Add an eventSessions at SXSW Interactive 2012 of type Core Conversation about Startups
Friday 9th March 2012
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How to Be Acquired & Stay Happy
by James Home and Marcy Swenson
Congratulations: you've been acquired! First comes an initial high from the money and the attention.
Often company acquisitions that seem like a great idea result in disappointment, a mass exodus, the technology being tossed aside, and hard feelings on both sides. But every once in a while, an acquisition results in the team feeling like they got a big win, not just financially, but that it moved their product & careers forward in a way that would have taken them much longer otherwise.
During this core conversation, we'll share stories of acquisition successes (yes, they exist!), and draw out what worked well. The goal is to provide those that are looking to be acquired with some guidelines for what to watch out for, and how to pull it off as successfully as possible.
Sunday 11th March 2012
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For Better or for Work: Married to an Entrepreneur
by Gary Hirshberg and Meg Hirshberg
How does someone who is obsessed live peacefully with someone who isn’t? That question—posed by an entrepreneur—elegantly summarizes the quandary faced by company founders and their spouses. In “Balancing Acts,” Meg's regular column in Inc. Magazine, she examines the impacts—for better and for worse—of entrepreneurial businesses on families.
As the spouse of an entrepreneur--married for more than 25 years to both her husband, Gary Hirshberg, and his business, Stonyfield Yogurt--this topic is familiar terrain. Gary co-founded Stonyfield on a farm in 1983. In those days, the business was “seven cows and a dream,” as company literature describes it. At sales of over $370 million, Stonyfield is now the third largest yogurt company in the U.S.
In this session, Gary and Meg will discuss lessons learned about how a marriage and family can survive the wild ride of an entrepreneurial business.
Monday 12th March 2012
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Your Arts Organization = A Startup Business
If you’re an artist or work for a young arts organization, you run a start-up. A start-up where the product is culture, the audience is becoming more and more segmented by age, and the metrics for success are hard to come by. Lots of rewards and just as many challenges, right?
In this session we'll discuss the triumphs and challenges encountered once we turn a passion project into something bigger--fundraising, developing business models, audience building, and collaborations--to name a few. This Core Conversation provides the venue you need to problem-solve and idea-share with others. Not involved in the arts but starting something new in another industry? Join us anyway! A lot of what we’ll discuss will cross over to other genres.
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Work When Startup Culture Hits Mainstream
We’re all seeing this happen – friends in healthcare, film and finance to name few catching what can only be dubbed “the startup bug”. John Battelle even said it himself back in July 2011, “the whole world is an Internet startup now”.
And it’s true, but startup culture is just not our norm when it comes to work/life balance. Startups work never ends and by nature, they’re always innovating just for a small chance that they’ll break through. To them, the model of commuting to a 9-to-5 job just doesn’t compute.
So, what happens when suddenly a whole nation’s work life turns upside down? And what changes must be made to acclimate the majority of the U.S. workforce to a wholly different work style?
In this panel, we’ll dissect the growing trend of “startup-ness” that is building outside the technology industry and discuss what changes are needed, what innovations this may bring about, and whether or not entrepreneurialism and startup culture is made for the masses.