Ignore the noise and the headlines!!!
The real heartbeat of the Austin tech scene isn’t just in the funding rounds or national rankings… it’s in the people. The engineers, founders, operators, and leaders who’ve made Austin the place where careers take root, companies scale, and innovation feels human.
At the Austin Technology Council, we’re sharing these authentic narratives—stories of why people come to Austin for tech, and more importantly, why they stay. These “Austin Tech Stories” capture what it really means to live and work in one of the most dynamic technology ecosystems in the country.
Because behind every tech success in Austin, there’s a personal reason. And those are the stories worth telling.
From: Brad Englert, Founder – Brad Englert Advisory
After teaching at a high school in Australia, I moved to Austin in 1979 to go to graduate school at The University of Texas at Austin. Austin was a small, sleepy college town and the Armadillo World Headquarters, Antone’s and Liberty Lunch were my favorite music venues.
My research at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs focused on the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC). MCC was created to respond to Japan’s Fifth Generation computer research initiative. Thirteen U.S. companies representing computer, semiconductor, and aerospace industries took a risk and joined this unusual research and development joint venture. MCC was an antitrust gamble. In a paper written for Professor Barbara Jordan’s class, I advocated for a legal shield to protect MCC from antitrust enforcement. She mentioned my paper to MCC’s first president, Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, who told me that the Justice Department did not give MCC an amber light to proceed in 1982: they just went for it! Fortunately, Congress passed a bill in 1984 to enable cooperative research consortiums like MCC. In 1987, the Sematech semiconductor research consortium was also established in Austin. Multiple technologies and spinoff companies from MCC and Sematech helped Austin grow and evolve into Silicon Hills.
I joined the Austin office of Arthur Andersen & Co.’s management consulting division, which became Andersen Consulting and then Accenture. Retirement happily happened after 22 years at the firm, including 10 years as a partner. Then I served The University of Texas at Austin for eight years, including seven years as the Chief Information Officer. We transitioned many IT services to the cloud which offered 54,000 students, 4,000 faculty, and 21,000 staff the ability to remotely learn, teach, conduct research, and work during the pandemic.
The future of tech is certainly bright in Austin, Texas!
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From: Uttam Kumaran, CEO @ BrainforgeAI
Three years ago, I bought a truck and started driving around the country during the pandemic.
Austin wasn’t on my original tech radar. I came here because people kept telling me good things about the city, so I decided to spend a month exploring. That month changed everything.
I had to return to New York for work, where I was leading product at a data company. But Austin had already gotten under my skin. When I came back the second time, I knew this was where I wanted to build something meaningful.
That’s when I started Brainforge.
The decision to launch here instead of staying in New York has proven incredibly valuable. Austin gives you this unique feeling of being a bigger fish in a smaller pond. There are plenty of ambitious people here, but the momentum feels more accessible than in oversaturated markets.
The connections I’ve made locally span venture capital, technology, services, and our customer base. This wasn’t just networking – these became genuine relationships that helped shape our business direction.
I’ve also gained valuable advice from advisors based here, including Vixul, a local IT service accelerator. Having this specialized expertise nearby makes a real difference.
What really stands out is the quality of the startup and business community. The meetups and events aren’t just resume exchanges. People actually want to help each other succeed. I’ve met founders, investors, and operators who’ve become both advisors and friends.
We’re planning to hire locally and open an office soon, even though we started remote-first. Austin has that rare combination of talent density and collaborative spirit that makes scaling feel exciting rather than overwhelming.
The ecosystem here is still growing, which means there’s room to help define what comes next. I’m already thinking about the next company we’ll build here.
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What is your Austin Tech Story? We would love to share your 250-300 word essay about what makes Austin great for you. Why is Central Texas still the place for tech? Why come and why did you stay? How can Austin’s best days be in the future? Send you stories to Thom@AustinTechnologyCouncil.org