Tell us a little bit about yourself. I was born in raised in Houston, I went to school here in Austin, at University of Texas and spent a year of that living abroad and studying in Singapore and traveling Asia and Australia. I definitely went through some greater wanderlust that I’ve had for now my whole life. I graduated and then I went to work in investment banking in Houston and did that for a few years then worked for a small private equity firm and that kept me in and out of New York. That was kind of a funny fork in the road for me, in terms of wanting to stay in finance and making that my life, or jumping ship and going my own way. So in 2007, I left the corporate world, moved back down to Austin, and opened a small wine bar. I have never served a table in my life, so it was a very risky move, but it was something I really wanted to do at the time. I traveled quite a bit after college, and I realized the things that spoke to me the most were spacing out and people watching, sitting in a cafe and having a glass of wine or a coffee, so I wanted to recreate that [in Austin]. I think it’s also funny that we have these really rigid concepts of Americans. So you have a coffee shop, like Starbucks, and that’s where you get your coffee. Or you have a wine bar that might be a little snooty and pretentious. Well, the rest of the world marries these two together very well as a cafe, so that was kind of my inspiration for [Apothecary]. apothecaryaustin.com/. Are you the sole owner of Apothecary? At Apothecary, I’m the sole owner. But I have a friend who’s basically been by my side the entire time and he still works there. Most of our staff has been there for at least 3 years and I have a buddy now who’s my operating partner and helps me on the day to day. And in October, we hit a year for the music venue I started with a group of friends, Holy Mountain (http:// holymountainaustin.com/). We took over this old music venue in downtown Austin, renovated it
and turned it into a craft cocktail bar and a music venue. Did you always know you wanted to run your own business? I think it’s a perfect storm of all the things that make up your childhood. I’m sure we all get called ADD because of our generation, but for me, I’m a very independent person and I think I do my best when I’m on my own. When I’m forced to do something or I’m on someone else’s timeline, it is stressful for me. The ability to have things on my own shoulders, for better or worse, is nicer for me. So that was definitely a dream, just to be on my own, and have my own time to do things. I’m definitely a dreamer, so I wanted to create things and I’m sure we all have that same entrepreneurial spirit. I’ve always wanted to strike out on my own. What is the hardest part of being your own boss? I started out in investment banking, which is such a challenging industry; the hours, the stress. Then moved into the restaurant world, which is literally the toughest small business to own and has the least chance of survival and success. I think there are general day to day stresses like managing a staff, keeping your customers happy and your product up to par. However, I think the hurdle is that once you’ve made it through the hoop and you have a sustainable business, the hardest part is staying true to what you want to do. Let’s say you own a business in a city, at some point, you have everyone around you wondering what you’re going to do next, so I think one of the most challenging things is external pressures of people’s expectations and really finding a way to stay true to what you want to do at what time and maintaining some sort of balance in your life that is your formula for happiness. I think one of the biggest challenges is really that people want to push you in certain directions and want you to follow a certain timeline they’ve created for you life, but you really have to stay on course in terms of what makes you happy.