The Distill - Fire, Ice & City Lights

Greeting Pioneers,

This week we’re recapping a Saturday that went from ice baths to stadium lights, looking ahead to 45Fest, and sharing the Louisville Business First piece that started with a KYX LinkedIn post and put Dan’s face in print.

Fire & Ice + Lou City Recap

Fire & Ice #3 went down Saturday at MaybeItsFate - huge thanks to Charley Miller for letting us take over such an epic space. Perfect vibes, perfect location. Neighbors wandered over mid-event, curious about the psychos plunging into ice water, and left applauding the weirdness.

Tons of new faces. Two cold tubs this time so people could literally share the suffering - jumping in together, talking each other through it, laughing in the face of misery. We got the sauna tent up in record time, Fed the stove double the logs and turned the Sauna into an inferno — we’re learning. When the last plunge was done and the sauna cooled, the crew swapped towels for tickets and headed to Lynn Family Stadium. George Davis over at Lou City’s partnership team hooked us up with 40 tickets — every seat filled. We watched the sunset drop behind the 2nd St bridge, skyline glowing, and Charleston getting dismantled for four first-half goals. Growth starts with showing up. Thanks to everyone who did this weekend.

LBF + KYX

A few months back, KYX posted an interactive chart showing how Louisville’s population has tracked against other cities since 1950 — and how our “peer list” might not be what people think. That post sparked a ton of conversation… and caught the attention of Louisville Business First.

Last week, they ran a deep-dive piece on our topic, looking at which cities Louisville should actually be measuring itself against, how we stack up in growth, and what it would take to catch places like Nashville. Dan’s chart and comments are featured throughout, including his take that Memphis and Birmingham might be our truer peers when it comes to demographics.

It’s worth the read, both for the data and for the bigger question it raises: if we know who our peers really are, what can we learn from them?

Check out the full article here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/08/08/louisville-peer-cities-population-cover-story-2025.html

45Fest — Louisville’s Builder Playground

This isn’t your average startup conference.

45Fest is a three-day, entrepreneur-led takeover of Louisville built for people who do, not just watch. The bold, the ambitious, the ones shaping what’s next - from filmmakers to manufacturers, cannabis innovators to VCs, economic developers to students - all in the same rooms, same streets, same deals.

Why Louisville? Because the 502 was built for builders — a city full of opportunity inside a launch-ready state. 45Fest is a living, breathing extension of that energy.

 📅 September 13-15 — Come collide.
🔗 Learn more at 45fest.com
🎟️ Get Tickets here

Know someone who should read this? Forward it, or send them this link.

That’s a wrap 🎬
Keep showing up 👊 
Keep shipping 🚢 
Peace, Pioneers ✌️