LIVING THE SERVICE MANTRA
Graham Weston is a prominent
figure in San Antonio business and
real estate circles. He is owner of
Weston Properties, with its flagship
Weston Centre the premier office
space in San Antonio since 1992.
He is perhaps best known for his
role providing seed capital and
later management expertise
to the startup tech company,
Rackspace, where he was chief
executive officer until 2006,
when he became chairman.
I
RA
never really considered myself a
“techie,” but boy, could I nose out
business opportunities. I launched
a variety of businesses beginning at
the tender age of 13, ranging from
selling pork to livestock photography to,
eventually, real estate and development.
Yet there was a growing force that I
simply could no longer resist: the Internet.
Though comfortably ensconced in my
thriving real estate business, I sensed
opportunity and I wanted “in.” When I
encountered three local Trinity students
seeking funding for an Internet-hosting
business, we banded together and I
became the first investor and cofounder
of their fledgling company, Rackspace.
com. Within six months, I had put my real
estate business on hold and assumed
the roles of CEO and Chairman, positions
I held until 2006.
A full two decades after we founded
Rackspace, I still enjoy recalling the early
days at the company and describing
how we ended up veering from our initial
concept. At the beginning, I assumed
I would model it after the real estate
industry. Instead of renting apartments,
however, we’d be renting out server
space to customers.