Josh Hare of Hops and Grain Talks About His MicroBrewery
Where are you from originally?
I’m originally from Abilene, TX. Lived there most of my life until graduating from college.
What university did you go to?
I went to Abilene Christian University. Graduated with a degree in Eduction and a minor in Environmental Science. I also spent 3 years in the ACU College of Business Administration.
What brought you to Austin?
I moved to Austin from Boulder, CO as an aspiring triathlete. I had a number of years experience in specialty retail and upon moving here, met with a local entrepreneur and opened a specialty running store in East Austin called Rogue Equipment. I served as the general manager of the store for two years before leaving to open a microbrewery.
What is the idea behind your startup?
The idea behind my startup is to provide handcrafted beer and dog treats to the people of the Hill Country making sustainable decisions both in terms of the environment and the business. All of our beers are packaged into aluminum cans, the most recyclable container on the planet. We handcraft our dog treats form the malted barley that has been used in the brewing process. Brewing has stripped the grain of it’s sugar but a significant portion of fiber and protein still remain.
What need does it fulfill?
There is an underserved craft beer market in Austin with absolutely no brewery packaging their product in cans. Many of the outdoor activities and festivals that take place in Austin prohibit glass. Craft beer in cans is seeing incredible sales growth and many attribute this to the ease and portability of aluminum cans.
What exactly does your product do?
My products provide a high-quality local option that saves energy and supports locally by allowing great margins for retail and restaurant establishments.
Who is it for?
The beer is for anyone of legal drinking age looking for a full flavored, handcrafted beer. The dog treats are for anyone looking for a healthy and local alternative to many of the sugar and preservative filled dog treats that are currently on the market.
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?
The most challenging aspect of starting the business has been the fundraising. There have been many economic factors that have made it fairly challenging to find investors. Because we chose to avoid any debt financing and offered a fairly low entry investment option it has required a substantially larger amount of meetings and presentations that would have otherwise been required.
What is the next step for you and your startup?
The next step is to raise the remaining investment capital to cover operating expenses during the first year. The equipment has been purchased and the warehouse space has been secured. Both of these pieces will come to fruition in December and the brewery will begin operating in January of 2011.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
My biggest piece of advice is to get to know the community that you plan to market to. Get to know your customers and find out what communities they are a part of. There is sure to be a common thread. Lastly, utilize social media to the utmost. It’s free and an incredibly effective way to create a personal connection with your customers.
What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?
I have found many of the local Austin websites and discussion forums to be very helpful in researching my target market. There are a number of magazines that cater to the active community and these have been very helpful in the start up phases.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Ulang Tahun Google: 27 September
Selamat ulang tahun ke-12 untuk Google di tahun 2010 ini.Google yang berbasis di California itu pertama kali didirikan menjadi perusahaan swasta pada 27 September 1998. Namun sebelumnya Google adalah sebuah proyek riset dari Sergey Brin dan Larry Page yang disebut "Google Guys", pada Januari 1996. Saat itu keduanya masih berstatus mahasiswa doktoral di Universitas Stanford.
Semoga Google semakin maju dan memberikan banyak manfaat bagi umat manusia di dunia.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Irene Mwathi of the NBMBAA Talks about their Upcoming Funding Forum
Where are you from originally?
I was born and raised in Kenya until my teenage years. Thereafter we lived in Europe before I came to the United States for College.
What university did you go to?
I did my bachelors in James Clark School of Engineering – University of Maryland and McDonough School of Business – Georgetown University
What brought you to Austin?
I visited a friend of mine during her graduation and fell in love with the city. I later moved my consulting firm here and have loved it ever since.
What is the idea behind your group?
National Black MBA Association, Austin Chapter: http://www.austinblackmba.org/
The mission of Austin Chapter of the NBMBAA is to lead in the creation of educational opportunities and economic growth for African American Professionals in Central Texas. Our Chapter is comprised of a network of business professionals, business students, and entrepreneurs whose goal is to share knowledge, build business skills, and generate employment opportunities in management fields. The NBMBAA Austin Chapter was established in December 2006 and since then has continued to educate its members both on the professional and entrepreneurial pursuits.
What need does it fulfill?
The need for this event is to provide minority business owners who are set for their next challenge an avenue to take their businesses to the next level. By bringing VCs and AIs and minority innovators together we hope to enrich the community as well as educate our entrepreneurs.
What exactly does your group do?
In addition to providing professional, leadership and entrepreneurial development to our members we also have a leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) program, a high school mentoring program that has helped to expand the overall number of minority leaders in corporate America by providing mentor/leader relationships with business executives and high school students in the community. We also have the Rising Stars Collegiate Program launched on Oct. 13th, 2009 in partnership with Huston-Tillotson University. Local business professionals and leaders serve as volunteer mentors to students, one mentor per student. Events such as the upcoming event help us identify successful entrepreneurs who can mentor entrepreneurial innovators in our chapter.
Who is it for?
Anyone interested in the progress of minorities in Austin.
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up the group?
The most challenging aspect of starting a group is finding the resources to support the organization’s initiatives and also finding the right people who have enough time to volunteer and help execute the vision and initiatives of the organization.
What is the next step for you and your group?
Since we have only been existence for four years and the main focus has been getting started in the right direction, the next step is creating awareness about the organization in the Austin community and growing the chapter in membership and sponsorship. Building value for our members is our key focus 2011.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Austin has wonderful resource organizations to support your dreams. Joining such organizations as AEN, BootStrap Austin, Texas Venture Labs, Tech Ranch and leveraging RISE Alliance conferences, start-up conferences you are sure to network with like minds to take you to the next level.
Tell me more about your upcomingevent
This upcoming event program highlights different avenues for funding and sessions from some of Austin’s business leaders. We also plan to have a VC and AI funding symposium which will be the main feature after the luncheon, where at least 5 participants will get to pitch in front of an audience for funding between $150K – 5M. Keynotes include The path to entrepreneurship featuring Bijoy Goswami and luncheon keynote featuring Corey Bell on Serial Entrepreneur. The details are:
Event Location: AT & T Executive Center – UT,
Time: 8.00AM – 4.00PM
Date: November 12th, 2010
What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?
AEN and ABJ are the most helpful as they keep entrepreneurs connected and well informed on what is going on in the city. There’s never a shortage of business development ideas at their events and connecting with like minds helps keeps you innovative.
I was born and raised in Kenya until my teenage years. Thereafter we lived in Europe before I came to the United States for College.
What university did you go to?
I did my bachelors in James Clark School of Engineering – University of Maryland and McDonough School of Business – Georgetown University
What brought you to Austin?
I visited a friend of mine during her graduation and fell in love with the city. I later moved my consulting firm here and have loved it ever since.
What is the idea behind your group?
National Black MBA Association, Austin Chapter: http://www.austinblackmba.org/
The mission of Austin Chapter of the NBMBAA is to lead in the creation of educational opportunities and economic growth for African American Professionals in Central Texas. Our Chapter is comprised of a network of business professionals, business students, and entrepreneurs whose goal is to share knowledge, build business skills, and generate employment opportunities in management fields. The NBMBAA Austin Chapter was established in December 2006 and since then has continued to educate its members both on the professional and entrepreneurial pursuits.
What need does it fulfill?
The need for this event is to provide minority business owners who are set for their next challenge an avenue to take their businesses to the next level. By bringing VCs and AIs and minority innovators together we hope to enrich the community as well as educate our entrepreneurs.
What exactly does your group do?
In addition to providing professional, leadership and entrepreneurial development to our members we also have a leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) program, a high school mentoring program that has helped to expand the overall number of minority leaders in corporate America by providing mentor/leader relationships with business executives and high school students in the community. We also have the Rising Stars Collegiate Program launched on Oct. 13th, 2009 in partnership with Huston-Tillotson University. Local business professionals and leaders serve as volunteer mentors to students, one mentor per student. Events such as the upcoming event help us identify successful entrepreneurs who can mentor entrepreneurial innovators in our chapter.
Who is it for?
Anyone interested in the progress of minorities in Austin.
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up the group?
The most challenging aspect of starting a group is finding the resources to support the organization’s initiatives and also finding the right people who have enough time to volunteer and help execute the vision and initiatives of the organization.
What is the next step for you and your group?
Since we have only been existence for four years and the main focus has been getting started in the right direction, the next step is creating awareness about the organization in the Austin community and growing the chapter in membership and sponsorship. Building value for our members is our key focus 2011.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Austin has wonderful resource organizations to support your dreams. Joining such organizations as AEN, BootStrap Austin, Texas Venture Labs, Tech Ranch and leveraging RISE Alliance conferences, start-up conferences you are sure to network with like minds to take you to the next level.
Tell me more about your upcomingevent
This upcoming event program highlights different avenues for funding and sessions from some of Austin’s business leaders. We also plan to have a VC and AI funding symposium which will be the main feature after the luncheon, where at least 5 participants will get to pitch in front of an audience for funding between $150K – 5M. Keynotes include The path to entrepreneurship featuring Bijoy Goswami and luncheon keynote featuring Corey Bell on Serial Entrepreneur. The details are:
Event Location: AT & T Executive Center – UT,
Time: 8.00AM – 4.00PM
Date: November 12th, 2010
What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?
AEN and ABJ are the most helpful as they keep entrepreneurs connected and well informed on what is going on in the city. There’s never a shortage of business development ideas at their events and connecting with like minds helps keeps you innovative.
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