Forget Fortnite, ban Battlefront, and let go of League of Legends. For those of us who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, competitive multiplayer was Battle Mode in Mario Kart or slappers in Goldeneye. Decades removed from classics like Mario, Sonic, and Duck Hunt, those who yearn for the simpler days of gaming may feel like fossils.

Never fear, brave gamer. With Austin’s rich history of video games, it’s no wonder the retro scene is well-represented. Enter Game Over Videogames, purveyors and supporters of the games of yesteryear for well over a decade.

Whether you cut your teeth on the Atari 2600 or played the mess out of an NES, Game Over is a nostalgia overload of epic proportions.

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As we enter our hottest season, the words “plumber” or “air conditioning problems” may induce a mild panic. But here in Austin, the panic may turn to a chuckle as we remember the ever-constant Radiant Plumbing & Air Conditioning commercials featuring the company’s owners, Brad and Sarah Casebier.

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Six years ago, two recent college grads moved to Austin to launch a company out of a decaying office. Their wild idea: build a mobile-first app that can get virtually anything delivered to you with just a few taps.  

Five years and $38 million dollars in funding later, the founding duo of Zac Maurais and Ben Doherty have built Favor to nearly 100 employees (in addition to thousands of contract runners). In addition, they transitioned the company to an executive team, which ultimately led to an acquisition by grocery giant HEB. An exit that exceeded their wildest dreams.

Much of the service-based app economy based out of Silicon Valley can be distilled to an Uber-for-x service, a variation of the now ubiquitous ride-hailing app that fuels our on-demand culture. Favor took the on-demand food delivery idea that was dominated by desktop-based interfaces, and moved it forward by focusing on a mobile experience and directly engaging with local businesses to get them signed up.

Maurais and Doherty are poised to do the same thing for real estate as they did for local restaurants by creating Sunroom, an app-based rental experience focused on getting ever-increasing numbers of Austinites to their next home faster and easier than ever before.

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Guest article by Mandy Heintzelman Smith

This is not a scientific conclusion, but over the last five months of living in Austin, I’ve noticed there’s a huge demand for services at local high-end nail salons. When my mother-in-law was in town, I wanted to take her and my little girl to a beautiful, cozy nail salon and make it an experience. I called around to all of the best reviewed salons, and it wasn’t until my fourth try that I could find an appointment for three people.
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