Greetings Fridge Friends,

It’s feeling very Springy on our front porch as we watch the rain and soak up the last moments of Austin sweater weather. We’ve packed the May calendar with fridgetastic founder events before everyone escapes to cooler climes and well-deserved vacations. Even when the front porch is hot, the Fridge is always chill.

In this issue: Robots take over our bar, poker takes over our house, beer with brewer worries, wine with somm stories, and our protein-forward snack curation.

Wait, what’s this? This is the once-a-month newsletter from Austin’s luckiest entrepreneur club, the Red Fridge Society. You can always unsubscribe here.

Top of the Fridge

• AI-pertif. Our robot-themed quarterly open happy hour is this Thursday. We are unveiling our new Mixim drink robot with co-founder and CEO Kabir Sarin. And the more the merrier on this one… so bring your friends (robotic or otherwise).

• Hot Poker. Our quarterly 36 Founder Poker Tourney is on Tuesday, May 13th. We hold a couple of spots for new players. Grab your seat!

• Hi-Time for a Beer. We have Hi-Sign Brewing’s new hazy IPA on draft, and we're hosting a tasting with founder Mark Phillippe at the end of May.

• Wine Somm time. We’re doing a small tasting with Somm Mario for members next Friday. We may have a spot or two after Magnates grab their seats.

• Serendipity Awaits. Want to try out the Society and create some serendipity? We’re now accepting applications.

• Snack to the Future. You know we take our beverages seriously, but our snack game is also stone cold. Come try the cutting-edge of healthy snacks, including Maui Nui venison sticks and the ridiculously protein-dense David Bars.

The Monthly Magnate

Behold! Our freshest newsletter feature: The Monthly Magnate.

The May Magnate is Zaz Floreani. 

Zaz Floreani is a Partner at FirstMile Ventures, where she leads the firm's investment efforts in Texas. FirstMile Ventures aims to be the first partner to ambitious founders building generational companies in the fastest-growing tech markets outside the coasts, starting with Colorado and Texas. The firm has invested in over 64 companies across two funds, seeding several unicorns.

Zaz brings over 15 years of experience as a startup operator and investor to early-stage technology companies. Previously, she was a Principal at Next Coast Ventures, where she developed their pre-seed and seed investment platform and led investments in SaaS, Marketplaces, Healthcare and Built World sectors. Prior to that, she spent nearly a decade in business development and corporate development roles at three venture-backed startups in Austin. Zaz holds an MBA and a Master's in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor's in History from UCLA.

Fridge Factoid: Fridge Magnates are all entrepreneurs or partners at VC/PE firms. Zaz was our first investor (and second Magnate!) to join the Red Fridge Society when we opened in 2023.

What’s Fresh in the Fridge?

We’ve got some fridgetastic founder programming before everyone starts disappearing for summer. You can check out our entire calendar, but here are some featured events. Note that “Founder Only” events are limited to founders past or present and start on a waitlist.

• TONIGHT! May 6th: Hill Climbers Live Podcast taping with Amos Schwartzfarb, Author and Managing Director of Techstars ATX for 8+ years.

• May 8th: Raid the Fridge Spring Happy Hour (open). Join us for our robot-themed Spring Happy Hour, where we unveil our Mixim Drink Robot.

• May 13th: RFS Founder Invitational Tournament (founders only): Manifest some Serendipity at our 36-founder, $200 buy-in Poker Tourney. Members and new players get seats first, so sign up now!

• May 14th Founder Coffee Tasting (founders only) Try the same local bean prepared six ways and learn how to master all our crazy coffee contraptions.

• May 16th: Personal Wine Tasting (invite only) Join Personal Sommelier Mario Matavesco for an intimate tasting to deepen your wine knowledge.

• May 28th: Brewer Series-Hi Sign Founder Story and Beer Tasting (founder only) ​Join Hi Sign Founder Mark Phillippe for a beer tasting intermixed with the founding story of Hi Sign Brewing.

• May 29th: Texas Venture Gala & Forum One of our members, CS Freeland, runs the Venture Gala, the only statewide gathering of investors & innovators at the W Downtown. Friends of the Fridge get a 20% off by using the code "REDFRIDGENETWORK"

• June 3rd: Founder Coffee Tasting (founders only) Try the same local bean prepared six ways and learn how to master all our crazy coffee contraptions.

Manifest Some Serendipity

• Join Austin’s Luckiest Entrepreneur Space. Have you been on the fence but want to try out the Society? We are now accepting applications for new Fridge Magnates.

• Although the full bar, meeting rooms, and coworking are all great reasons to join, the community is the primary value driver of the Red Fridge Society. Our brand promise is that you’ll have a conversation at the Fridge in the first 6 months which will pay for the first 2 years.

• Memberships start at $850/month. You can apply here.

• Want to come check out the Fridge but can’t make an event? You can grab an hour on Chris’s calendar to get a tour.

April Leftovers

We sprang into event action in April: Coffee tasting with local roaster Indigo Fire, a Hollywood lunch, multiple wine tastings, private dinners and poker parties, a boozy private aviation discussion, learned about (and partook of) THC in Texas, and we launched member company Bodytime.Health.

That’s a wrap for our May newsletter.

Be cooler than necessary, and I hope to see you Fridge-side soon.

Chris Taylor

Proprietor, Red Fridge Society

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