Monday evening as the Texas Tribune raced toward its launch this morning (some elements aren’t live yet), Editor-in-Chief Evan Smith took me through the new nonprofit journalism site—news stories, databases, blogs, a combined Twitter feed for every elected politician in Texas, the start of a Texas politics wiki. Unlike some of the new crop of local and regional news startups, the Tribune is launching with enough money for a well-paid staff of 16, including 11 reporters. (Smith alone makes $315,000; more on that below.) The vision for a nonprofit covering Texas politics, public policy and government started with John Thornton, a general partner of Austin Ventures who wanted to to put money and energy into journalism for the public good. He and his wife seeded the venture with $1 million; another $1.6 million has come in from individual donors and corporations (all identified on the site) plus $1.1 million from foundations. Not that this pace can keep up, but on the last day before launch the Tribune took in $13,000 from 190 founding “members.” Smith crows a little: “We had 1,340 founding members before we’ve published a word.” That’s at an average of $94 a person—some, like T. Boone Pickens, ponying up much larger amounts. Founders start at $50 or $25 for college students.As important, Thornton recruited Smith, a high-profile journalist with even higher energy who kept his day job as editor of Texas Monthly well into the process. As we toured the site, Smith talked about the Tribune’s plans for events, premium content, giving content away and more. Some excerpts from that conversation below, along with a Tribune video featuring Thornton.