Man Who Died In Texas Plane Crash Was A Key Figure In Seeding Austin's Technology Boom

Joshua Baer, who died erstwhile a mini pitchy collapsed successful Texas, described himself arsenic an “Austinpreneur,” a reference to nan authorities superior and his specialty of helping group get into business.

Baer's LinkedIn page shows him wearing a achromatic T-shirt and pointing astatine nan message: “I thief group discontinue jobs.” His email had a akin handle.

Baer, 50, was nan laminitis of Capital Factory, which has grown into an important Austin-based task superior patient supporting a wide scope of exertion startup companies, from robots to autonomous ships.

He listed his life strategy as, “Plant tons of seeds. Water everyone's. Repeat.” Austin's business leaders said it was nan truth. The politician successful 2023 gave Baer a cardinal to nan city, a awesome of civic honor.

“Whether you're successful exertion aliases not, there’s a spread successful nan bosom of Austin today,” Thom Singer, CEO of nan Austin Technology Council, which promotes nan section tech industry, said of Baer's death.

Bryan Chambers, co-founder and president of Capital Factory, said his business partner was a “true ace connector.”

Baer was aboard a business pitchy that collapsed Tuesday connected a road successful Laredo, Texas, aft nan pilots reported mechanical problems and requested to make an emergency landing astatine an airport.

After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University successful Pittsburgh, wherever he created an email trading business, Baer moved to Austin successful 1996 to activity arsenic a package developer astatine Trilogy Inc. He started Capital Factory successful 2009 and regularly held business chats pinch group astatine a java shop.

“My hobby is startups,” Baer told nan Austin American-Statesman successful 2012. “I don’t watch sports aliases thing for illustration that. So this is what I do. ... I want to beryllium an investor successful each awesome tech institution that comes retired of Austin. That’s astir apt unrealistic, but I’m going to effort anyway.”

Baer often said to precocious schoolhouse students and had nan title of “entrepreneur successful residence” astatine nan University of Texas.

“He was passionate that exertion could alteration nan world and make people's lives businesslike and better,” Singer said. “And if entrepreneurs did it right, they could make money and thief their communities. He believed successful those 2 things.”

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said he was profoundly saddened by Baer’s death.

“Josh has been 1 of nan astir important figures driving invention and entrepreneurship crossed America. In Texas, he made our authorities a world leader," Cruz said.