On May 9, 2013 President Barack Obama visited Capital Factory to highlight Austin as a model of innovation to the rest of the country. He stayed for about 45 minutes and all of the Members got to be in the coworking space with him while the Capital Factory Partners all got to shake hands with him in the kitchen.

Correlated Magnetics, Kenguru, Lynx Laboratories, Mass Relevance and Stormpulse each gave a 2 minute pitch but he didn't invest in any of them.

It started with an email on 4/24/2013. Sarah Cox's initial response was, "Sweet! Does this mean we can't wear jeans to work?"

Hi Joshua,

I received your contact information from my colleague Doug Rand. My name is XXXX and I work in the communications office at the White House. We are looking at several sites in the Austin area for a potential event with a senior administration official in the coming weeks and wanted to explore whether Capital Factory might be a viable option for us.

Are you available today to hop on the phone for a quick call so we can learn more about what you guys do there and what your space looks like?

Please let me know.

Thanks!

XXXXX

XXXXX
White House Communications

The Secret Service showed up on Monday, April 29. They didn't really say who they were, but they looked the part. At this point, nobody has said that it's the President coming, just a "senior administration official" – I'm thinking it's the Secretary of State or Vice President or something.

They got the usual tour and then interviewed me a bit about the building and how much tolerance we had for being inconvenienced. They emphasized how disruptive it would be and stressed how they would do everything they could to minimize it.

Looking out over the downtown streets they started pointing out all of the streets that would need to be blocked off and I started getting the feeling that this was really someone high up in the government. The President probably crossed my mind at that point but I also probably laughed it off.

They had some security concerns but that wasn't their primary focus. Probably the biggest concern was all of the exterior windows – they immediately said that the windows would all need to be blacked out with drapes.

They were non-commital about whether or not our location had been chosen but I could tell that they liked the look of the place and were optimistic.

Then we went for a walk down the street to look at the parking garage and also some other possible venues like Brazos Hall. I wonder what the person showing us around at Brazos Hall thought when I showed up in jeans and a t-shirt followed by a pair of secret service agents in suits and talking about security concerns of the building.

On the walk the Secret Service guys mentioned "when he was in Waco" and when I mentioned the ACL Theater one said, "he went there last time" and then I started thinking this really had to be the President because I knew he had just been to Waco and that he had done a fundraiser at the ACL Theater the last time he was in Austin.

They actually confirmed it by phone later that week and then the next week he was here!

I remember the look on the Secret Service advance team's face when we took them for their first tour of the space and they saw all the floor-to-ceiling windows. For a minute I thought it was going to be a deal breaker but later I learned that they deal with so many different settings that almost nothing shocks them. They just deal with it.

Around March 2013, Josh told me that with SXSW and 16th-floor construction behind us, we should have a pretty laid back summer. On May 2nd, I was in the rose garden at Balboa Park in San Diego when Nicholle called to tell me this wasn't a drill: we had seven days to covertly coordinate 300 unwitting people and get everything scrubbed and ready for the leader of the free world to inspect. Our team came together and executed it beautifully. If I personally had to save the world, I'd take Jessica Stewart and Nicholle Jaramillo with me in a heartbeat AND we'd make it look easy.

"Before you say anything, wait until we get into the freight elevator," Josh instructed.

I was dying to ask what he thought Capital Factory's involvement (if any) with the White House communication team would be in the coming weeks. It was only my third month working at CF and I was certain that surviving my first SXSW would be my most grueling task of 2013. Let's just say, I couldn't have been more wrong.

Less than a week before, I was cc'd on an email between Josh and the White House communications team. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity for involvement (in any way, shape, form, or fashion). After a quick phone call that afternoon, I asked if I could tag along the following Monday for a tour of downtown event venues.

"I'm sure they just want to do a simple panel or reception. Nothing we can't handle," Josh said.

The next week, we spent 45-minutes walking from venue to venue in downtown Austin with the secret service. I was nervous in more ways than one and urged my inner self to keep cool. Oblivious to most of the conversation and jargon, I thought, which political official could they possibly hope to entertain in Austin?

A talk about security concerns and draping requirements, and a serious (but excited) glance from Josh later, I roughly put the pieces together. I quickly became a fly on the wall until further notified.

We quickly shook hands, thanked the secret service for their time, and explained our eagerness to help with any plans they had in store.

I waited in anticipation for the freight elevator doors to close and then turned to Josh.

"So what's really going on here?" I said.

"I'm about 90% sure it is what we think it is," Josh said.

It was a seemingly endless elevator ride back up to the 16th Floor. Who would have thought that just two weeks after shaking hands with the secret service, I would do be doing the same with the POTUS.

For me, it started with an email on April 29, 2013 from Josh that said: "Are you planning on being in Austin on Thursday, May 9? It's not confirmed yet, but I'm pretty sure you will want to be here. Awesome possible demo and media coverage opportunity. Can't say more right now but try to keep your schedule open if possible."
I took it seriously but was thinking that a national news program or something similar must be coming through town. A few days later, Josh pulled me into a conference room and said it was likely that President Obama was going to be visiting Capital Factory and asked if I would do a demo of Correlated Magnetics technology for him.
I immediately said yes and a after a few minutes of speculating about the event, I remember telling Josh that I was so nervous that I was shaking. I remember he said that he understood, because he was not only shaking then, but had been shaking for days!
Starting three or four days prior, there were a few secret service agents walking through for a few minutes here and there, but as the day got closer there were many more of them and they were spending a lot of time around the offices.
Josh organized several practice pitch sessions, which were incredibly helpful. It's really hard to get a pitch down to two minutes and he pushed and pushed to get each part right of each of our pitches.
On the day of, I made sure that the secret service knew that I was planning on demoing several magnets and that I wanted to offer two of them to the President. They briefly inspected them and then indicated it was fine.
As the time the President was scheduled to arrive approached, the secret service agents went from relaxed, to serious, to full alert and finally to high alert when the President arrived on the floor via the service elevator. It really ratcheted up the tension - and I was already nervous.
Fortunately, my nervousness peaked a few minutes before it was my turn to present and I felt that I was able to present in a relaxed and casual manner.
When I showed the President the first magnet, he turned to Todd Park, the CTO of the U.S., to show it to him and indicated how cool it was.
At the end of my pitch, I offered that same magnet to the President, as well as the magnet our engineering team had magnetized with his likeness. He said he really appreciated the gifts and that he wanted to show them to his daughters. I told him that I think they would like them and he said that he agreed.
I can't express my appreciation enough to Josh for asking me to present Correlated Magnetics' technology to the President of the U.S. - it was a real honor.

I still pinch myself that I had the good fortune to be a part of this amazing event with Capital Factory. Being the owner of Red Velvet Events, I have had the privilege of experiencing a wide range of event involvement, and I am very much accustomed to our clients reaching out to us for last-minute help. It's probably because of my service-minded attitude that I sometimes get myself in trouble with putting too much on my plate and rarely saying no.

I thought this was like any other event request from a VIP client of ours and until I understood the confidentiality of the matter, I realized how much of a trusted partner we are for Capital Factory.

Thank you Josh, Sarah and Nicholle for allowing me to be a part of your events team that day and so happy that we were able to showcase some pretty amazing talent to President Obama. This definitely ranks up high as one of my favorite events in RVE’s history.

When I think about Capital Factory, I always think about the missed connection with President Obama in May of 2013. By circumstance, I had been in contact with a couple of White House staffers the week before -- so I knew there was a good possibility that the President would tour some of the city's top startup locations. That said, I was scheduled to keynote at an event in Chicago during Obama's tour, so I didn't spend too much time thinking about his stay in Austin.

In fact, I was at a baseball game at Wrigley Field, when my cell phone rang. I looked down at the caller ID and saw that it was Josh Baer -- and my heart kind of sank because I had a premonition of what was to come. When I answered the call, Josh told me that the President was slotted to visit Capital Factory tomorrow -- and he wanted me to be one of his special guests for the event. I told Josh that I was scheduled to give a keynote speech the next morning and that there was no way I could make it back to Texas for the visit. And, that very very reluctantly, he should give my spot to meet Obama to someone else.

Even though I didn't get to shake the President's hand that day, this story still represents to me all that Capital Factory has achieved in just a few short years. The space has gone from Josh's pipe dream to the bustling hub of the red-hot Austin entrepreneurial ecosystem that attracts the attention of international business figures as well as the leader of the free world. And, yes, the next time the President comes to Austin, I'm canceling all my travel plans.