Austin pulled in a decade of talent in a few years — operators from every coast, no state income tax, and a hard-tech and consumer base that keeps widening. Growth is the easy part; staying connected as the city scales is the hard one. Ascent Valley runs curated, in-person events across the city: networking nights, pitch events, mixers and demo nights where founders, investors, operators and builders actually meet — verified in the room, matched by stage and focus, then kept connected across the network. No badges, no pitch-deck tourism — just the people doing the work.