How PlebLab is Shaping the Future of Bitcoin Startups in Austin
Bitcoin Magazine How PlebLab is Shaping the Future of Bitcoin Startups in Austin Born in the heart of Texas, PlebLab.dev is a well-known name within the Bitcoin start-up world. And yet, most people who have heard about this niche Bitcoin community in Austin are probably unaware of their wins and influence. Started as a coworking space out of Capital Factory in 2021 by a couple of Bitcoin enthusiasts, […] This post How PlebLab is Shaping the Future of Bitcoin Startups in Austin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Juan Galt.
Bitcoin Magazine
How PlebLab is Shaping the Future of Bitcoin Startups in Austin
Born in the heart of Texas, PlebLab.dev is a well-known name within the Bitcoin start-up world. And yet, most people who have heard about this niche Bitcoin community in Austin are probably unaware of their wins and influence.
Started as a coworking space out of Capital Factory in 2021 by a couple of Bitcoin enthusiasts, PlebLab has grown into a Mecca of the Bitcoin start-up ecosystem in the United States. They host various events and meetups throughout the year and have become a reliable work environment for Bitcoiners, whether living in Austin or just passing through.
“In art school, I had this professor who’d make us stop after an hour of creating, walk around, and give honest feedback on each other’s work—it built a collaborative vibe where we can grow together. That stuck with me,” Car González, CEO of PlebLab, recalls. So when I took over PlebLab, I asked: ‘How do I make it more collaborative? How do I make it more about that, not just coworking?’ When you say coworking, it’s literally just working. How boring is that—working among other people who are also working? That’s not fun.”
Yet more than just a “coworking” space, PlebLab has become a “community accelerator for the Bitcoin era” with multiple successful Bitcoin companies and developer celebrities going through it since its inception.
Genesis
Founded out of the dream to build on Bitcoin and grow a local community, PlebLab got its first office in Capital Factory, a renown tech coworking hub in Austin in 2021. The three cofounders, Car González, Keyan Kousha, and Kyle Murphy started doing Bitcoin meetups that grew to crowds of over 200 people. Among them, various entrepreneurs and Bitcoin developers started to stick around, asking to co-work with them out of Capital Factory.
Over time PlebLab grew into different office locations, currently installed next to the Unchained Capital offices and the Bitcoin Park (Formerly Bitcoin Commons) in downtown Austin (at 6th St. and Congress Ave.). With more space, talent, and experience, PlebLab transformed from a coworking space into a mix between a hacker garage and a start-up incubator.
Today they offer various membership packages, mentorship, and a wealth of resources to start-ups that join them, but this is not a pay-to-play “Bitcoin We-work”: Memberships can be denied depending on the goals and purpose of the project. It’s more akin to a private Bitcoin club for builders and technologists than anything else.
“I really think we’re an accelerator for the Bitcoin era. How you do that in an open source, cypherpunk way is you don’t give somebody 500k on day one and say, ‘You got three months to make it or see you later.’ To me, that sounds like a fiat-era thing,” said Car.
Main Events
The main events held by PlebLab are Top Builder and Startup Day. Often taking place within six months of each other.
“Top Builder is the Top Chef of Bitcoin. We try to find the latest, greatest builders, pile them in, and get them to build an MVP or something pitchable,” said Car, describing the event which functions like a three-month hackathon, exposing finalists to VCs and angel investors.
Startup Day on the other hand is a short conference that provides a platform for Bitcoin start-ups to present their work, meet talent, and get exposure in the Bitcoin world. In Car’s words it is meant to “inspire people to go from the sidelines to building their own company. They’ll see themselves in those people talking on stage.”
Judge it by its Fruit
A variety of big names within the Bitcoin start-up world have spent time in PlebLab, Car was very hesitant to take credit for the work of others, and stressed his admiration for the founders and leaders whose journey he has witnessed.
“Seeing their journey go from a person you meet, shake hands with initially, to where they are—seeing the numbers they have, and when they get to a point like base camp, a raise, a pre-seed or seed”, Car said. “That base camp for me is just, ‘Cool, they did it.’ Now, let’s go help somebody else. That’s the thing I love—the shipment of the code, so to speak—We just try to be good stewards of that.”
Nevertheless, the track record is impressive. Here’s a quick overview of Bitcoin projects, companies, and developer celebrities closely associated with PlebLab:
Jippi – Winner of Top Builder 2025
Lead by Oliver, Jippi.app is a beautiful and fun Bitcoin app designed with Gen Z in mind. Echoing the success of Pokemon Go, Jippi invites young people to explore their cities in search of Bitcoin Beasts, charming little 3D creatures that hide in augmented reality, waiting for future owners with sats rewards.
The app has been in development for over a year and just last week won the first prize in PlebLab’s Top Builder competition among fierce competition. Mind-blowing to the judges and audience alike, Jippi has a live, functioning app, man-on-the-street surveys, and app tests in a local university. As well as a masterful presentation of the rationale and vision for Jippi, the app may have the potential to go viral in the United States — and with it bring a new generation into Bitcoin.
Stacker.news
Started in 2021 by one of PlebLab’s cofounders Keyan Kousha, Stacker.news has quickly become a hub of news for many tech-savvy Bitcoiners. Boasting an open source Lightning-powered Reddit, the platform has gathered an active and loyal fan base that reward each other with sats for every upvote, often being early to integrate the latest technologies in the Bitcoin-social media tech scene.
Zaprite
Started at the end of 2021 by John Magill, Zaprite has quickly grown into a full payment processing suite for businesses, supporting both Bitcoin and Lightning payment rails, settling to fiat as desired by merchants, supporting event ticketing and all the accounting and invoicing tools necessary for a modern merchant.
Zaprite made recent history by being the interface Donald J. Trump used to pay for a burger with bitcoin at the Bitcoin Pub Pub Key in New York.
(TRUMP BUYS BURGER WITH BITCOIN FROM ZAPRITE – EMBED)
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