Walt Maciborski

What we talked about

The story behind Tech This Out

Walt Maciborski kept finding things he wanted his newsroom colleagues to see. His repeated invitation to check something out eventually became the name of his technology segment, Tech This Out. In this Making Names conversation, the CBS Austin anchor explains why he wanted to look beyond the familiar business-news cycle of layoffs and company announcements. He was interested in what people were building, how their ideas worked and why those developments mattered to the community. For him, technology reporting starts with curiosity about the people behind an unfamiliar idea.

An ecosystem built on introductions

Maciborski first came to Austin early in his reporting career, drawn by the opportunities to cover a state capital and a changing city. Looking back on its technology scene, he emphasizes the willingness of founders and experienced operators to help others. In his account, introductions lead to advice, and people share lessons from mistakes as well as successes. He sees confidence and hospitality as complementary parts of that culture. His enthusiasm is rooted less in a single company than in the relationships that make it possible for someone new to find a way in.

From software to a builder economy

Maciborski describes a shift from an economy associated primarily with software toward one increasingly visible in physical products and infrastructure. Robotics, energy and other emerging fields are part of what he calls a builder economy. His interest is in making that work understandable without reducing it to a corporate headline. Access matters, too: he explains that companies need to trust a reporter before they will open their doors. Covering innovation therefore requires patient relationship-building as well as the ability to explain a technical subject to viewers encountering it for the first time.

Look beyond Austin’s city limits

The conversation moves from individual companies to the wider Central Texas region. Maciborski remembers when places that now feel closely connected to Austin seemed much farther away. He points to surrounding communities as important parts of the region’s growth story, rather than treating everything as an Austin city-center development. That perspective also changes where a reporter looks for stories. Local leaders, economic development teams and businesses across the region become part of the picture. His optimism rests partly on cooperation between communities and their ability to build connections as the area changes.

Growth without losing the familiar places

Maciborski does not see every change as evidence that Austin has lost its identity. Near the end of the discussion, he returns to the places and experiences that still make it feel like home: Barton Springs, the Capitol, live music and the community around them. That affection sits alongside his interest in new industries, rather than in opposition to it. He wants the region’s next chapter to be covered with the same attention as its established landmarks. The throughline is a journalist’s invitation to look more closely at a place people may think they already know.