The foundations of Austin's bustling tech and startup ecosystems were built decades ago when the city wasn't especially known as a hub for software and other emerging innovations.
And today's local founders and venture capitalists, as well as the broader community, owe a lot to those early movers, which is why the Austin Technology Council is launching its Hall of Fame and the First Time Founder Awards.
The program, which is accepting nominations through April 15, will honor six people for its Hall of Fame legacy awards, one person for its current tech leader award and an award for a first-time founder.
"We're trying to celebrate the past. Be present in the now. And look to the future," ATC CEO Thom Singer said.
Technically, this isn't ATC's first run at a tech hall of fame. Back in 2013, the organization honored Bill Wood, who was then at Silverton Partners, with its first hall of fame award. But the program essentially disappeared until being revived and reimagined earlier this year.
"Every year we're going to put six legacy people into the hall of fame because we can all agree there are (numerous) people in this community who laid the groundwork for us to be living the great things we're living today," Singer said. "The idea is to grow it into something, but things have to grow organically."
While ATC's board will evaluate the nominations this year, Singer said the council will likely create a new group to evaluate submissions in the future. The hall of fame awards are open to everyone in the Austin tech community, including founders, venture capitalists and service providers who support the broader tech ecosystem.
Singer said ATC, which teamed up with KPMG, Wells Fargo and VeUP for the awards, has already received numerous nominations, but he declined to name who might be included.
One of the most common names that gets brought up is George Kozmetsky. He co-founded Teledyne in California and later moved to Austin, where he was dean of the University of Texas' business school from 1966 to 1982 and founded the IC2 Institute there to help foster a culture of tech entrepreneurship. His work helped bring early tech entrants, such as Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp., to Austin and set the stage for a flurry of tech companies here, from Michael Dell's namesake computer company to Tivoli Software and countless others.
But Austin has many foundational leaders that will likely be in the conversation for the legacy awards, a category that can include people still working in the field today.
There's a long list of luminaries who seem like strong contenders, such as Tivoli Systems Inc. founder Bob Fabbio, Trilogy founder Joe Liemandt and Triton Ventures founder and Austin Technology Incubator co-developer Laura Kilcrease.
ATC plans to announce the six legacy winners ahead of an awards cocktail reception that's currently slated for June 4. At the reception, it plans to announce the winner of the current tech leader and first-time founder awards.
"We're trying to create something that can be fun and honor the history that we have," Singer said.
