[Applause]
innovators bring new ideas to the world
entrepreneurs they take these
innovations and they bring them to
market as either for-profit businesses
or nonprofit entities but it’s the first
the pioneering entrepreneurs that prove
that something can work inside of a
community and an explosion follows
behind them the cities and communities
that welcome and support these pioneers
benefit greatly in our host city today
of San Antonio Texas is a prime example
the locals of San Antonio call it a city
on the rise and indeed it is our history
population and vision embrace new ideas
and innovation it’s a melting pot of
artists and technologists military
aninda stree favored by tourists and
historians and this city has a rich
history built by pioneers the Spanish
that settled here named the area after
Saint Anthony and about 300 years ago
they began building missions and the
seeds of our city were planted later in
the 1800s impresarios were created to
help spur growth and colonization in
what is now the state of Texas these
impresarios they were granted land in
exchange for recruiting settlers and
curating good communities our city
flourished because of their vision and
we commemorate them throughout our
community empresarios like Lorenzo de
zavala henry castro stephen f austin
these leaders embraced growth and change
they were some of the early pioneers
that helped create the momentum to build
the cities that we know today I think
that modern entrepreneurs can learn a
lot from these impresarios about how
building communities and building
businesses have so much in common
our modern cities rely and depend on
innovation and new ideas for growth in
vitality and the modern impresario can
be seen working on a start-up creating a
company opening a restaurant and taking
risks in effort to build communities
that they want to live it now comparing
modern entrepreneurs to pioneers from
two centuries ago may seem like a
stretch I mean certainly there’s a
metaphorical connection right there’s
forging new territory and attracting
followers and influencing growth but I
think there’s a stronger connection
between the pioneers of then and now in
fact there’s a literal connection see if
we those of you that aren’t aware
impresario is a Spanish word and in
English it means entrepreneur San
Antonio continued to embrace new ideas
as it grew the following decades and
centuries saw our city expand pioneering
new territory building new industry and
creating a brighter future for its
residents the 20th century was
especially influential in crafting the
city that we know today San Antonio our
city on the rise has a rapidly expanding
technology scene today thanks to
organizations like geekdom in tech block
but the seeds to that tech scene were
actually planted almost 50 years ago
when a pair of visionaries decided to
explore new frontiers in 1968 a couple
of engineers created a company called
data point in San Antonio Texas they had
invented something called a computer
terminal it was this device that was
designed to replace teletype machines
data point was very influential in
working with another startup of that
time named Intel and they created the
microprocessor changing the course of
mankind San Antonio benefited greatly
from data point success and those roots
in that tech scene they were firmly
planted
a generation later in the late 90s
another group of pioneers hailing from
trinity university decided to open a
hosting company and rackspace was born
behind them a wave of hosting providers
sprung up across our community and we
all benefited we benefited economically
from the growth new jobs meant a new
housing more patrons for our museums and
more Commerce in our shops we benefited
by attracting talent to our community
instead of experiencing brain drain we
began to experience Brain Gain engineers
and technologists they moved their
family to our city and they joined our
communities new business is open to
provide products and services to support
those growing needs pioneering is in our
blood it’s what our city our community
and our neighborhoods are built on San
Antonio has a rich history and a vibrant
heritage but so does every other city
across our country and around the globe
while we all have different origins we
all share that common theme every
country every city every town has origin
stories that begin with pioneers
discovering settling and building the
beginnings of our modern lives we all
benefit from the pioneers that came
before us and we all stand on their
shoulders our world continues to grow
through the spirit of these Trailblazers
now remember a pioneer isn’t the first
person to bring an idea to the world
that’s an innovator they aren’t
necessarily the first to bring it to
market either but that their first to
demonstrate the viability of an idea
inside of a community in any city in the
world you can see their influence
whatever your city you’re in right now
as you watch this you can see their
marks all around you and of our host
city today of San Antonio
is their influence can be seen
everywhere we look five years ago
geekdom opened a collaborative
co-working location in downtown San
Antonio now geekdom didn’t invent
co-working and they weren’t the first to
bring it to market either but they were
the first to prove that San Antonio was
ready and the co-working could work here
now we have several options for
co-working all over town and that that
is the secret that’s how you know that a
pioneer found a good fit for a community
competition follows it brings us more
options and we all benefit this year
symmetry 50 named gitem the third best
co-working location in the country
maverick music festival bought it
brought us a live event spectacular that
was common elsewhere but it was new here
chef Andrew Weissman proved that San
Antonio was ready for world-class food
his restaurants revolutionized the
culinary scene and we all benefited
local coffee opened the door to hip
coffeehouse experiences and now we see
coffee shops popping up all over town
and we all benefit from that growth
chimera coat up and countless other
ventures brought new concepts to our
city and each were followed by others
with similar visions and we all benefit
if we want to continue to benefit from
the growth and change inherent with new
ventures then we must learn to empower
and emulate the sense of adventure and
exploration that comes with these
pioneers so how do we support our local
pioneer well that’s easy you just have
to try something new right whenever a
new restaurant opens near your
neighborhood go check it out go take a
yoga class at your local co-working
location by a snack from a micro market
startup choose to shop at a local small
business but more importantly how can we
grow these pioneers from within our
communities well have you ever been in
another city and said wow I wish we had
that too that’s the perfect opportunity
to plant the seeds of change how can you
bring that experience back with you to
your community it doesn’t have to be you
that actually does the thing but you can
plant the seeds and you can inspire
others you can lend your support you can
ask your friends and families and
co-workers to bring their great ideas
back to your community and you can help
your local leaders craft policies that
enable entrepreneurs and startups to
bring their new ideas to market you can
start with something small teach that
yoga class at your local community
center
offer to volunteer at a non-profit
organization mint or that new business
owner but most importantly most
importantly encourage everybody you know
to embrace growth and change in progress
because it’s the only way that together
we can pioneer a great big beautiful
tomorrow ask them and ask yourselves how
can we help you bring your great ideas
to our community and have you joined the
ranks of pioneers that make all of our lives better