by Winslow Swart
(re-printed from the original version published on Medium.com in 2019)
Our startup, 1MDreams, set out for SXSW with big dreams and a very, very small budget. We had to be disruptive if we were going to make a dent at all and through a combination of creativity and true grit we might have accomplished just that. Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Apple can all throw $500K to $3M at SXSW without blinking and we could easily spend $50K to $100K and still be invisible. This is when it’s good to be in the innovation business, and so innovate we did.
Our main idea was to put a team of guerilla marketers on bikes wearing team “cycling kits” and hit the SX crowds that were bottle-necked trying to get into everything from breakfast to tech and music venues with a pitch that might disrupt their boredom, get them some cool swag, and an even cooler app. The cycling “kits” we wore were kind of pricey, but thanks to a few sponsors we were well outfitted for this event. The Swag consisted of really cool, 1MDreams bandanas that were size, gender, and species proof, and some stickers that would lead to free downloads of the App. People loved them.
After several months enduring a series of startup successes and setbacks, it was time make an impact and score some big wins, and just as important, make some key contacts and learn some helpful lessons for our company and for navigating SXSW.
Here a few lessons learned and a few wins:
Lessons:
· Watch out for scooters. You think your downtown is bad? SX is like the running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain, but without all the poop.
· If you have FOMO, SXSW is either the best, or worst place for you.
· Have a plan, but be flexible, at lot of cool stuff pops up, be ready.
· A lot of VC’s invest only in “businesses,” Austin / SXSW still invests in ideas. i.e. Twitter launched at SXSW, and it probably would have sounded like a really dumb idea to traditional investors in your town.
· Pace yourself, this is a day and night event. Even if you’re not pitching an app or product, a few hours of exposure can be over stimulating. Have a chill zone mapped out somewhere. We have a very cool, upscale chill spot, but I can’t tell you where ’cause we don’t want to screw it up.
· Everybody is somebody. Not just the tech moguls and Hollywood film stars. In the hyper connected world of tech, the degree of separation between you and your next investor or key customer is just a DM away.
· The VIP parties and venues we went to were almost as influential as the non-exclusive meetups and venues. I’m half kidding here, but it’s kinda’ true.
A few wins for 1MDreams
· The architecture of our app was praised by developers for its ability to scale, as Twillio/SendGrid’s Paul Ford told me, “You never know when that one tweet or IG post [or Medium article] is gonna’ get you those million hits or downloads and boy, you better be ready!”
· Our guerilla marketing effort was well received; yielded app downloads, and made several great connections (including a Matthew McConaughey intro and a social impact project of his).
· The list of people sporting sporting 1MDreams swag at SXSW included The 1st lady of Texas, the Speaker of the House, David Robinson Jr., musician Jefferson Clay and COSA’s Chief Technology Officer and tons more because our merch was cool.
· Had a very productive meeting at the Governor’s office leading to additional meetups (not for print right now)
· Was invited to demo the app, in collaboration with TechBloc and promote San Antonio’s innovation eco-system and as a bonus; I got to practice seven of my nine language skills with this international crowd.
We got a lot of social media love from tech influencers i.e. TechCrunch, Blaqueline Magazine and several international media bloggers.
*Next year, as our company progresses to increasingly mature stages of development, we’ll have to re-calibrate our tactics accordingly, though we will stay with our mantra, “you can’t bore people into doing business with you.”
*Next year was COVID, which changed nearly everything.
