Austin Next

Austin is building the new tech, cultural, and intellectual stack. The region is a living laboratory to answer a single question: How do you build a global innovation superpower?

Host Jason Scharf dissects innovation from the individual to the ecosystem. From the soundstage to the data center to the fab, we decode the mechanics of Austin's innovation ecosystem.

As Atoms, Bits, and Intelligence converge, we explore how Hard Tech scale, digital velocity, and creative density collide. This is an audit of the future. We map the physics of the flywheel so builders and investors can navigate the chaos.

About the Host

Jason Scharf Profile Photo
Jason Scharf

Founder & Host

Jason Scharf is an Austin-based investor, writer, and host of Austin Next, focused on how ecosystems form, compound, and evolve. He has spent nearly two decades pursuing his life’s mission of catalyzing innovation, with experience across Illumina, BD, and Amgen. As an early-stage investor, he focuses on the Bio Innovation Tech Stack and the Business of Health. Through the Austin Next podcast and Ecosystem Metacognition Substack, he explores Austin’s startup and tech scene, Bio & Health, hard tech, venture capital, talent, culture, and what their convergence makes possible.