Send us a text One year ago, Franco Martins, a friend and collaborator, told me that the CTO at his place of work, Icon, is a cyclist and was going to ride bikes with us. Here’s why this is a big deal: Icon is one of Austin’s more buzzy unicorns because they 3D print housing communities using massive robots that lay down concrete walls in the same way you squeeze toothpaste from the tube. If that wasn’t crazy enough, they have government contracts to build roads on the moon using the m...

Send us a text Jason Codianne from Chasing Watts was put on my radar by Scott Barger, a Zwift cofounder I used to ride with in LA. Scott has been super supportive of Hill Climbers by keeping me posted on interesting cycling and tech happenings in his world, and Chasing Watts fits the bill. Jason has been a career software engineer in Houston’s energy sector and he’s also an avid bike racer. Like many, many engineers before him, Jason identified pain points in an inefficient system and needed ...

Send us a text A couple of years ago I witnessed Amos Schwartzfarb in action with his Techstars ATX cohort at my coworking space in east Austin. He led the program with an electric energy that was both intense but also genial and fun. This guy was a leader with style, and it was to my DELIGHT that I discovered he’s a cyclist before I had actually met him. Fast forward to Techstars Demo Day 2023 and Amos, dressed in a signature vest, announced that the program was leaving Austin, and he would...

Send us a text Let's cut to the chase - this panel features a story in which Tolley harasses and attacks World Champion, Peter Sagan at Unbound...and hilarity ensues. Anyway, this show was a culmination of two years worth of Hill Climbers work. We featured not one but three guests, and the panel kicked off the SXSW celebration at the Meteor bike shop, our second home. What’s more, we supported a local entrepreneur with insight from two seasoned experts. The panelists had a blast riffing on to...

Send us a text Elliott Teller introduced himself at our first live event, and told me he was about to launch his Austin-based cycling and running apparel brand, People’s Endurance. I liked Elliott’s understated and laid back vibe, and we quickly made plans to exchange more info about our respective worlds. What unfolded was a three hour hang in my backyard which covered way more than bikes and business - we both have baby boys, and this certainly broke the ice. It turns out Elliott has a back...

Send us a text This episode is part two of our show with Mark Farmery, founder of Biotech Bikers and Chief Development Officer at Swedish biotech firm, Anocca. In part II Mark tells us about how his urge to apply scientific education led him from academia into pharma and biotech business development. Mark also explains biotech venture basics, as well as the T cell therapies his employer, Anocca, is pioneering to address pancreatic cancer, which is usually fatal. Stay tuned to learn quite a bi...

Send us a text The key metric for measuring Hill Climbers success is engagement - but I’m not talking about likes, comments and shares. The show with Eric Min from Zwift was a big milestone for us because Eric’s a known quantity in our world, and deep down I was hoping for recognition in the form of connecting with NEW folks over a shared passion for bikes and business. On January 9th I received a message from Mark Farmery that read “Hey Sam, it's fantastic what you're doing with Hill C...

Send us a text To help spread the word about the show, my friend Rey Madolora put me on an email with a bunch of Austin cyclists that are also notable in the business community. One by one I was able to meet most of them, but Rob Taylor was elusive. When I followed his Strava I noticed that he was regularly climbing mountains in Europe…like really frequently and his trips had names like, “Epic Three Nations.” Needless to say this piqued my interest but he’s not on the group ride scene here so...

Send us a text We could have interviewed Allison Morrison fresh off her World’s debut in Olympic distance triathlon as a UT MBA student and full time Meta employee. However this podcast has a strong entrepreneurial theme (you, reader, are about to feel inadequate), and sure enough, Allison made room for her startup, Ralli, on top of 15hr weekly training blocks, coursework and the day job. Ralli launched in 2022 as a web app to help athletes match with training buddies, and is expanding to inc...

Send us a text Zwift cofounder Eric Min was a tantalizing and wildly obvious guest candidate for a number of reasons that we'll enumerate, however, we did not think he'd join us so soon! Last year Eric turned up in the Breakfast Club slack, to our delight, and agreed to hop on a call to discuss an interview. We scheduled the interview for the fall, after the Zwift Ride bike launch, and Eric stayed true to his word. This is a milestone for us because of Eric's prominence in the cycling industr...

Send us a text The legend of Masters World Champion Joe Wentzell loomed large because Joe was a Temple University lineman and my brother in law has been coached by him on the bike for some time. Various versions of, "Joe will tear your legs off" were bandied about for the last decade, and I only briefly met him in person once, with few words exchanged. Joe has been a person of interest for Hill Climbers since we launched because he owned Philly's premier bike shop, Breakaway Bikes, while pion...

Send us a text Earlier in the spring my buddy, Chas, told me that he trained with a guy named Scott Baldwin who was building a social media platform dedicated to endurance athletes. On top of that, Scott hails from the Philadelphia area, so I had to meet him. On the Meteor patio, Scott shared his vision for Front Pack Sports, a social hub where athletes can gather and do what they do - seek friendly competition and training buddies, pontificate on gear and get exposure to physical therapists,...

Send us a text A few months ago I introduced a Hill Climbers ride in Austin for folks to connect with each other over some soft pedaling, in addition to some hard pedaling. All of a sudden, our little Hill Climbers brand that had a digital presence, had a REAL WORLD presence! Crazy, I know. This brand extension is just as thrilling to me as shipping new episodes and he best part is providing an IRL platform for new friendships and business connections. I dive into how this IRL initiative dict...

Send us a text Starting an American kit company in a sea of established competitors may seem like a daunting undertaking to some. Ryan Cady, however, became a bike shop owner at nineteen years old during college, raced bikes full time and then ran a sock company before he stepped up to the plate. Cady gravitates toward detail-oriented challenges and he met his match after launching Eliel Cycling in 2014. This episode contains an abbreviated master class in Eliel’s craft - from ordering a spec...

Send us a text One of my lasting impressions of Will Bryant, the Austin-based artist and brand collaborator, is from a photo shoot in which he’s modeling his own endo customs collab with a few other models. The colors and patterns are true to Will’s artwork - colorful, outrageous and fun - think PeeWee’s Playhouse (more on that in the show). The other models mostly conjure the blase, indifferent blue steel even though they’re rocking the VERY playful outfits and kits. Will, on the other hand,...

Send us a text The Better Lab addresses a fascinating topic that is on the minds of most everyone on a weekly basis in this stressful world: sleep. In a sea of gadgets that track various bio metrics there are few products that have gained notoriety guiding users in incremental improvements on the key to life: sleep. Ex Strava executive Andrew Vontz and his cofounders have dug deep into research on not just sleep but also human behavior and more specifically the average person’s ability to aff...

Send us a text The Austin meetup that started 4 years ago with 4 friends who mostly wanted to eat breakfast, has uncovered a need in this sport to encourage newcomers with a warm welcome and a bit of structure. The proof is in the monthly attendance, which has reached 800 riders of all skill levels, as well as the thriving online community and expansion to other cities. What outwardly appears to be lightning in a bottle is actually attributed to bottomless dedication, strong leadership and vi...

Send us a text Eric Schlange is one of the most well known Zwift riders on the platform, and he comes to the notoriety honestly. When Eric started Zwifting in 2015, the engineer and web master immediately identified a need for a Zwift knowledge base to address the nuances of riding in the brave new virtual world. Exponential traffic growth led to an official Zwift sponsorship, cementing Zwift Insider's credibility. This story does not entail scale-at-all-costs entrepreneurship. Instead it is ...

Send us a text Mikey Thompson is hard to miss in Austin’s endurance community because he’s everywhere at once as a core member of the Breakfast Club cycling group and longtime High Five events associate, which organizes Austin’s major endurance events. You’ll immediately notice Mikey’s bubbly personality and the sparkle in his eye, which is partially due to his battle with pediatric cancer and then with addiction to his “pain management” regimen. In short, Mikey is happy to be here because so...

Send us a text Our branding was borrowed from Sub Zero, THE preeminent Philadelphia skate shop of the 90s, where I spent a lot of time and a little money when I was a kid. The shop’s owner, and one of my childhood heroes, was kind enough to give me his blessing for the logo AND to share his incredible story. Schane Von Hartleben started Sub Zero as a response to his passion for skateboarding, a knack for pre-internet guerrilla marketing AND an innate urge for extended family. Schane’s famil...