The crash occurred on Tuesday night around 10 p.m. local time, when a Cessna 680A business jet with six people on board, including Joshua Baer, the 50-year-old co-founder and CEO of Capital Factory, crashed just south of Laredo, Texas.<\/p>\n
The plane, which departed from San Jos\u00e9 del Cabo, Mexico, was traveling to Austin when it careened to the ground.<\/p>\n
Dashcam footage showed the moment the plane hit a light post before stopping on Loop 20, the Associated Press<\/a> previously reported. Video taken at the scene appeared to show bystanders racing over to the crash to help, including two people who used a sledgehammer and a shovel to break into the cockpit.<\/p>\n In addition to the three teens, two pilots also survived, according to NBC affiliate KXAN<\/a> and the AP.<\/p>\n All six people were removed from the plane, including one person who was unconscious, investigator Jose Baeza of the Laredo Police Department (LPD) told reporters at a press conference<\/a> later that night.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Baers family confirmed to KXAN that Baer’s son who survived the crash is \u201cokay,\u201d but declined to comment further.<\/p>\n Following the CEO’s death, his community and the local startup economy have been reeling.<\/p>\n \u201cSaddened by the untimely passing of my friend, Josh Baer,\u201d Rep. Lloyd Doggett said in a tribute, according to NBC affiliate KXAN, ABC affiliate KVUE<\/a> and the AP.<\/p>\n \u201cA great entrepreneur, he was a driving force through Capital Factory in Austin’s tech story,\u201d continued Doggett, \u201chelping make us the dynamic, international city we are today. Concern for wife Amy, their children, and condolences to the extended Capital Factory family.\u201d<\/p>\n Bystanders raced to save the occupants of the plane after it crashed on a Texas highway. While attending Carnegie Mellon University in 1996, Baer launched his first startup in his dormitory, according to his LinkedIn profile. He formed Capital Factory, along with Bryan Chambers and Gordon Daughtery, as a \u201cstartup community that helps entrepreneurs find investors, customers and employees.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI help people quit their jobs,\u201d wrote Baer, who described himself as an \u201cAustinpreneur.\u201d<\/p>\n In a moving tribute<\/a>, Chambers wrote about the death of his \u201cbest friend.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTexas and the tech community lost a titan,\u201d the president of Capital Factory, which did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment, wrote on LinkedIn. \u201cI’m shocked and heartbroken. Late Tuesday night, I lost a best friend, my greatest mentor, and my business partner in an unimaginable accident.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Bystanders](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/fde0ae999defb833b0da7fd1c01e4329.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Credit: Zayra Garza via AP<\/p>\n