Last Month's TAG meeting

January Meeting -- Friday, January 27, 2012 07:00 AM

This meeting occured last month and details of the February have not beee posted yet. Summary information may be available at the bottom of this page under "Future Events"

What: "Briggo: The Cool Technology of Robotics, Mobile, and the Cloud Can Sure Brew a Hot Cup of Coffee"
Who: Chas Studor, Founder

Meeting Agenda

7:00 AM to 7:30 AM – Networking and Breakfast
7:30 AM to 7:45 AM – Announcements and Introductions
7:45 AM to 8:30 AM – Presentation with interchange

Where: The Austin Club, 110 East 9th Street (a half a block east of Congress on 9th Street).

Breakfast is $20 with reservations ($18 if prepaid before reservation deadline) and $25 without reservations.

About the Program

Briggo has found a white space in the food and drink market and addressed it with cool converged technology to address the need for convenience in a fast-paced world along with social awareness. Not only is this a story of spotting the trends but it is also one of how a company can grow on a "power curve", stay competitive by quickly delivering new capabilities to consumers, and speed up introduction of new consumer offerings by harnessing a lightweight, "proto" form of organizing.

Briggo's story highlights a number of themes currently at play in the Austin entrepreneurial scene. First, there is a local ability to focus on white spaces by converging emerging technologies. In Briggo's case it is robotics, mobile apps, and cloud computing. There is a theme of forming a collaborative team integrated by veteran executives from large high tech businesses. Studor, from Freescale, and CEO Kevin Nater, from Dell and Network General, have enlisted local companies Deaton Engineering for system design and Mutual Mobile for the application. Finally, it is pursuing social consciousness by using an ethically sourced, organic Peruvian bean.

Briggo technology works as a 'robotic barista,' perfecting and automating the traditional barista craft. Briggo has created a disruptive technology that enables customers to store favorite recipes in the cloud, remotely order, and have those drinks produced with robotic precision. Organic, fresh gourmet ingredients are made with robotic consistency, ready when the customer arrives at the kiosk…transforming the coffee experience.

The company deployed the first unit this fall at U.T., and intends to own a network of these 24/7, fully automated kiosks in airports, hospitals, universities, and other high traffic areas across the country.

Charles (Chas) Studor, Founder of Briggo, spent 20 years at Motorola/Freescale in senior engineering management. He has served on many local non-profit boards, and while board chair, he supervised the $13M project to build the new campus for the Austin Children's Shelter. While building a school in Honduras, he fell in love with the origin of coffee, and came to understand the coffee culture and the need to expand the market for fair trade coffees.

This program is a continuing part of TAG's focus on innovative new technology based businesses that provide a glimpse of the area's economic future. Entrepreneurs: TAG's program presents case studies in how to start, sustain and become successful. Come to TAG to meet people who are following the entrepreneurial path.

Future Events

TAG February Meeting, February 25, 2012:

Gail Page CEO at Vermillion will be our speaker in February. Her company, which introduces new breakthrough bio tests originated at universities such as Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and MD Anderson, moved here last year.