The luckiest 2,000 square feet in Austin.

Greetings, Friends of the Fridge,

We’ve fallen back an hour, and now it’s dark before happy hour is over (I’m willing to start earlier if you are!). But how do I know we officially hit fall? When our whiteboard sessions move from conference rooms into the front yard.

How’s the ventilation in your conference room?

This recovering tech entrepreneur has been planning two unique cultural events (ballet! art!). I’ve been spending more time with artistic types, and thinking about how the Red Fridge Society is my creative outlet. I’ve long titled myself the Red Fridge Proprietor—a blend of hospitality meets secret society—but lately, I think of myself as more of a Curator. I curate people: low-ego, growth-minded, accomplished founders. I curate spaces: comfortable furniture, ridiculous snacks, a library, and a vinyl collection. And I obsess over beverages: coffee contraptions, spirits collections, and Austin’s best non-alcoholic bar.

Do we take the details seriously? Behold our eight flavors of branded fancy ice cubes.

After 17 years of building my company in 1920s Craftsman houses, I know that creating a unique space only matters if it’s paired with the right culture. Sure, it’s a cool place to work, meet, or grab a drink, but the most valuable amenity is the community. The entrepreneurial journey is brutal, but far more enjoyable when shared. At the Society, it’s rude not to introduce yourself or to stop and say hello. So we make a point of connecting whenever we walk into the living room. I tell new Magnates they will have a conversation in the first few weeks that will pay for the first few years. It’s an easy promise to keep. When experienced founders doing hard things share their experiences, it’s magic. The Art of the Red Fridge Society is making connection the default. We curate Serendipity.

In this issue: Ballet Night, Caffeinating Contraptions, All In Time, Hold My Beer, the Art of Wine, and introducing our Fridge Founders program.

Top of the Fridge

On Point. It’s finally here: Stephen Mills’s fridge-side chat about his creative process over 25 years at Ballet Austin. Stephen is a legend, having produced over 50 original dance works, and we are lucky to have him in such an intimate setting.
Caffeinating Contraptions. Our intimate founder coffee tastings, where we explore at least seven different coffee preparations, are my favorite way to meet and connect with founders in town. They are every two weeks—including tomorrow.

New contraptions! Our Ratio8 automatic pour-over and Nitropress nitrogen infuser.

Founder, Verify Thyself. Most of our smaller events now have twice as many registrants as spots, and I spend a large chunk of my week managing waitlists and verifying founders. So I dusted off my 30-year-old CS degree and vibe-coded an RSVP bot that is more efficient and egalitarian. The algorithm prioritizes founders new to the Fridge and penalizes folks who no-show at our waitlisted events… shame! Want to jump to the top of the queue? Take our 30-second founder survey and become a verified Fridge Founder.
All In Time. Our quarterly $200 buy-in 30-person founder poker tournament is back on November 20th. Founders new to the game get a coveted seat, so sign up now. For the non-member repeat players, I’ll release seats next week.

Sure, they all look friendly enough now…

Hold My Beer. Our Brewer Series is back, featuring Grady Wright, the serial founder of our neighbor, Hold Out Brewing. We’ll be serving up his brews and bites and hear how he became one of Austin Monthly’s "unofficial arbiters of cool."
Art of Wine. After having explored watches and pens, next month we are discussing art collection, curation, and economics over fine wines poured by Mario, our personal sommelier. (for my wine collectors, I also have a few private wine events this month, ping me)
Stocked Fridge. We are approaching 50 Fridge Magnates. Although the community gets more valuable with each member, we have limited space. Thinking about joining, now would be an excellent time to apply.

The Monthly Magnate

What types of entrepreneurs are part of the Fridge community? Behold!

The November Magnate is Jani Tuomi.

Jani is a serial healthcare founder turned venture capitalist. Jani and his wife Hamida, and two boys Sami (8) and Issa (5) moved to Austin during the early days of COVID from Toronto. Jani's original startup, imaware, had support from a well-known Texas family office, and their investment was contingent on his moving to the Lone Star State.

The travel-loving Tuomi family exploring Costa Rica for a little surfing and waterfalls.

Jani's journey into healthcare startups began when his brother went through a cancer journey, and the idea of focusing on healthcare vs. sickcare became very real for him. After imaware was acquired, he launched and exited a few other startups, including Coya, which combats neurodegeneration and went public in 2022.

He is now building his next venture to actively support founders and create serendipity in the health-tech ecosystem here in Austin. Having gone through the zero-to-one journey a few times, he's learned how to navigate regulatory requirements, clinical adoption, pilot sites, and the other unique challenges of scaling health-tech startups.

Fridge Factoids: You'll catch Jani at the Fridge every week, especially at the coffee events. He's currently raising for his new venture, so if you're either starting a health-tech company or investing in healthcare startups, you should connect with Jani.

What’s Fresh in the Fridge?

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

TOMORROW! November 4th: Founder Coffee Tasting (founders). Connect with fellow founders and discover your perfect cup by trying the same bean prepared in (at least!) 6 different ways.
November 12th: An evening with Austin Ballet’s Stephen Mills (founders and investors) An intimate evening of Q&A with Stephen Mills, Choreographer and Artistic Director of Ballet Austin, at the start of his 25th anniversary season of artistic leadership.
November 18th: Founder Coffee Tasting with Cold Cycle Coffee (founders) An encore special edition of our founder's coffee tasting featuring the founders of Cold Cycle Coffee, who are reinventing cold brew.

Caffeinating with other founders is good for your health. That’s science.

November 20th: Founder Invitational Poker Tournament (founders) Manifest some Serendipity at our 30-founder, $200 buy-in Poker Tourney. Members and new players get seats first —sign up now!
December 2nd: Brewer Series w/Holdout Brewing (founders) Join Holdout Brewing Founder Grady Wright for a beer tasting intermixed with his story of co-founding Holdout Brewing and a bevy of other Austin cafes and bars.
December 4th: Founder Coffee Tasting (founders). Connect with fellow founders and discover your perfect cup by trying the same bean prepared in 6 different ways.
December 9th: Wine and Art (founders) The next in our Wine & series, where we explore the finer things over wine. We will have discussions on art collecting by Joey Hovsepyan, art economics with Carlos Cardenas, and art philanthropy with the President of the Board of Trustees at The Contemporary Austin, Debbie Dupré.
December 10th: Raid the Fridge Santa Happy Hour (open) Our quarterly community happy hour is back, and we’re bringing the holiday spirit (and sweaters)
December 11th: Lunch Society: Maximizing Company Valuation (founders) Have lunch with Friend of the Fridge Rich Manders, Co-Founder and Lead Coach at FreeScale, as he discusses the proven framework that entrepreneurs and executives use to maximize company valuation and negotiate superior exit terms.
December 17th: House Poker Night (members) Our monthly Fridge Member Poker Game. Limited to 10 players. Occasionally, we have an extra seat available for a Fridge Raider if you’d like to join the waitlist.

Fall Back into some Serendipity.

Join Austin’s Luckiest Entrepreneur Community.
Although the ridiculous amenities, meeting rooms, coworking, and guaranteed access to events are all great reasons to join, the community is the primary value driver of the Society. We promise that you’ll have a conversation at the Fridge in the first few months worth more than the cost of a few years.
Memberships start at $850/month. You can apply here.
New to Austin? Apply for our Austin Fresh program for a free Fridge membership.
Want to come check out the Fridge, but can’t make an event? You can grab an hour on Chris’s calendar to get the tour.