AUSTIN, Texas — The ACL Moody Theater was filled with friends, family, and gratitude as hundreds of people gathered to celebrate the life of Josh Baer.

Baer, the co-founder of Capital Factory, died in a plane crash earlier this year. At the celebration, people remembered him as a visionary who helped shape Austin’s startup community — and as a loving husband, father, and friend.

One of those friends was Brett Hurt, a founder and tech entrepreneur whose relationship with Baer went back to the early days of his career.

“He was a dear brother to me,” Hurt said. “I’ve had so many tears. I woke up today also in tears.”

Hurt said Baer believed in him from the beginning. Remembering the loss, he said there is no one who can take Baer’s place.

“There’s no way for us to replace Josh, honestly. It’s not possible,” Hurt said. “He was such a singular force.”

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Believing in Austin before it was obvious

Baer often shared a simple motto: “Plant lots of seeds. Water everyone’s. Repeat.”

Jason Ballard, co-founder and CEO of Austin-based homebuilding company ICON, said Baer lived that idea by believing in founders and in Austin long before the city’s tech boom was a sure thing.

“For myself and for so many people, Josh Baer was the first person who believed in us as individuals, in our businesses, and maybe the first who believed in Austin as an idea,” Ballard said.

“Fifteen years ago and 500,000 people ago, before it was obvious,” he added, Baer saw what Austin could become. “You call it visionary then; now it feels more like a prophecy.”

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Baer’s support extended across the local startup community. Jeff Cardenas, co-founder and CEO of Austin robotics company Apptronik, remembered Baer as a champion of the people building new things.

“I think of Josh as kind of the godfather of the Austin startup scene,” Cardenas said. “He hosted the party. He hosted the place where everything was happening.”

A celebration worthy of the host

For Sam Decker, another Capital Factory co-founder, Baer’s legacy is rooted in the way he brought people together and in the hands-on, unpretentious spirit he brought to the work.

Decker said Baer would have wanted the gathering to feel like a celebration. He could picture him telling people to take off their jackets because he’d be wearing a T-shirt.

“What mattered” to Baer, Decker said, was “getting your hands dirty and making things happen and creating things and building things and connecting with people.”

At the Moody Theater, those seeds of belief were visible in the people who came to remember him. They say they’ll honor Baer by continuing to build, make introductions, and show up for one another, carrying his influence forward across Austin.