Each March the global tech community comes together to share, learn, and celebrate technology at South-By-South-West-Interactive (SXSWi), Austin Texas' signature tech event. The Internet, mobile devices, wearables, Internet Of Things (IOT), and thousands of tech related subjects are shared, discussed, and 'celebrated' in a way that you won't see anywhere else. At the center of this discussion are the tech startups: Looking for connections, for traction, for money -- in search of all the things that new ideas need to make it big. The role of startups has changed a lot at SXSW, and along with it the best formula for finding success at the event. Being a native Austinite, I have been up close and personal with SXSW for years, as an attendee, a startup founder, SXSW book-event author, and event sponsor. Let's take a look at how SXSWi can work for your startup:
Visibility- Startups love SXSWi because of the promise of all the exposure that it can bring. With big names like Twitter and FourSquare making it big at SXSW in prior years, it has reputation for being a true startup launch pad. The image of a giant wave picking up your startup and carrying it to the promised land in a swell of media coverage and frenzy is appealing, though in reality, the vast proportion of startups at SXSWi find that such 'lightning in a bottle 'is hard to find. In terms of visibility, you can expect some press coverage if you work hard to earn it. Expect some opportunity for social media sharing, and the social proof that comes from being associated with the event.
Learning- The sheer amount of information that is available at SXSWi is huge. For Startups, the opportunity to listen and learn is one of the key benefits of attending. The spirit of sharing is a huge benefit of attending, and substantial listening time should be planned for. The mantra is: "Mouth shut, ears open."
Customer Interaction- Depending on what venues you are a part of (see below) you can expect to have a lot of conversations with potential members of your niche or business ecosystem. This includes customers, partners, investors, potential employees, suppliers, competitors, and the like. Each of these groups holds some number of keys to your startup's success, and if you are in tech a lot of them will be represented at SXSWi.
The Tactics List - things that startups can do at the event:
SXSW Trade Show- It used to be that small startups were a common sight in the trade show. Not anymore. It had been within reach for very small startups to rent presentation space, a booth at SXSW, and get lots of foot traffic and interaction. That has become less and less common. The ‘concept and pre-demo stage’ startups are now usually at SXSWi under the umbrella of some other group, like an accelerator, or government or economic development organization. Localities, universities, and governments are now aggressively sponsoring their own presence at SXSW, and often bring along demo startups to co-display with them in their space.
SXSW Presentations- Appear in panels. Plan a year ahead and submit your ideas to the panel picker. This gets you access to a captive audience for your part of the presentation, and legitimacy as an official speaker. It also gets your startup name on the official schedule.
Special Arrangements- Organizing and paying for access to the SXSWi audience has worked well in the past, though it takes some ingenuity, cash, and hustling to make it work. Twitter's Evan Williams shared this insight on Quora:
We created a Twitter visualizer and negotiated with the festival to put flat panel screens in the hallways. This is something they'd never done before, but we didn't want a booth on the trade show floor, because we knew hallways is where the action was. We paid $11K for this and set up the TVs ourselves. (This was about the only money Twitter's *ever* spent on marketing.)"
Off-Campus events- You can sponsor an event at a club or restaurant near the Austin convention center for less than $5,000. I have done this myself three times. My take on this is that there is a lot of foot traffic - but its hard to put your finger on any specific ROI. In retrospect, the events I held were just part of a ‘marketing mix’--one more thing we did that probably did not contribute much to our success. As such, this is not something that I would recommend in most cases for early-stage startups. A good friend of mine, looking to build traction for his startup rented out a venue and went all out to put together a first-class SXSWi event. I attended the event, but it was too noisy in the club for them to sell their idea. The staff hired for the event did not know how to sell the idea of the product in any case: Most of the people that showed up were there for the free booze. The whole event ended up being a distraction to the startup, a drain of capital, and demoralizing for the principals. In retrospect, the event was just one more nail in the coffin of a startup that never really got off the runway and took flight. Forgive the mixed metaphor!
Meeting With Influencers- Since so many influential people are at SXSW, it is a great opportunity to connect with people who are linchpins in your market. 2 months prior to the event, may a list of all of the investors, journalists, bloggers, and the like that have influence in your market. Do the research and figure out if they will be at the event. For those that are, set an appointment to grab coffee with them and share the message behind of your startup - make it worth their while to get face-to-face with you at SXSW.
'Hustler' Tactics - Some startups will operate 'unofficially' at SWXW: handing out swag or flyers, acquiring beta customers in the hallways of the event. This tactic also has very limited effectiveness. With such a strong profit motive at SXSWi, the organizers have tasked hundreds of minders to patrol the venues. These minders are continuously collecting and discarding 'unofficial' startup messaging. This year a hustling startup put some flyers on my table as I chatted between sessions in the main conference gallery; the material was picked up and thrown in the trash within seconds by a minder. Hustler tactics are further mitigated by the sheer frenetic movement of the SXSWi audience. Randomly intercepting and engaging attendees is very challenging, if not futile.
- Every startup needs a compelling story. If you have yours figured out, write it up ahead of time in the form of a 'press kit' that can quickly be shared with reporters or relevant people you meet at the event.
- Launch in the weeks prior to SXSW so that you have already overcome some of the first big hurdles: Have a stable software platform that is ready for users. Have some initial press coverage (Mashable, TechCrunch, etc) if possible. This primes the pump for momentum to build at SXSW, though it is the furthest thing from a sure thing.
- Be relevant to SXSWi if possible. The best SXSW success stories (like Twitter and FourSquare) facilitate the folks at the event to navigate, communicate, and enjoy themselves at the event itself.
For most startups, SXSW will not be a magic bullet that is going to solve their market problems. It can provide information, exposure, guidance, and a sense of connection to the wider tech world for your startup -- and SXSW is brilliant in this way. With all the competition for attention happening at SXSW there is really very little chance for the 'sudden breakout success' phenomenon that everybody hopes for. That being said, startups should make an effort to be a part of the show. SXSW is like a gemstone, richly faceted with 30,000 unique yet related perspectives- the gift of a the global community that has come together to learn, listen, feel, and contribute to the Big Show. In this way SXSW is unique, and always a memorable experience.
The only thing worse than going to SXSW and being disappointed that it did not solve all of your startup challenges, would be to not attend at all and to miss the rich basket of relatively subtle benefits that come from exposure to such a dynamic global community.
