SXSW 2018
What I learned, and didn’t, from SXSW 2018
I’VE NOT LONG BEEN BACK FROM THE SPECTACLE THAT IS SXSW. WHAT DID I LEARN? I’M GLAD YOU ASKED.
Venture capitalist funding for Series A and B in the UK pales in comparison to the US. Note to self: raise Series A in the US.
The assortment of weird and wonderful startups was plentiful. Their potential to change the world, though, is questionable.
More plentiful still was the amount of crappy marketing material on offer. Stickers, glasses, badges, cups. Really? Did anyone ever buy a Dropbox product because they gave them a yoyo? With all the innovation on show I would have expected a little more creativity.
HBO hired 60 actors to reenact Westworld. They spent four months building the hit show’s town; Naturally, tickets were near impossible to come by.
I might be English, but I’m not big on queueing. Four hours to hear Elon Musk speak, as influential as he might be, is just too much.
I lost count of how many virtual reality, augmented reality products were being launched. Every big brand from Sony, Panasonic, Bose, Google and Facebook are all investing big in escapism. We now know why Facebook might be.
Quote of the event goes to the VP of Talent at LinkedIn, Brandon Browne: “Don’t interview anyone in the boardroom. Ever.” - Differentiate your company from your competitors.
But it was Sadiq Khan who stole the show. The Mayor of London’s powerful one hour talk and fully fledged attack on big tech and social media companies Facebook, Twitter and gig economy firms like Uber was a highlight. He said Germany was heavily fining big tech for allowing hate on social. The UK might be looking at a draconian government agenda in London, too. Watch this space.
And of course, some of the predictably hottest topics were AI, VR, drones, autonomous cars, blockchain, Bitcoin, wearable tech, voice and smart homes.
