The man who died when a highway was an entrepreneur well-known in the state for being at the center of Austin鈥檚 turbocharged evolution as a technology hub.
Joshua Baer, 50, described himself as an 鈥淎ustinpreneur,鈥� a reference to the state capital and his enthusiasm for getting people into business. He founded Capital Factory, which has grown into an important Austin-based venture capital firm supporting a range of technology startup companies, from robots to autonomous ships.
Baer鈥檚 LinkedIn page shows him wearing a black T-shirt and pointing at the message: 鈥淚 help people quit jobs.鈥� His email had a similar handle. Capital Factory’s downtown headquarters is among the offices of tech giants like Google.
鈥淲hether you鈥檙e in technology or not, there鈥檚 a hole in the heart of Austin today,鈥� Thom Singer, CEO of the Austin Technology Council, which promotes the local tech industry, said of Baer鈥檚 death.
Baer listed his life strategy as, 鈥淧lant lots of seeds. Water everyone’s. Repeat.鈥� And people noticed: The Austin mayor in 2023 gave him a key to the city, a symbol of civic honor.
Bryan Chambers, co-founder and president of Capital Factory, said his business partner was a 鈥渢rue super connector.鈥�
Baer was aboard a business jet that crashed Tuesday on a highway in Laredo, Texas, after the pilots reported mechanical problems and requested to make an emergency landing at an airport. His LinkedIn profile said he had a wife and three children. It wasn’t known whether three young people who survived the crash were family members.
After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he created an email marketing business, Baer moved to Austin in 1996 to work as a software developer at Trilogy Inc. He started Capital Factory in 2009 and regularly held business chats with people at a coffee shop.
鈥淢y hobby is startups,鈥� Baer told the Austin American-Statesman in 2012. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 watch sports or anything like that. So this is what I do. … I want to be an investor in every great tech company that comes out of Austin. That鈥檚 probably unrealistic, but I鈥檓 going to try anyway.鈥�
Baer often spoke to high school students and had the title of 鈥渆ntrepreneur in residence鈥� at the University of Texas.
鈥淗e was passionate that technology could change the world and make people’s lives efficient and better,鈥� Singer said. 鈥淎nd if entrepreneurs did it right, they could make money and help their communities. He believed in those two things.鈥�
Texas U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn said they were saddened by Baer鈥檚 death. Cornyn wrote on X that Baer was an 鈥渋nnovative & creative leader in Austin鈥檚 entrepreneurial culture.鈥�
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