News and perspectives from the Pittsburgh tech scene. Written by a human.

In 2023, I had a realization.

I had been living in Pittsburgh for 7 years. My network of local friends in tech was limited to my coworkers and people who used to be my coworkers at my job as an engineering manager at Niche.com. It was then that I realized, despite being a Pittsburgh-based tech worker, I knew next to nothing about the local tech scene. So I started looking for Pittsburgh tech news online.

I found a few good sources, but I also was annoyed by the reader experience. Firstly, there was a mix of things that I did not care about (articles like “Some Executive Named to New Executive Role at Company”) and stuff I genuinely did care about (local companies and tech workers doing cool things) in each news stream. Secondly, while the writing was generally good, the UI on these news sites was frankly terrible.

Around that same time, I had just created a Substack account to subscribe to a few newsletters. I loved the Substack reading experience—clean, ad-free, and with serif fonts. But I couldn’t find a good source on Substack for Pittsburgh tech news…

…so I made my own.

Here’s what you get for subscribing:

1 monthly summary of local tech news and events

The Monthly Beat is a summary of news from the past month and upcoming local events. I highlight one big story, then share the most interesting headlines with commentary that I was able to find from my reading list with a little bit of commentary. Each post ends with a list of upcoming local events.

1 monthly article from a local tech perspective

This is new for 2025! Local guest writers and I will be bringing you our perspectives on local happenings, analysis of current trends, and personal stories from the world of Pittsburgh tech.

1 monthly conversation in a subscriber-only chatroom

Also, new for 2025, the chatroom is now open! Chat with me and other local tech workers/enthusiasts about the various opportunities and challenges in Pittsburgh’s tech scene, as well as broader trends in the tech industry.

Thanks for reading and enjoy!

—Austin