Capital Factory is the center of gravity for entrepreneurs in Austin. Last year more than 30,000 entrepreneurs, programmers and designers gathered day and night for meetups, classes and coworking. We meet the best entrepreneurs in Austin and introduce them to potential investors, employees and customers. It is the perfect example of the right place at the right time. The University of Texas provides a supply of raw talent, Capital Factory helps turn that talent and their good ideas into real businesses, and SXSW shines an international spotlight on it all. Many of the same things that make Austin attractive to the rest of the world also make it attractive to entrepreneurs. This was no different for the 130 Financial Executives from Daimler we hosted last Wednesday.

Capital Factory was asked by the Daimler executive team to share our experience on what it means to be an entrepreneur in Austin and how their team could  bring the startup culture back to their community. Our team curated interactive programming for Daimler executives by setting up office hours, a pitch competition & a workshop with 3 Day Startup; a program in Austin designed to teach high school students how to start their own company in 3 days.

The Daimler team met with Mellie Price, Capital Factory Director (Fund), who gave an overview of what makes our space Austin’s entrepreneurial center of gravity.  In addition, Daimler executives interacted with young companies in a speed-dating style format during an event we like to call “Epic Office Hours”. The executives were then split into four groups to experience some of the challenges and milestones that our companies face in starting a business. These groups met with more than a dozen companies and entrepreneurs of different backgrounds and industries.

Towards the end of the day, Daimler Automotive Group heard four of our most dynamic companies pitch their solutions to customer retention in the automotive industry during a high-energy competition hosted at Capital Factory. Plus, created their own startup with the non-profit 3 Day Startup, and rounded out their journey with a tour of our space.

133 @Daimler execs, 16 of @CapitalFactory's best startups and 4 hours of fun. It was great to have them! pic.twitter.com/eMqpr5fBWy

— Capital Factory Guests ⚙️ (@CFGuests) June 25, 2015

The following companies participated in the pitch competition ending the day with Daimler executives announcing an epic tie between Nuve and SocialMatterz.

Aceable: Changing required education by making it fun, convenient, and effective. Required education are all the courses you have to take for one reason or another (defensive driving, continuing education, pre-license education, corporate training, etc).

Nuve:  Revolutionizing how asset protection is done in an Internet of Things world.  We develop and manufacturer advanced hardware sensors and smart locks that help transportation companies protect against fuel and cargo theft.  We are serving a global market in the transportation and infrastructure industries

Smart Picture Technologies: SPT has engineered a unique, powerful and patent-pending mobile technology platform that allows users to capture and share Smart Pictures. (3D image capture application for smartphones and tablets)

SocialMatterz: Automates complex sales and marketing lead campaigns online turning social media messaging into conversations and conversions.

We hope that Daimler walked away with great insights into starting a company, and how to bring the inspiring Austin startup culture back with them.