For Austin Veith, Giving Back Means More Than Building Successful Businesses

Austin Veith is the very definition of a serial entrepreneur. Starting his first business offering tours and trips to college students while he was still a college student himself, Veith has gone on to run a wide variety of businesses, most successful, some less so.

For some people, being a successful business owner and entrepreneur would be enough. But for Austin Veith, of Boulder, CO, there’s more to life than just keeping his businesses working and working well.

From his commitment to building a positive corporate culture and rewarding employees and finding the best fit for his workers, to using eco-friendly packaging and focusing on environmentally responsible business practices, Austin Veith is committed to making sure his businesses are also good partners in the community.

When it comes to eco-friendly initiatives, Austin Veith’s businesses go above and beyond, saying, “We also implemented a companywide, carbon-negative operational plan. Meaning that every purchase made on our platform removes more carbon from the ecosystem than it contributes.”

Of course, environmental friendliness isn’t the only way Austin Veith works to give back to the community.

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In 2018 he started to work with a non-profit called Defy Ventures Colorado, now known as Time to Breakthrough.

Time to Breakthrough’s central commitment is helping to reduce recidivism rates in Colorado’s jails and prisons by providing former offenders with opportunities to learn important skills and re-enter society better prepared to find jobs and do productive work with the community.

Why would Austin Veith, a serial entrepreneur who juggles the demands of many projects at once, give time to a non-profit program aimed at helping previous offenders? Well, he says, “I believe that people who were previously incarcerated, who have paid their debt to society, deserve the opportunity to have a career just like anybody else. I believe that it is in society’s best interest to support them in obtaining the skills and education they need to build a career and hopefully be in a position to support their families without having to resort to illegal activities.”

Why work with Breakthrough specifically, instead of another non-profit organization with similar goals? Because the goals of the company and Austin Veith’s personal ethos line up well. “The ultimate goal is to lower the rate of recidivism, by helping graduates establish a career (not just a job) that will put them in a position where they can afford the cost of living and not have to turn to criminal behavior in order to provide for their families.”

Helping people build a career, rather than just finding a job, is right in line with Austin Veith’s Techstars background and management ethos.

Austin Veith believes in finding the right people for the job, the right talent, and rewarding dedication and good work in his companies. He feels that making sure employees feel valued for the work that they do, and valued in more than just raw compensation, is one of the best ways to keep the top talent your business needs to succeed.

Now, for a lot of business owners, supporting and empowering employees to do their best work and feel fulfilled and satisfied in their work, would be enough, and would be a sign of a conscientious member of their community.

Austin Veith takes that a step further when it comes to previous offenders, saying, “We should do everything we can to get people back to a place where they can choose something other than a crime to support themselves and their families financially”.

Personally, Austin Veith helped pilot a program with Breakthrough that partnered with Tek Ladder, a technical school in Kansas, to help incarcerated individuals get the technical skills needed to secure an entry-level position ready to launch them into a career.

One of Breakthrough’s recent graduates was given the scholarship to enroll with Tek Ladder.

With his long history of entrepreneurship and community engagement, Austin Veith has already done great work. But he isn’t stopping, and we’re sure there’s more to come in this entrepreneur’s future.

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