SA Startup Week aims to attract more entrepreneurs, companies to tech community

SAN ANTONIO – The technology community in San Antonio is growing and evolving each year as more companies and entrepreneurs are looking to call the Alamo City home.

To help these businesses and companies develop in the area, SA Startup Week is coming to San Antonio on Oct. 11-22. The event is a “no-cost, multi-day conference that brings over 2,000 Texas entrepreneurs, hustlers and change-makers together,” according to its website.

Managing Director for SA Startup Week Dax Moreno joined Leading SA on Sunday to discuss San Antonio’s tech climate and what’s on the horizon for the industry.

“I would describe it as diverse with some different areas of strength. While we’re still finding ourselves and growing our general tech, the people developing software applications and things like that, we have some really, really great powerhouse teams. Port San Antonio is one doing some wonderful things with innovation and deep technology, robotics,” Moreno said.

The tech community downtown around Geekdom is also growing fast.

“We have the TRTF Building Life Sciences and attracting some amazing, amazing companies to come and build and grow their businesses here in San Antonio,” Moreno said.

We asked Moreno what separates San Antonio from other places that make it a destination for tech companies. This is what he had to say:

“We are resilient. We have some amazing adaptability. And also, we are really fantastic thinkers and doers and builders. The way that I kind of lay it out for everybody is there’s not a person in San Antonio. I think that when they take on a job or do work, they’re doing just that single role. They’re usually finding other ways to help their team, their business, by doing other things around them, stepping into other roles. If you’re doing a little sales, you’re going to do a little marketing. If you’re doing coding, you’re going to help with some architecture. We’re just incredibly focused on building and doing good things with our teammates,” Moreno said.

Like most cities and industries, the pandemic has been tough, but San Antonio has continued to find a way to pivot and grow.

“The last 18 months have been difficult. There’s no way around that. That has had an impact for sure. What’s been really great is it’s also been a time for an examination. I think a lot of businesses have found wonderful pivots in order to not only keep their businesses up and going, but I think also finding ways to thrive, finding new avenues, building new products to reach a new audience and maintain a capability of being able to sell and deliver value to their clients or to a market. We’re really working hard to highlight those stories during our Startup Week here in October,” Moreno said.

Startup Week is just a few weeks away, and Moreno said it could be a great opportunity for the Alamo City.

“What we’re really hoping to do this year is just invite more folks in, come check out what’s going on with startups. And it’s not just about a huge focus on tech startups. We have a lot of people who are building products, consumer goods that are coming out. We’re attracting some folks from Austin and other places that are going to be coming in and speaking,” Moreno said. “We want more folks to show up, engage. We’re going to be back in person again with mass social distance... But this is our opportunity to come together.”

You can watch the full interview with Moreno in the video player above.

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