The Quiet Giant: In His Own Words
Part Four of a four-part Urban Nerd series on The Quiet Giant, the final installment, a candid Q and A with Pat Matthews on venture capital, ambition, geography, and San Antonio’s place in the startup world. In Part 1, “The Quiet Giant: The Unlikely Path to Venture Capital,” we saw how a kid from Virginia […]
The Quiet Giant: The ProsperOps Bet
Part Three of a four-part Urban Nerd series on The Quiet Giant – how Active Capital is pulling off the most unlikely venture story in Texas. One of the things I love about the Rackspace network is that it never really goes away. Rackers are scattered across the tech industry. Some have started companies. Some […]
The Visitor’s River
Part 2 of a four-part Urban Nerd series exploring the three distinct personalities of the San Antonio River Walk. I’m embarrassed to admit this now, but for a long time, I had a terrible attitude about the River Walk. Not the whole thing. Just the part I thought didn’t belong to me. I saw the […]
The Quiet Giant: From Rackspace to Active Capital
Part Two of a four-part Urban Nerd series on The Quiet Giant – how Active Capital is pulling off the most unlikely venture story in Texas. When I was CEO of Geekdom, one of the most common frustrations I heard from founders was simple: there wasn’t enough capital in San Antonio. That complaint came from […]
The Three River Walks
Part 1 of a four-part Urban Nerd series exploring the three distinct personalities of the San Antonio River Walk. When I was a kid, I went on a school field trip to see the Alamo. Like most San Antonio students, that was my first real trip downtown. But what actually stuck with me wasn’t the […]
Maximum Fiesta, Minimum Spend
Fiesta has always been about showing up, not spending big. And this year, as prices climb and budgets tighten, that spirit matters more than ever. Across San Antonio, there are still plenty of ways to take part in the color, music, and energy of Fiesta without stretching your wallet. We pulled together a list of […]
The Quiet Giant: The Unlikely Path to Venture Capital
Part One of a four-part Urban Nerd series exploring how an unlikely path, an overlooked city, and long-term conviction gave rise to Active Capital — one of Texas’s quiet venture successes. I’ve known Pat for a long time. Truth be told, when I worked at Rackspace, and I spent close to a decade there, I […]
Affordable Housing: The Math Isn’t Mathing
A few years ago, I was speaking with someone trying to raise capital for a new apartment complex in San Antonio. He said to me in frustration, “I’ve never seen anything like this. Not one investor.” He had the land, the pro forma, the vision—all of it buttoned up. But no investor would bite. I […]
Increase Supply, or Kiss Affordability Goodbye
“I’m an economist. So, I don’t know any way to repeal the law of supply and demand. If you want to decrease the price, you have to dramatically increase the supply.” This quote was Harvard economist Ed Glaeser’s opening line at the 2016 Cities for Tomorrow Conference. An idea so simple and so profound that […]