Greetings from Cancun, where I’m reconnecting, resetting, and gearing up for 2026 with my extended family. January invites reflection, so I’ll share some tequila-fueled thoughts on the Society’s year behind us and how we are about to (literally) turn up the heat.

In this issue: Fridge Reflections, Sweat Equity, Brother vs. Brother, Boozyless, Boozymore, Forum Confidential, Fridge Featured, and the Lucky Year Ahead.

In 2025, the Red Fridge Society moved from childhood to adolescence—less learning how to walk, more forming our identity and growth spurts. And this newsletter has evolved from a calendar with a steady diet of fridge puns to providing context on the Society's purpose and aspirations. If you’re new here, we've recently covered my thoughts on our Society’s future, curating serendipity, building culture in 1920s houses, starting the Society after selling my company, and moving to Austin 30 years ago.

Our 2025 was fully stocked with gatherings. We held 83 official Fridge events with more than 2,000 attendees (plus countless private member events). This year, we’ll continue my favorite standard series with more founder coffees, poker tournaments, lunch societies, wine & <something fancy>, Fridge raids, beer founder tastings, and Boozyless happy hours. We’ll also be cranking up the temperature with new, intimate Founder experiences designed to build connections, including Fridge Fire (Sauna and Wellness), Fridgeside (a live podcast series), and a distiller founder series.

Most importantly, 2025 was a meaningful year of Founder connections. My favorite part of my proprietor “job” is watching our members and guests nudge the trajectory of each other’s businesses and lives. It happens most days, and it’s a privilege to behold! It’s the secret of our Society: Serendipity doesn’t have to be left to chance. Choose the room with accomplished, grounded Founders, and resolve to be lucky.

This month, we have a special edition of the Monthly Magnate featuring…. ME! Why? I was recently featured in Ethan Brooks’ founder-focused newsletter, the Austin Business Review (and it’s one less thing to write—I’m on vacation!) You can read the entire feature and sign up for Ethan’s newsletter, or enjoy these three (of seven) questions.

Looking back on the year, what surprises you most about what you’ve accomplished in the business? What were you not expecting?

This year, what I thought was a side project became my 20-year platform for impacting Austin entrepreneurship.

After selling my 17-year bootstrapped company in 2021, I redefined my work around a new purpose: connect founders to thrive. My first “quick” community idea was to take my beloved 1920s Craftsman office and make it vibrant again by finding 25 founders to share the space.

My teenage daughters and I modeled the brand on the earnest-but-ridiculous secret societies that were all the rage when the house was built (Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks, anyone?). I had an iconic retro fridge as my office centerpiece, so the Red Fridge Society was born.

We decided not to take the brand too seriously–members are Magnates, guests are Raiders, and there are endless opportunities to make cool fridge puns.

When we hit 30 Magnates earlier this year, two things became clear. First, there was room for many more entrepreneurs. Second, the real value wasn’t co-working, events, or the 24/7 social club; it was the community of accomplished founders helping each other thrive.

We’ll finish the year with 50 Fridge Magnates and more than 1,500 founders coming through our events. Once the daily vibe feels right, I’ll cap membership and focus on leveraging the Society to support the larger Austin entrepreneurship ecosystem.

What’s one hard or unconventional decision you made this year that worked out well? What helped you make that?

My vision for the Red Fridge Society is a space where accomplished founders can connect and support one another throughout their (crazy!) journeys.

As our brand has grown, I’ve had a lot of potential revenue streams get thrown at me: Can I rent the space for an event? Do you do day passes? Can I sponsor? Do you sell your sweet hats?

The Society is first and foremost a passion project and a love letter to Austin’s particular brand of scrappy entrepreneurship. So, I’m resisting my old capitalist ways and leaving money on the table to keep our experience aligned with my mission.

I have only one paid product: memberships for exceptional founders. Our weekly founder events are always free because they are an investment in the community. Join us!

(And, the answers to the above questions: No, but I’ll sponsor an event for founder communities. Founders who need a place to crash can come as my guest. Nope, but if you have a local CPG brand, you can drop some off. If you see a Fridge hat on someone, they are a Magnate.)

What’s a new question you plan to ask more often next year in your work? Why?

How can I uniquely help this founder win?

Between our Magnates and events, 50–100 founders come through the Fridge each week. As I was building the initial community, I had a self-serving internal dialogue when I met a new entrepreneur: Would this person be a great member?

Now I’m shifting to a question more aligned to my mission: What small intervention could change this founder’s trajectory?

I don’t always have the time or the answers, but the most meaningful impact I can have on Austin is to nudge a thousand entrepreneurs toward success.

You can check out our full, always-free-for-founders calendar, but here are some featured events open to non-members. Note that “founder” events are limited to founders and start on a waitlist.

We know it’s hard to keep up with everything going on at the Society, but here’s a little visual recap of some of the events from last month.

That’s a wrap for our January newsletter.

As always, be cooler than necessary, and I hope to see you Fridgeside soon.

Chris Taylor

Proprietor, Red Fridge Society

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