SxSW – Lost That Loving Feeling for Early Stage Entrepreneurs

I'm not sure what the relationship is between an A Capella group and entrepreneurs is... But I can tell you why the cops showed up.

SXSW the brand is very powerful - if you are an artist, being able to say that you performed at SXSW means that you'll be able to book better/larger venues, and perhaps get a better deal with a record company.

As a result, there are several artists who show up each year and stage ad-hoc performances like the ones who played while being driven around on a trailer. They don't pay venue fees (a source of revenue for Austin), and are now say "We're cool - we played at SXSW". In other words, glomming onto the brand that SXSW has worked to create.

Austin PD will shut down unauthorized performances for this reason, as well as general crowd control & liability reasons. It's not because SXSW has become this big evil corporation - they're good people. But now that they're the size they are, they have to do certain things.

You'll see the same things happen at Fun Fun Fun Fest this fall, and for the same reasons.

OK, back to early-stage entrepreneurs. I got to (over)hear about a dozen elevator pitches, and it's still very much a happening scene. Compared to last year, I didn't hear the word "coupon" nearly as much. :)

Performing on private property without the permission of the property owner is not a "right", and is subject to many restrictions, most, if not all, have nothing to do with SXSW.

Try going to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York and pulling off that stunt there - you'll get more than just an earful from management.

SXSW is a big event. Whether or not it makes sense for startups has a lot to do with the people who attend and how you plan to get their attention, more than whether the conference organizers care to cater to the less well-funded.

A few random comments on this article:

The Austin Chronicle is a little out of place in that list of huge corporations.

In regards to stopping the impromptu musical performance: Could you imagine the chaos if every musician that wanted to could bust out on whatever street or hotel lobby they wanted during SXSW?

SXSW is a great place to launch -- if you have the right product. It doesn't have to cut through all of the buzz, just pique the interest of the right people. Now if you are talking about throwing a lot of money into a launch party or something like that, yeah, probably not the right place. You'll never spend enough money or come up with a gimmick that is going to garner more than a raised eyebrow.

But beyond that SXSW is a great place to get together with like minded people in a time and place that everyone has marked off as social time. The re-invigoration factor alone is worth the price of admission, IMHO.

You didn't get shut down because of SXSW, you got shut down because you started singing in the lobby of a big downtown hotel without asking permission. Pinning it on "SXSW, Inc." is disingenuous.

I think there is this huge expectation when it comes to sxsw for early stage startups. It's just a festival with lots and lots of people and that tends to attract both new and old companies to show off their products/talent. I was there too pitching my startup to whoever I had a conversation with. It was really interesting and I must say just watching the product being used by people I pitched was very overwhelming and insightful. It really made me rethink certain aspects/features of the product. At the end we did end up signing up over 200 new users and some of them seems to have adopted the platform. I did not buy the badge this year although there were times I felt I should have. I do recommend going there if you can afford. Simply to network, have fun and learn as much as possible.

>Like any big corporation, SxSW has come to embody the very people and industry they once aimed to disrupt. They’ve made spontaneity illegal (literally) and lost that sense of passion and experimentation.

Holy wow, overreact much? Sorry that your stunt didn't go over well, but this hyperbole is really unnecessary. True, South By has become more corporate, but it's still an epicenter of entrepreneurship, startups, networking, and discovery.

I've been to SXSW five times now.. twice as a visitor, three times as a local, and this year without a badge.

It is an absolute blast and a great time, but the OP is right on two points:

- Don't worry about FOMO. There is always something else going on, some better, some worse.. Don't worry about it and enjoy where you are and who you're with. The fastest way to piss off people is to ignore them and stare at your phone.

- Always begin with a plan. Make a list of people you want to meet and reach out to them in advance, check out the schedules and see if there are unofficial events you want to attend, and work really hard to get a hotel downtown.

But the other thing is always be willing to adjust.. don't schedule everything down to the minute. If you're in an interesting conversation, continue with it. If you meet someone you want to chat with and they're leaving, ask to walk them to the next location, etc.

In my 5 days at SXSWi - I heard at least 50 Early Stage startups pitch, met their people, heard their stories. It was a GREAT year for large and small companies alike. Stop being so dramatic.

On the point about buying a badge: I've been coming to a similar conclusion. I went in 2011 and 2012 and paid for a badge both years -- but literally went to one session last year and didn't really feel like I got my money's worth. I skipped this year but had I gone, I don't think I would have paid the ~$750.

You definitely don't need a badge. I've found that you don't get any real value from attending panels. To your point, you can get some value if you are on a panel.

SXSW is still great for meeting people serendipitously and getting a chance to meet with people from all over that would take weeks of travel otherwise.

I didn't have a badge the past 2 years and was able to attend anything that was actually worthwhile to attend.

I definitely love the comment about not succumbing to FOMO and not launching there. SxSW is a big jam with so much noise you're unlikely to get noticed. You should only attend if you have a good sense of how to maximize your time there.

Austin is the self-proclaimed 'live music capital'. I lived there for 8 years, and, to my understanding, spontaneous performances anywhere will be shut down not matter what time of year it is, and especially if its on private property.

Really, its pretty reasonable. With 40,000 undergrad students flooding into the city every fall, you have to keep crazy kids from playing impromptu shows on the street... even more so during SXSW since those are the same kids that want to be 'discovered' by record labels...

... or was that last decade when that mattered?

One meaningful point: we're early-stage and we bought a booth and we seem to be getting great value out of it, but we have a very specific target audience not mentioned by the original poster: digital marketers. At least the interactive part of SXSW is now way more a marketing conference than a tech conference and if you regard it in this light you can do very well. If you need to pitch social media managers, it's awesome, if you just want to talk about something consumer-y, not so much.

Maybe Toronto will fill the void? Try North by North East http://nxne.com/

I volunteered for SXSW last year and got a badge. A great experience, but I felt like I wasn't fully capitalizing on the event.

This year, I had Name Your Price popsicles, wore a decorated box, and stood on top of a cooler shouting for 7 hours a day. It was monumentally beneficial for networking and self-promotion. Everyday, I was shut down by the police for not having a permit, but I had an awesome experience nonetheless.

Ipso facto... not so true-o