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Ian Newell

Basic Info​

  • Location: Austin, Texas
  • Role/Occupation: General Manager for Government Solutions at OpenTeams, VP of Products and Services
  • Contact: Connected via Slack (OpenTeams)
  • Met: Through Travis (OpenTeams founder), November 2025 via video call
  • Company: OpenTeams / Open Technology Incubator

Professional Background​

  • Current Role: Senior leader at OpenTeams, focusing on applying open-source and AI technologies to government and national security use cases
  • Previous Experience: Worked at BigBear.ai in AI/ML-driven decision support for government customers
  • Military Background: Former active-duty Army service, leveraged defense and intelligence background in tech career
  • Entrepreneurship: Founder of Golden Hour Technologies (Austin-based venture)
  • Education: MBA from Texas McCombs School of Business
  • Product Focus: Leading development of Nubari platform - described as "opt-in Palantir" for businesses

Key Projects & Interests​

  • Nubari Platform: Building a shared contextual data layer platform that allows businesses to integrate once and install multiple apps without fragmentation
  • Government Solutions: Applying open-source and AI tech to government/defense use cases
  • Democratization Vision: Passionate about creating "tens of millions of millionaires" rather than concentrated wealth
  • AI Accessibility: Focused on making AI tools available to everyone in practical, applicable ways

Interaction History​

November 26, 2025: Initial Video Call​

  • Context: Introduction call set up by Travis to discuss Gary potentially joining OpenTeams
  • Key Discussion Points:
    • Nubari platform vision and architecture
    • Gary's Applied AI community concept
    • Potential W2 employment offer for 1-2 years
    • Freedom to continue consulting and build own ventures
    • AI Rodeo event concept
  • Notable Quotes:
    • "Travis is telling me... Gary's going to build something big in the next year or two, three years. He's like, if I just get a year or two of Gary's time, I'm perfectly happy with that"
    • "You're building a band of AI misfits... 80 percent of the world is going to be a bunch of AI misfits as this continues"
    • On OpenTeams: "We actually are democratizing. We're making it available to everybody in a sense that makes sense"

Strategic Value & Collaboration Areas​

  • Recruiting Advocate: Ian is actively helping recruit Gary to OpenTeams with significant autonomy
  • Platform Synergy: Nubari platform aligns with Gary's vision for business-focused AI applications
  • Event Collaboration: Potential partnership on AI Rodeo and Applied AI community events
  • Freedom Philosophy: Demonstrated commitment to giving team members autonomy (referenced his own startup experience)

Connections & Network​

  • Travis: Founder of OpenTeams, mutual connection
  • Government Contacts: Extensive network in defense and government sectors from military background
  • Austin Tech Community: Well-connected in Austin startup ecosystem

Notes & Observations​

  • Communication Style: Direct, enthusiastic, collaborative
  • Values Alignment: Strong alignment on democratizing technology and creating distributed wealth vs concentrated power
  • Trust Level: High - transparent about company vision and generous with autonomy promises
  • Leadership Style: Product-focused, believes in giving team freedom to build their own ventures alongside company work
  • Personal Experience: Has successfully run his own startup (Golden Hour) while at OpenTeams, proving the autonomy model works

Potential Collaboration Areas​

  • Employment: W2 position at OpenTeams with significant flexibility
  • Applied AI Community: Support and sponsorship for Gary's community building efforts
  • Event Partnership: Collaboration on AI Rodeo and other Austin tech events
  • Platform Development: Building apps on top of Nubari for specific verticals (education mentioned)
  • Business Development: Leveraging Gary's "biz rel" skills for OpenTeams growth

Key Insights​

  • Ian represents a new model of tech leadership that values distributed success over concentrated wealth
  • The Nubari platform vision aligns perfectly with Gary's "truth management" and unified data layer concepts
  • OpenTeams culture genuinely supports entrepreneurial employees building their own ventures
  • Strong philosophical alignment on democratizing AI for businesses rather than just tech elite

Follow-up Actions​

  • Next Meeting: Scheduled for Tuesday midday (early December 2025) for in-person coffee in Austin
  • Pending: Ian will discuss W2 compensation package with Travis and share via Slack
  • Role Creation: Gary invited to help define his own role description
  • Freedom Confirmation: Ian committed to ensuring maximum autonomy for Gary's consulting and community work

Transcripts​

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2025-11-26-gary-ian-newell-openteams-discussion2025-11-26OpenTeams employment discussion and Applied AI community vision alignment