Featured this week:

While they may be tiny in comparison to last week's Dell acquisition of EMC for $67b, two more Austin companies saw huge exits: SolarWinds had a $4.5b buyout from Silver Lake and Thoma Bravo and TippingPoint sold to TrendMicro for $300m (after a it's first acquisition by 3COM and subsequent purchase by HP). Even Austin-based Apptive got into the mix, getting bought by Boston-area Unbound Commerce. If common wisdom holds true, this should mean we'll see a few more Angels and seasoned senior managers coming into the Texas market over the next few months.

Featured Articles

Joy's Girls, an online boutique is launching in Austin and across the internet. The clothes are designed to be flattering and easy to wear, while making a bold statement. Full Disclosure: I am very proud to say that this is my wife Joy's new company and yes, that's her in the picture. Special thanks to Tim and Kara at CulturePilot for the logo design, and our friend Laura Beck of Striped Shirt fame for the tagline, 'Dress Like a Girl'. Please tell your friends to visit www.joysgirls.com

Chirag Gupta of NoD Coworking and LaunchDFW sent this Youtube video of a Dallas startup pitching while in a Tesla doing super-fast 'ludicrous' mode. Sort of like an an elevator pitch while bungee jumping. Very fun to watch.

Interesting Reading this Week

The Austin Business Journal has released their FAST 50 list of high-growth companies in Central Texas.

Evan Loomis writes a powerful post about his marriage suffering while fundraising for his startup in preparation for his and co-writer Evan Baehr’s forthcoming book, GET BACKED.

Raquel Vincent discusses the Mark Cuban backed, student-focused RECESS festival that blew through several Texas universities this week.

Hall T. Martin interviews Houston-based technology incubator Fruition Labs CEO Wes Okeke

Chris Calnan reports that Capital Factory mentor Bob Bridge is starting the Southwest Angel Network for Impact, a new angel network focused on socially conscious investments.

Danielle Abril dissects the pending $100m Match.com IPO in Dallas, currently owned by Barry Diller led IAC corp. Match is the undisputed king of the online dating category that owns brands such as PlentyofFish, OKCupid, OurTime, and Tinder. Here’s an infographic timeline of the Match.com story.

Not Texas-specific, but still worth a read

Mark Suster pens a particularly insightful piece on the Venture Outlook 2016.

Brad Jakeman, president of PepsiCo's Global Beverage Group, eviscerates the ad agency industry in a recent speech to the Association of National Advertising's national meeting.

Paul Holland, General Partner at Foundation Capital ask what happens If Angels Go Back to Heaven in the next downturn of the business funding cycle.

The Family, a French VC / entrepreneur support network writes a lengthy deep dive into the three key ingredients for a healthy startup ecosystem. (tl;dr: Capital, Know-How & Rebellion)

Glowforge a 3D Printing company based in Seattle broke the 30 Day Kickstarter record with $27.4m raise on a $100,000 campaign (with a little help from Foundry Fund).

Upcoming Events

Freelance Conference

The Freelance Conference is an event created by freelancers, for freelancers. It was born in the spirit of those who leave a J-O-B with the dream of freedom, better income, and the ability to control our own careers.

http://freelanceconference.com/
October 28th
Getaway Motor Club 3700 Thompson Street Austin, TX 78702

OpenHouston Conference

OPEN Houston is a volunteer driven not-for-profit dedicated to the promotion of entrepreneurship and professional excellence. Leveraging our membership, OPEN Houston hosts programs in the areas of mentorship, entrepreneurship and professional development. We also hold a number of exclusive events with global thought leaders on today’s most current topics; our conference is our most visible example of such an event.

http://openhoustonconference.org/
November 14th, 2015
Red Oak ballroom
816 Town & Country Blvd., Suite 210, Houston, Texas 77024

Ask a VC - Austin

TechBreakfast - Presented by Colliers: 12+ Investors + Panels + Lightning Round + Venture Fair = WOW
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/ask-a-vc-austin-presented-by-colliers-12-investors-panels-lightning-round-venture-fair-wow-tickets-18101716722
Friday, November 13, 2015 from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM (CST)

IBM Innovation Center
11501 Burnet Road
Building 908
Austin, TX

13th Annual Rice Alliance Web & IT Forum

More than 350 leading investors and promising startups in IT/Web/Software converged at the Largest IT Venture Capital Forum in the Southwest on Nov. 19, 2015 at Rice University.

13th Annual IT and Web Venture Forum
November 19, 2015
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
McNair Hall, Rice University Houston Texas

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