UT Austin students and childhood friends create production company

AUSTIN, Texas - A couple of entrepreneurial 19-year-olds from Austin created a production company that they continue to run in their spare time in between classes at UT Austin.

Like every great business startup story, theirs started in college while they were both sitting on the couch.

Creating JHMG Productions 

What they're saying:

John Houston and Mark Greenberg are childhood friends, fraternity brothers at the University of Texas, roommates, and business partners. 

"Mark and I are actually lifelong friends," said John Houston. "I've known Mark since I was probably third or fourth grade."

Greenberg and Houston combined their initials and connections to form JHMG Productions last year as freshmen. 

"We were just like sitting on our dorm room couch and just going back and forth," said Mark Greenberg. "So this past summer, kind of at the end of June, we had our first concert with him down on Sixth Street, where we sold out roughly 700 tickets." 

As social chair of his fraternity, Houston already had experience booking events and venues. 

"Live music is crucial, like to that Austin social scene, and it was kind of missing from the UT social scene," said Houston. 

They both wanted to breathe life into the art of live music. 

"You might think, 'Oh, that's obvious, you would need to get insurance,' but to a 19-year-old kid in college, that's not as obvious as you would think," said Greenberg. 

The pair took an idea, turned it into a company, and are learning along the way. 

"We had an idea. We didn't have any money to start it," said Houston. "If you're driven, if you put whatever you have into that, good things will come from it." 

With their next show only weeks away, JHMG Productions expects their largest crowd to date. 

"49 Winchester really is the pinnacle of what JHMG is supposed to be; that's going to be our biggest show thus far," said Houston. "This venue is a lot bigger than, you know, 750 capacity. You know, we could fit 3000 people in here." 

The next show is on April 10, 2025, at the Far Out Lounge in Southeast Austin.

They are giving out a discount code for viewers. If you use the code "FOX7" at checkout, you will receive 10 percent off your tickets.