Hello

I build communities and back founders to realize human flourishing.

I'm the founder and CEO of Arena Hall in Austin, Texas — before that, Outbox, Able, and Teneo. I'm an active investor in companies like SpaceX, xAI, Base Power, Antora, and Function Health.

I wrote the bestselling book on raising capital for startups and host In the Arena on Apple TV.

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My Bio.

 

Evan Baehr builds communities and backs founders to realize human flourishing.

Baehr is the founder and CEO of Arena Hall, a private membership community in Austin, Texas, for the people building what's next — founders, investors, operators, artists, and their families. Housed in a landmark building on South Congress, it brings them together through intentional hospitality, serious conversation, and long-term commitment.

He is an active investor across AI, robotics, space, energy, and health, including xAI, Apptronik, SpaceX, Base Power, Antora, Function Health, Levels, and TrueMed. He previously served as managing partner of a $1.4B venture fund focused on human performance and flourishing.

Baehr is the author of Get Backed (Harvard Business Press), which equips entrepreneurs with the key skills to build a pitch deck and then raise capital to launch a business. Shark Tank's Barbara Corcoran calls the book a "must read" before pitching on the show. It has equipped over one million entrepreneurs. He also hosts In the Arena on Apple TV, profiling extraordinary founders building companies that address large public challenges.

He is a serial entrepreneur. He cofounded Able, a financial technology company backed by Mike Maples and Peter Thiel, which sold in 2017. Able served the 'fortune 5,000,000' — the millions of small businesses that create two-thirds of all jobs in the United States — with low interest loans to help them grow. Forbes called Able "capitalism at its best." Another previous venture, Outbox, was a startup designed to disrupt the United States Postal Service. After being shut down by the federal government, Baehr was profiled in the Wall Street Journal's Weekend Interview titled "A Case of Uncreative Destruction," written by Bari Weiss.

He is the founder of Teneo, a national leadership organization, and co-founded the Adam Smith Society, the largest organization of MBAs committed to capitalism, now with chapters at the top 33 business schools.

Earlier in his career he worked at Facebook under Sheryl Sandberg and as a principal at Clarium Capital, a global macro hedge fund; in the U.S. House of Representatives as a legislative aide and staff director for the Congressional Human Rights Caucus; and in the White House Office of Faith Based Initiatives.

He is an honors graduate of Princeton University (Woodrow Wilson School), Yale University (MA, Ethics), and Harvard Business School (MBA).

He is married to Kristina Baehr, founder of Just Well Law and previously Assistant U.S. Attorney and Partner at McKool Smith, the most-winning patent litigation law firm in the country. She is a graduate of Princeton and Yale Law School. They live in Austin with their four children.

My thesis: America faces many challenges. It as a nation—and the system of Democratic Capitalism it fostered—is the most important experiment in the history of the world because it has led to the greatest elevation of human flourishing in history. Today, the most powerful agents for human flourishing are founders of for-profit companies, not because they use their wealth to support non-profits but rather because the very scalable companies they build are the agents of change. I want people to flourish. That’s why I’m a builder, backer, and evangelist for for-profit companies. Care about humans? Build a company.