🤖 Austinpreneur’s Guide to #SXSW24
Are you ready for the biggest week in Austin?
South by Southwest (SXSW) descends upon the city this year from March 8th-16th. Nearly 350,000 people will attend the conference to delve into topics ranging from artificial intelligence to music tech to healthcare…and beyond.
Whether you’re a first-timer or a seasoned pro, it can be hard to navigate all of the activity — both official and unofficial. Here are some of my tips that might stand out from the crowd.
Did I miss something? Leave it in the comments!
Surrender to Serendipity
My general rule of thumb is to make a big calendar with everything I could possibly want to do on it; then, in the moment, I do whichever of the things is easiest and aligns with the rest of the group I’m with. Doing what’s easy primarily means not waiting in lines and not waiting in traffic. You can’t fight SXSW… you have to surrender to serendipity.
Planning Your Week
I’ve pulled some of this year’s most interesting SXSW sessions into five industry-relevant guides below — check them out and let me know what sessions you’ll be attending!
💡 Entrepreneur’s Guide to #SXSW24
💸 Investor’s Guide to #SXSW24
🇺🇸 Dual-Use Entrepreneur’s Guide to #SXSW24
🔬 Health Innovator’s Guide to #SXSW24
🧠AI Entrepreneur’s Guide to #SXSW24
Search the SXSW Schedule
Take a few hours and do your homework — it will pay off in spades. The entire schedule of panels, parties, and speakers is searchable so you can easily type in keywords and click the star to favorite the ones you’re most interested in. Search for technologies and industries you’re interested in, companies, people, topics… it’s easy.
What do I search for? Here are some examples that are all linked to the corresponding tags — Startups — Entrepreneur — Innovation — Funding/Investing — Texas — Technology — Space — Artificial Intelligence— Quantum
Here are ALL the themes for 2024 to search through! 2050 — Advertising & Brand Experience — Artificial Intelligence — Climate Change — Creating Film & TV — Creator Economy — Culture — Design — Energy — Fashion & Beauty — Film & TV Industry — Food — Game Industry — Government & Civic Engagement — Health & MedTech — Music & Tech — Music Careers — Psychedelics — Sports — Startups — Tech Industry — Transportation— Workplace — XR
Don’t forget the ABC’s of SXSW — Always Be Charging!
There is some amazing content at SXSW this year with a particular focus on inclusivity, connectedness, & building for the future. Capital Factory will be hosting events that aim to do all of these things each day during #CFHouse at SXSW!
Capital Factory House at SXSW
March 8–12
Capital Factory House features five days of jam-packed action and opportunity. What better way to soak up all SXSW has to offer than to plant yourself in the center of gravity for entrepreneurs in downtown Austin, within walking distance of the Convention Center and the hotels where all SXSW programming takes place.
Programming badges are FREE — view the full agenda here.
Friday, March 8
This is the day that I turn on my autoresponder telling everyone that I probably won’t see their email until after SXSW —you might want to do the same!
On the first official day of SXSW, I‘ll be hanging out at Capital Factory to kick off the conference with Startup Crawl! Speaking of…
Startup Crawl
Startup Crawl has been the biggest technology and entrepreneurship party at SXSW since 2011. Grab a group of friends and find out what happens when the hottest startups come together at the same time, in the same place.
You’ll explore Capital Factory’s Austin innovation space through the eyes of an entrepreneur, grab a drink, and meet more than 100 startups.
This event is open to the public, though SXSW badge holders are given priority access. Tickets are only $10 and limited quantities are available!
Time: 6pm to 9pm
Location: Capital Factory
Register: Sign up here (no SXSW badge required)
However you end up at SXSW 2024, we hope to see you at Capital Factory!
About Capital Factory
Capital Factory is the center of gravity for entrepreneurs in Texas, the number one startup state in the U.S. Hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs, programmers and designers gather day and night, in-person and online for meetups, classes and coworking. With boots on the ground in Austin, Dallas and Houston, we meet the best entrepreneurs in Texas and introduce them to their first investors, employees, mentors and customers. According to Pitchbook, Capital Factory has been the most active investor in Texas since 2013.
