by Winston Binch, Barbara Tejada, Ben Fisher, Lionel Carreon and Jami Hoffman
Everyone is looking for digital talent these days, from established tech firms, startups, advertising agencies to the biggest corporations. The ever-broadening makeup of the attendees of SXSW is a huge indicator of this. There’s a bigger crossover of technology and marketing than ever before. In many ways, we are all looking for the same talent. And it’s not just developers. We look for highly conceptual people who can come up with amazing ideas and inventions. As a result, creative technologists, digital strategists, designers and writers are in high demand. In this panel, recruiters from a variety of firms will discuss who they look for and how they find that talent. How can we improve our pipeline and process? Where are there new places to look? How can the talent make themselves easy to find? Are schools keeping up with the demand? This panel will be for companies and jobseekers alike, a look behind the curtain of how the matchmaking of employer and employee happens.
TechStars, is an elite startup accelerator in the world, and by the numbers, it is harder to get in to than any Ivy League school. One of the hurdles in the TechStars guantlet is the live interview. Come and watch the TechStars team conduct live interviews with actual finalist companies. TechStars will work to identify and push hard on the core issues and then will have a candid discussion with the audience about that company. It will be like being an insider to the selection process within TechStars, and we think it will be very educational for all early stage entrepreneurs and investors. This session has been sponsored by Mircrosoft.
by Dave McClure
YO STARTUPS – STOP WASTING YOUR TIME (AND FUNDING)! Hosted By Eric Ries (The Lean Startup) and Dave McClure (500 Startups), this 1-day track teaches pivotal metrics and actionable frameworks for building better, faster, and smarter companies. Learn to be agile, iterate quickly, and improve rapidly. Featuring leading startups and companies like Etsy, HubSpot, & more. This session is sponsored by The Lean Start Up.
by Tom Poppendieck, Mary Poppendieck, Chad Dickerson and Ash Maurya
Startup Case Studies' from Etsy & others on building your product including 'insider tips' on agile development, minimum viable product, and continuous deployment. Hosted by Eric Ries.
by Jani Byrne, Claire England, Guy Diedrich, Sancia Matthyssen and Jonathan Libby
Appearing at the 2012 SXSW Interactive Festival, IBM is looking for top entrepreneurs to join our Startup Showcase Video Series. We will be in the Startup Village hosting an audience participation session where your ideas count! Bring your smart phone and have ‘real time’ interaction with our panelists as we discuss entrepreneurial perspectives on Crowdsourcing, Social Entrepreneurship and more! Your participation during the session can help influence you being selected as one of four finalists for the IBM Startup Showcase Video Series. Following SXSW, we will work with our finalists to create the Video Series, capturing conversation about their startups and hear how they are improving the lives and businesses of their customers. The video series will be delivered through multiple channels reaching tens of thousands of developers, consumers, investors, and businesses around the world. This session is sponsored by IBM.
by Jeff Slobotski, Ben Milne and Bo Fishback
With easy access to new technologies, resources, and ideas, more and more startups outside the Valley and the Alley are finding early success in places like Kansas City, Missouri and Des Moines, Iowa.Having assisted or launched several startups outside the traditional ecosystems, Dwolla’s Ben Milne and Zaarly’s Bo Fishback will discuss the role that the Internet has had in leveling the playing field for the builders of the 21st century. Moderated by Big Omaha and Silicon Prairie News founder, Jeff Slobotski, the candid conversation will provide audiences an unfettered, behind-the-scenes look at how one region is overcoming the odds and cultivating an entirely new kind of startup manifesto."
by Renee DiResta, Chris Wiggins, Zach Sims, Ben Siscovick and Roger Ehrenberg
New York is now the #2 startup hub in the country and rapidly rising; however, single most consistent reason given for NYC’s failure to nurture a culture of innovation is Wall Street: it sucks engineers in, drains them of their creativity, and stuffs them with so much cash they can never be “lean” again. This panel includes people arguing against Wall Street as a force for good, people arguing for Wall Street as a natural career path to startups, and people working to “keep kids off the Street” (i.e., keep engineering students from joining Wall Street hedge funds and I-banks).
by Patrick Vlaskovits, Manuel Rosso and Steve Blank
Talk by legendary startup guru Steve Blank on today's world of tech entrepreneurship, followed by an opportunity to hear from the authors of upcoming startup books.
by Chris Bennett, Hadiyah Mujhid, Monique Woodard and Nnena Ukuku
This workshop session is taught by Black Founders Startup Ventures. Black Founders Startup Ventures was founded to increase the success of black entrepreneurs in tech through educational workshops and events. What is little known about Black Founders is the stories of its co-founders and how helping others has led to a path of opportunity for their own independent tech startups. Meet the co-founders of Black Founders, a coder, lawyer, marketing guru, and product guy, and learn how their contributions to their community has ultimately taught them to be better entrepreneurs.
by Jerry Levin, Steven Krein and Esther Dyson
Legendary CEO Jerry Levin and Futurist and Health Investor Esther Dyson are interviewed by StartUp Health Co-founder Steven Krein in a dynamic session to discuss how to transform health and wellness entrepreneurship in America. Steve will engage Jerry and Esther and the audience in a thought provoking discussion on how entrepreneurs are the solution to changing healthcare in our country and how to establish the entrepreneurship culture throughout the nation in sectors like health and wellness. They will discuss how can entrepreneurs, investors, healthcare professionals and organizations can be collaborate in this revolution. This Future of Health Track is sponsored by Aetna.
by Joe Zadeh, Zach Nies, Aaron Batalion, Thomas Korte and Dharmesh Shah
Startup Case Studies' from Airbnb, LivingSocial, HubSpot, & Rally Software on measuring success including lessons learned with pivots, metrics, and growth.
by Aziz Gilani, David Cohen, Gabriella Draney and Frank Gruber
It seems like just about every other day a new startup accelerator program is hatched. Is this a phenomenon or just a fade? This panel will explore the global startup accelerator explosion and share the latest quality rankings. The panel will consist of a well rounded group with representatives from the three top ranked U.S. accelerator programs as they look to share some of the secrets to their program success.
by Macon Phillips, Scott Cook and Todd Park
Lean Startup' Author Eric Ries hosts a fireside chat with Macon Phillips (Director of Digital Strategy, US White House), Todd Park (CTO, Department of Health & Human Services), and Scott Cook (CEO, Intuit) on how Silicon Valley is inspiring the government and enterprise sectors.
by Kevin McCoy, Maria Ly, Kevin McCoy, Jason Jacobs and Bob Goodman
Tools like Nike Plus and FitBit, apps like Lose It, Run Keeper, and Skimble, and communities like Daily Burn and Spark People are helping to change everyday workouts from a solitary to a social pursuit. The magic of these devices, tools, and communities enables people to track their fitness, undertake fitness programs, track and share their progress overtime, and learn from peers and professionals. This panel will look at where it’s all headed and what it means for everyday interactive experiences. Conversation will include the provocative question: can the Internet make you fit?
by Janice Fraser, Ian McFarland, Andy Rachleff, Adam Goldstein and Victor Echevarria
Startup Case Studies' from Hipmunk, Taskrabbit, Wealthfront, & LUXr including lessons learned in customer development, UX, and marketing.
by Mike Bollinger, Sean Blanda, Rick Turoczy, Danny Schreiber and Danielle Morrill
While TechCrunch, GigaOM, ReadWriteWeb and other major tech blogs inform tech enthusiasts of the more exciting and press-savvy startups, tech blogs such as Silicon Florist, Silicon Prairie News, TECHdotMN and Technically Philly are dedicated to continual coverage of both the loud and quiet startups in their area. This panel will look at the importance of regional tech blogs, how they got their start, revenue models and methods of gathering story leads as well as case studies of startups they've discovered that have gone on to capture national and international press.
by Peter Coles, Katia Beauchamp, Eric Koger, Sam Shank and Dave Gilboa
Entrepreneurs often pitch their ideas as “the X of Y”. Match.com for farmers… Foursquare for parking lots… Gilt Groupe for grandparents. It is both efficient and lucrative to take what already works and extend it to a new niche, a new country or a new context. Innovation through localization or specialization has launched many successful businesses.
On the flip side, say you have a truly innovative and disruptive idea. Good for you! That’s only the beginning. Companies like Groupon and Gilt launched with unique business models, but now they each have a slew of imitators and have spent fortunes to stay at the front of the pack. In a time of easy capital, fast development and expensive intellectual property rights, how else besides capital can a company stay defensible?