, engagement & to be fun. Jim Donnelly of Humanaut Health joins Austin Next to discuss reimagining healthcare & why Austin is becoming a hub. We discuss: ??Humanaut Health and Its Mission ??Longevity vs. Health Optimization ??Navigating the Wild West of Wellness ??Measuring Prevention and Healthspan ??New Biz Models: Aligning Incentives, Dealing with Churn, Integrating Tech ??Austin: A Hub for Health and Wellness Innovation Jim's vision for What's Next Austin: "That many of these great things that are happening in Austin become less the purvey of the top 1% to 5%. It's not the biohackers. It's not the rich people. It's like a lot of this sort of filters down more and more." The full episode is on all podcast platforms. Links in the comments?

Optimizing health needs more than tech; it needs new models, engagement & to be fun. Jim Donnelly of Humanaut Health joins Austin Next to discuss reimagining healthcare & why Austin is becoming a hub. We discuss: ??Humanaut Health and Its Mission ??Longevity vs. Health Optimization ??Navigating the Wild West of Wellness? ??Measuring Prevention and Healthspan ??New Biz Models: Aligning Incentives, Dealing with Churn, Integrating Tech ??Austin: A Hub for Health and Wellness Innovation Jim's vision for What's Next Austin: "That many of these great things that are happening in Austin become less the purvey of the top 1% to 5%. It's not the biohackers. It's not the rich people. It's like a lot of this sort of filters down more and more." Find the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/ebahyjSq & on all major podcast platforms

?? Thrilled to announce I'll be moderating "Trailblazers of Discovery: Science in the Commercial Space Age" at the 1st Annual SOMA Astronaut Summit hosted by University of Austin (UATX) & Eliah Overbey. Join me this Saturday as I try to keep up with actual space pioneers Rob Ferl, Chris Sembroski, & Anna-Lisa Paul. We'll explore how private astronauts are revolutionizing space-based research & what is possible when Space isn't just a frontier for exploration, but a scientific and innovation platform. See you there!

New data on Austin’s ecosystem

Why do Austin & NYC attract such different innovators, and how does each city’s culture shape its tech ecosystem? Does every city/region have its own set of first principles, creating unique gravity, headwinds, & tailwinds? I loved diving into rabbit hole with Craig Cummings on the podcast. Thoughts on the first principles of Austin, NYC, or other innovation hubs?