Chances are, if you ran into Joshua Baer in Austin, you stopped and looked. He was almost certainly wearing a T-shirt that read, \u201cI help people quit jobs.\u201d He was probably wearing a broad smile framed with two great dimples and a shiny, bald pate and talking at light speed about the power of entrepreneurship and his deep faith in Texas. Oh, and he was definitely carrying a fuzzy little dog, a Maltipoo named Stormey.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Baer, the irrepressible and monumentally influential cofounder and CEO of Austin-based start-up incubator\/venture capital firm\/coworking office Capital Factory, died Tuesday night when a small Austin-bound plane owned by the company NetJets crashed on a highway in Laredo. He was fifty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like so many people who helped build the Austin tech-start-up ecosystem over the past couple of decades, Baer got his start with the software company Trilogy in the late nineties. At the time, the once-dominant company was recruiting bright young talent to the city from some of the country\u2019s best universities\u2014in Baer\u2019s case, from Carnegie Mellon, where he earned a degree in computer science.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After starting a couple of tech companies in the early aughts\u2014URaPI and Netmonitor\u2014Baer founded Capital Factory in 2009, and from that moment on, he\u00a0 found his purpose. He built not just a company but a movement, an urban transformation, and a portfolio of hundreds of companies that rose under his watch and with his guidance and encouragement\u2014and often investment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bryan Chambers, president and cofounder of Capital Factory, called Baer a \u201cfearless leader, a brilliant partner, and a dear friend to so many of us.\u201d That sentiment was shared by many who knew Baer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vibrant entrepreneurial community Austin is known for didn\u2019t just happen,\u201d explains J.\u2009B. Sauceda, who benefited from Baer\u2019s mentorship when he launched Sauceda Industries, a logistics company, before he became the host of Texas Country Reporter. \u201cIt was the direct result of Josh\u2019s willingness to make time and space for people to connect and build. He put his money where his mouth is, and you can see it all throughout our city. He made introductions, he threw parties, he mentored countless [University of Texas] students, and he wanted more people to be able to quit their jobs to build their dreams.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Among the companies that emerged or grew with Baer\u2019s support are some of the most ambitious ventures in the country. There\u2019s Saronic<\/a>, which made the drone boat that earlier this month carried out what\u2019s believed to be the first combat rescue of U.S. personnel by an unmanned vessel, off the coast of Oman. There\u2019s Icon<\/a>, the 3D-printing construction company whose creations have included whole suburban neighborhoods, tiny homes for the unhoused, barracks for the U.S. military, and structures designed for living on the Moon. There\u2019s Apptronik<\/a>, the humanoid-robotics company; Firefly Aerospace<\/a>, a rocket maker that went public on the Nasdaq and landed a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon; and Colossal Biosciences<\/a>, the de-extinction outfit aiming to resurrect the woolly mammoth, the dire wolf, and the dodo. Earlier, there was WP Engine<\/a>, the kind of unflashy software staple that built Capital Factory\u2019s reputation before Baer ever turned it toward rockets and robots.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHis legacy will be one of generosity of spirit, righteous ambition, and the joyful wrestling with difficult and important problems,\u201d said Icon cofounder and CEO Jason Ballard. \u201cMy own career and work would be far diminished\u00a0were it not for his friendship and tireless, enthusiastic support. The last message I received\u00a0from him was, \u2018How can I help?\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n Baer also served on the boards of countless companies and other organizations, including The Texas Tribune<\/a>, which pioneered a new business model for news. That ambition was never really about Austin. Long before Capital Factory created outposts in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, Baer was already describing his project in statewide\u2014at times, almost continental\u2014terms. \u201cIt\u2019s about Texas more than Austin,\u201d he told me in 2018. \u201cIt started as Austin, but it is regionally focused.\u201d Others, he was convinced, simply hadn\u2019t seen what he\u2019d seen. \u201cThis is where all the growth is,\u201d he said. \u201cTexas is the future, and California is the past\u2014I mean, quite frankly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Baer is survived by his wife, Amy, and their three children.<\/p>\n As news of his death spread Wednesday, tributes poured in from across the worlds of business and politics that Baer had spent two decades bringing together. They included Jason Calacanis<\/a>, the Silicon Valley investor and podcaster who has himself become a prominent Austin transplant; Senator Ted Cruz<\/a>; Congressman Lloyd Doggett<\/a>; and Bill Gurley<\/a>, the native Texan venture capitalist whose early bet on Uber made him a legend of the trade. <\/p>\n Beyond those public statements, a number of business leaders who knew Baer\u2014as a backer, a mentor, a friend, or all three\u2014shared their reflections with Texas Monthly.<\/p>\n Jason Ballard, founder and CEO of Icon\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cJosh believed in the idea of the future.\u00a0 He saw, perhaps before anyone else, that Austin had the ingredients to\u00a0play a major role in shaping\u00a0an exciting and inspiring future in a special\u00a0way\u2014not a new Silicon Valley, but a place just as innovative, yet with a distinctive Texas flair. He used every gift and talent he had to support the dreamers, the makers, the builders, and the creators of Austin, and this city would not be what it is today without him.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mark Cuban<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know Josh well, but he was an Austin legend in entrepreneurial circles. He was always looking to help entrepreneurs reach their goals.\u201d<\/p>\n Hugh Forrest, cofounder of Gather & Grow Experiences<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Josh built at Capital Factory was truly amazing. The\u00a0CF ecosystem played a huge role in Austin\u2019s development as an epicenter of the tech world. But even more than what he did for the\u00a0local start-up\u00a0community, I\u2019ll remember how loyal he was to his friends. I\u2019m pretty sure he was the first person to call me\u00a0last\u00a0year\u00a0when\u00a0the news broke that I got fired by SXSW. His support to me, both personally and professionally over the last twenty-plus years, was an incredible gift.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Gorton, seventeen-time serial founder and CEO whose companies have included Recuro Health and Teladoc<\/p>\n \u201cJosh was a personal friend, and we shared a love of the space program, science fiction, and helping people accelerate their ideas. Texas has become the epicenter for entrepreneurism in the world because of Josh\u2019s genius in creating the Capital Factory. I am certain his dream will continue to grow and improve the opportunities for entrepreneurs who join the process.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Daniel Lubetzky, \u00a0founder of Kind Snacks and the Builders Movement<\/p>\n \u201cJosh defined all the best qualities about Austin\u2014warm, down to earth, fun, supremely entrepreneurial, creative, a make-the-pie-bigger-for-all mentality, and quirky authenticity. He was a friend to all and a stranger to none. He loved his family so deeply. His loss leaves a huge hole in our community that we need to fill with love and commitment to our families, to our friends, and to one another.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Jan Ryan, founder and CEO of 3Hills Group, Capital Factory partner, and University of Texas atAustin entrepreneurship instructor\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt is bizarre for me to think he is really gone. Josh was one of a kind\u2014a gifted builder of businesses, a devoted father and husband, and a friend whose faith in people matched his ambition. He genuinely believed entrepreneurship could change lives, and he saw Austin\u2019s potential before it became the start-up destination it is today. Josh was a giant in this city, and his legacy will be felt for generations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Jacqueline Samira, founder of Howdy<\/p>\n