Bob Fabbio - Betting Big on Disruption

In this episode of Austin Tech Connect, Thom Singer sits down with Austin Tech Hall of Fame inductee Bob Fabbio, a founder and leader whose career is woven into the story of our region’s tech ecosystem.

Bob shares how a reluctant interview trip from Massachusetts to IBM Austin in 1987 turned into a one way ticket to a city he quickly fell in love with. After realizing he was “a fish out of water” in big corporate environments, he left IBM to launch Tivoli Systems, pursuing a then radical idea to manage heterogeneous computer networks as if they were a single machine. People told him he was crazy. They were wrong.

From there, Bob walks through building multiple category defining companies, his time in venture capital with Austin Ventures and TL Ventures, and why he chose to run those firms like real businesses with intentional branding, community engagement, and entrepreneur boot camps.

Bob also talks about his commitment to mentoring founders and “paying it forward,” inspired by the early leaders who pushed him to have the courage to launch Tivoli. He shares his powerful framework of “the whats” that every entrepreneur must answer clearly, from the real problem they solve to pricing, distribution, and the macro trends they are riding.

Finally, Bob describes his latest chapter, Norio Capital Partners, a long short hedge fund powered by machine learning and AI, and why this may be his favorite venture yet. It is a masterclass in thinking big, betting on yourself, and building the future from Austin.

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