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What you’ll hear in this episode

• A cultural phenomenon
• The birthplace of some of the most disruptive technologies in the past few decades
• “Helping creative people reach their goals”

Hugh Forrest is the chief programming officer for South by Southwest and has worked with SXSW since its inauguration. SXSW is a cultural phenomenon that began in Austin in 1987. It’s truly an epicenter for innovation and creativity in music, film, media and technology. It started as just a music festival but has morphed into an annual conference and festival held every spring in Austin which features film, technology, food, fashion, sports, government and start-ups. Forrest shared with us just how influential it has been and how it’s shaped our everyday lives in ways you might not even know.

After SXSW’s success with music, they introduced the film and multimedia aspect to the festival. Forrest was unsure of its relevance but shared with us that his boss kept telling him to give it another year, and so he did, when all of a sudden the digital revolution began and social media emerged. In 2004 the CEO of Friendster was a keynote speaker, which then snowballed into SXSW being the place for early social media leaders to be. The turning point for them was in 2007 when Twitter was launched at the event. With its success, SXSW started bringing in more tech companies and venture capitalists turning the festival into the hub for innovation and creativity it is now.

SXSW has become a catalyst for emerging and growing businesses of all types. If you aren’t familiar with SXSW Pitch, this was something Forrest introduced to showcase innovative new technology to a panel of industry experts, high-profile media professionals, venture capital investors, and angel investors as a means to help startups obtain funding. It directly builds off the companies mission statement of “helping creative people reach their goals.”

To hear more from Forrest about SXSW’s impact and how they continue to grow their cultural relevance, tune into the first installment of Up and Comers. If you like what you hear be sure to share the episode with friends and colleagues.

Up and Comers is a founding_media podcast created in partnership with Heather Wagner Reed

Host: Heather Wagner Reed

Guest: Hugh Forrest

Find Hugh Forrest on Twitter

 

Transcript:

this is a family media podcast this podcast episode is brought to you by your friends first legal they were super helpful as we started sounding media and the podcast network traverse the world has been changing the way laws practice it’s own founding in two thousand and four with a focus on utilizing technology better deliver I peace in business law services founders start ups and emerging growth companies traverse legal latest offering traverse GC provides a monthly fixed fee fractional general counsel offering companies learn more by visiting traverse legal dot com

Hey everyone welcome to the very first episode of founding Austin’s up and comers a show about Austin started boom with a focus on the city’s vibrant innovation sector I’m your host heather Wagner read I can’t even begin to express how excited I am about today’s guest he’s literally at the epicenter of one of the biggest cultural phenomenon is coming out of Austin Texas today we are here with Hugh forest chief programming officer at south by southwest south by is one of the world’s most influential conferences for interactive media music and film and Hugh has witnessed the most pivotal moments for start ups at the festival over his long career in this interview we will learn myself by has become a literal birthing center for disruptive companies over the past few decades some of the hot topics to expect at the festival this year and selfies pitch program for start ups

hello everybody how are you all today thank you for joining us on our episode of up and comers here at founding Austin magazine I’m here with a gentleman who is like a rock star in this community of Austin Texas he’s the chief programming officer for south by southwest Hugh forest and I cannot thank you enough for joining us today on our show hello thanks for inviting me on %HESITATION great to be here I’m definitely not a rock star I made my current roadie in this whole show that side Austin but %HESITATION whatever %HESITATION what however you wanna describe the jewelery and now I’m hearing so lets you got cool here let’s face it let’s face it okay three at about a hundred well you have been really and truly I have been following your work for a long time and I’m I’m a big fan because what you’ve been doing at least help the south by in the programming level has just been pretty extraordinary so I know you got a nice words you’re welcome you’re welcome and you got a lot of folks out there who want to hear a lot more about self by this year and and just your history with the organization %HESITATION it’s kind of a cultural phenomenon and we’re so proud to have it here in the city I think for up and comers we’re here to learn about what has been happening itself by in a sense of how you been launching these companies your after year %HESITATION with this festival so tell us more about south fight for the people that may not know is there anyone out there that doesn’t know and then %HESITATION who don’t know so %HESITATION samples of the west started in nineteen eighty seven as a musical event in the three decades since then it only seems longer we’ve morphed into covering film %HESITATION we cover technology we cover all kinds of things from food to fashion sports start ups government %HESITATION %HESITATION so again a lot of different so called verticals but the the thing that is %HESITATION constant and %HESITATION was there in nineteen eighty seven and is still very much here in two thousand nineteen is a strong strong focus on creativity at the mission statement of south by southwest is helping creative people achieve their goals the fact that it happens and what is a very very creative city Austin and the fact that it happens in March when spring is happening and there’s physical rebirth of of plants of flowers soon it’s getting greener it just makes for a really cool combination

wow I never thought about it that way it’s kind of around Easter %HESITATION so yeah I guess you know from our standpoint we’ve been following a lot of the stories that have come out of south by as far as companies that have common launched in this you know in this festival over the years it’s been going on for quite some time I mean I’d love to hear you know just a kind of high level recap of how you went from the original vessel and then went into the these different I guess %HESITATION %HESITATION sectors and started focusing more and more you get into the into interactive part of an attack and %HESITATION some of the stories that have come out of south by in some of the companies that have actually launched sure well as and as I mentioned it we started as a music event in nineteen eighty seven %HESITATION music is still very very much a big part of what we do and and a huge part of the creativity that’s in Austin and nineteen ninety four we added what was then a film or a film of that and what was then called multi media at that point in the early to mid nineties %HESITATION that was kind of state of the art technology to call multimedia and if you remember then we were doing CD roms that was kind of what most people knew %HESITATION film music caught on very quickly because we had such a strong music scene film caught on also quickly because you had this emerging burgeoning film scene in Austin with people like Linkletter and Robert re is in that scene beginning to blow up %HESITATION multi media was a much harder fit %HESITATION %HESITATION and hi remember %HESITATION struggling %HESITATION with this multi media event for five six seven eight years as as the other parts the event would grow and prosper and feel like we were growing as much as I wanted to and remember talking pleading arguing with my boss many times that why are we doing this multi media thing it just it just doesn’t quite make sense in the context of music and film and my boss would usually say I’ll give it one more year and if we don’t see any real you know positive signs and maybe we’ll re evaluate and decide if this is the right thing %HESITATION we kept kind of plugging away and persevering and eventually we ended up in the right place at the right time when a this all this content was going to digital and be this %HESITATION %HESITATION kind of social media revolution was beginning %HESITATION we had %HESITATION keynote in two thousand four from a gentleman named Jonathan Abrams who is the founder and CEO of Friendster and that kind of kick off at ten year period where we were we were doing a lot of really innovative coverage of social media %HESITATION we had a lot of again the early leaders in that space %HESITATION at south by southwest it’s it’s hard for us to think of it now but at that point people were really learning they get on social media what social media was all about again makes sense to most of us now it didn’t at that point %HESITATION I would say that you know again wall music and film were %HESITATION going steady growing steadily from %HESITATION nineteen eighty seven and nineteen ninety four respectively for the for the what was then termed interactive with our big kind of tipping point turning point was two thousand seven when Twitter were kind of launched itself by southwest as a kind of because Twitter had been out for several months before south by southwest but they’re always %HESITATION we’ve always been nice stuff to credit south by southwest is the place that they officially launched and they got such buzzers help is on the west that it made a ton more start ups wanna come to sell by southwest they got says buzz at south by southwest it made a ton more V. sees want to come to some right of lessons cover but next Twitter and again really fueled what was a before Twitter and after Twitter in terms of the the growth and and %HESITATION scale of the event %HESITATION %HESITATION you know two thousand nine we had %HESITATION company called foursquare launch %HESITATION they were the kind of one of the first big %HESITATION location based apps and on the same day we had an Austin based company called go wala which launched which was also this kind of location based thing go all eventually if they got bought by Facebook and is no longer foursquare actually Dennis Crowley %HESITATION miss speaking at this year’s event and they they’ve more several times %HESITATION some of the other you know big name tech kind of companies that have been involved in various forms of south by southwest according to a story it in fast company uber was %HESITATION hatched at south by southwest in the sense that Travis was here and had some kind of late night brain session no doubt because he could get a taxi in Austin %HESITATION right Airbnb I think I lost I think so because of the west was its first test case and they sold two rooms one of which was to Brian Chesky the founder %HESITATION %HESITATION so there’s been a lot of companies more recently %HESITATION %HESITATION %HESITATION %HESITATION two thousand fifteen %HESITATION company called meerkat launched here %HESITATION or launched right before south by southwest they they had a huge buzz at south by southwest they were this %HESITATION live casting in platform the fact that they got so much buzz at south by southwest %HESITATION because Twitter to push out the launch of of their application along the same lines was it periscope cat doesn’t exist in its current form anywhere more periscope I think does but you can kind of draw straight line between both that both those things and Facebook live %HESITATION so %HESITATION we we’ve been lucky enough to be the right place at the right time a lot of these launches the fact that you’ve got so many creative people coming to Austin during tapas southwest so many innovators so many early adopters makes it in a very fertile ground for start ups %HESITATION on very creative people to you know see if if their idea will will work with us on the southwest crowd if it will it’s a decent chance that will that will work to a to a larger extent so again we’ve been very fortunate to be the right place at the right time I think the other kind of lesson there for founder start up entrepreneurs investors this just longer Tiffany I mean we’ve been doing this for a long long time and there are certainly many times where it just felt like should we do something different but %HESITATION it’s that ten thousand hundred thousand our rules right battered something the longer you do it and if you stick to it you %HESITATION even if you don’t quite know what you’re doing you you find your community and get better at it and are eventually able to %HESITATION %HESITATION you know have some success and that’s where we are and where we have been fortunate to be

so with all those stories I think you know one of the questions I have is how how are these companies coming to south where they coordinating with you in advance on on activations I mean these are some trade secrets you may not want to talk about but but are they are they coming here specifically to aggressively launch within this demographic are they coming here finding that working because they can do something on social media that is just that actually does pick up I’m just Chris like some case studies there well I think it’s a little bit of both some of the companies %HESITATION coordinate with those %HESITATION some less so we’re always trying to get them to coordinate with us but sometimes it doesn’t happen two thousand seven when Twitter had so much success at south by southwest %HESITATION they worked with others %HESITATION although by where we are in two thousand eighteen two thousand nineteen but they did seems very very primitive at that point two thousand seven south by southwest %HESITATION the the tech portion of south by southwest was restricted to I think one wing of the convention center and what Twitter did %HESITATION was and we had no idea this would really work but they %HESITATION they work with us to get a couple of what were then big screen TV’s and they broadcast the Twitter feed so people walking down the hallway would see this and you know again in in two thousand nineteen %HESITATION standards what’s that you know I would see to Twitter feed before but at that point you hadn’t seen rent it all looks like wow that’s really interesting and I think another commonality here in terms of tech start ups for start ups that have made the most out of south by southwest they’ve really rise risen to the top %HESITATION and gotten national and international tension is there start ups services and apps products companies that that help people digest south by southwest and white Twitter was such a a perfect match for south by southwest is that you have this crowd of people and you want to know where my where my friends and so were some was saying I’m at a you know we’ve seen breakfast at Los many yes Sir I’m going to a party at %HESITATION you know wherever the party was in it and %HESITATION it was an early wave it %HESITATION use case for people to say wow that’s really interesting and valuable they just broadcast them and they did not call them I just saw that what they did that now it now put the context of twenty nineteen as smart as some of the people are who attends off was a blast I don’t think anyone at that point had a vision or understanding or concept or %HESITATION or whatever that well of years from now the leader of the free world would be doing domestic or foreign policy this system %HESITATION but %HESITATION you know people clearly understood that there was a lot of potential I just don’t not sure that that %HESITATION they understood that kind of potential %HESITATION you know what will be interesting to see is that the the kinds of apps products services that happened in two thousand nineteen and twenty and beyond %HESITATION I think what we’ll see in the future whether it’s office of western whether it’s %HESITATION another conference or event is things that inevitably make but we’re using now look like primitive and child’s play a again I mentioned that %HESITATION Friendster was was the keynote two thousand four and you know most of us probably don’t you remember Friendster but remember what came after that was my space which is you know you’re all waiting right with the time and now kind of seems quaint and that is generally how technological innovation happens is that %HESITATION new advances common and make the old things again not to Roland

there’s you know that so does so that’s like one aspect of of interactive that I think is an incredible story and I’m also I’m I’m fascinated by the the topics that you guys continually cover during south by every year and the trends you see through the topics from year to year can you tell us more about some of the hot topics that are coming up this year and even in the last two years which seem to be well we’re able to pull a lot of our %HESITATION content in our programming and our our ideas in by this interface called the south by southwest panel picker and it’s a way for the community to be involved with her %HESITATION programming %HESITATION to to send in %HESITATION speaking ideas %HESITATION wall there plenty of challenges with the panel picker it has a lot of really does a lot of really positive things for us not the least of which is just helping as detect kinda micro trends that you know %HESITATION two years ago there was a one panel proposal one speaking proposal on voice activated technology now there’s %HESITATION now there’s a hundred and that makes that we where we are with voice acting tell technology that makes total sense but the first year that happened something like that happening wow that’s something that’s about to break in this community so again help says understand these trends in a way that we might not otherwise %HESITATION and that is I think help to stay relevant help does connect with up and coming speakers up incoming experts that the world doesn’t know yet but there can be a name that how I saw that person at south by southwest in two thousand nineteen in a in a room with ten other people now she is the CEO of the you know world’s best self driving car company someone going bad news %HESITATION flash forward to your question about twenty nineteen %HESITATION will continue see a lot of %HESITATION coverage of health in med tech at south by southwest %HESITATION help us of west I say is always a strong reflection of what is hot and trending in Austin and with the new dell medical school that the long tail from that means that there’s more health tech med tech biotech %HESITATION companies moving to Austin more expertise more start ups will see more of that certainly a lot of stuff happening in the transportation space %HESITATION from micro about mobility meaning scooters to self driving cars to flying cars too next generation trains the Hyperloop to commercial space craft all of that is certainly very very interesting talking unity a I a is a continues to be a big trend at south by southwest we’ve seen over the last %HESITATION five years that almost any session that covers artificial intelligence %HESITATION %HESITATION is very very crowded people are very interested in this people or some people are optimistic about this a lot of people are apprehensive about this but again it’s something that draws lots of people I think what is very different about the twenty nineteen event in terms of trends and themes is %HESITATION seeing how we reflect what is out there and this team this trend of digital distrust %HESITATION as Kerr Swisher has turned it Chris wisher from recode who we re sign ounces whenever keynotes for twenty nineteen %HESITATION she calls it tech clash I eat backlash against the tech industry and this is you know I think most directly related to %HESITATION so what seems to happen with the %HESITATION twenty sixteen election on Facebook and and hanging a bird that counts and and more and more understanding that %HESITATION that data we put out there is being used in ways that %HESITATION %HESITATION maybe we have one or more of a neighbor were not so happy with so that digital distressed %HESITATION it is a pretty big would be a pretty big theme at this year’s event will be interesting to see how that flavors conversations have that that winds its way and the various panels and presentations and topics I would also add you know the the underlying theme at south by southwest is always creativity and convergence of these different industries and I think that’s one of the things that is really the a separate self at southwest for a lot from a lot of other great events is that not only do we have very very creative people in the tech industry we also have these film industry people are coming in who are incredibly creative or crazy new shorts two documentaries and feature films sometimes that are related to technology sometimes not %HESITATION but again incredibly creative people there from the music side the music fest we got two thousand bands coming and Austin from all over the U. S. and all across the world %HESITATION and and I think that’s always one of the coolest things that happens at south by southwest when %HESITATION creatives from one industry connect with Craig from another industry and and realize that %HESITATION as much as the interface they work with of the tools they work with are slightly different they have things that are in common they can they can work together on the creative process they can brainstorm new ideas and again that’s that’s what’s one of the the things that is most special about this event

yeah it’s a score I mean you seem to be bringing people in from every you know all these different sectors and it’s it’s wonderful to know that they’re in the city at that time and it’s it’s a great case study like you said for these companies that one and capture you know this it’s a demographic I mean what is that demographic I’m I’m curious what’s the official on that we’ve got I think our demographic that that buys badges the registrants for south by southwest has gotten a little bit older over the last decade %HESITATION and some of that is simply because the expense of attending the event has increased whether that be the the the badge price with the price of getting out of the hotel room %HESITATION that said we still have a lot of younger developers younger start ups new start ups new bands new filmmakers coming to the event that that provide a ton of energy %HESITATION as and that energy I think fuels the the %HESITATION entire nine days of south by southwest so add to your question of of demographic maybe our average attendee is you know twenty eight thirty years old they are a %HESITATION mobile developer by day they play in a band that night in their correctly the novel of the week right now is that and I think increasingly were seen them these people come in from outside the U. S. it is one of the few times in Austin %HESITATION as a rule that you will hear different languages on the street %HESITATION %HESITATION you’ll hear you know %HESITATION Japanese French Spanish German %HESITATION and it’s neat to so many people from across the world have now %HESITATION gotten that message that Austin’s this great city for creativity one of the the really interesting things and and I know that you’ve got some personal %HESITATION %HESITATION context here is that %HESITATION in twenty eighteen and I think it looks like it’ll be this way again in twenty nineteen %HESITATION Japan over Tate overtook the United Kingdom as the biggest %HESITATION country are the country with the biggest representation of registrants outside of the U. S. main U. K. is kind of plateaued a little because of brexit and because of some budgets pain %HESITATION %HESITATION frozen in terms of travel to the U. S. or travel to other bands %HESITATION meanwhile Japan is is growing a lot %HESITATION Sony has had a big presence here the last few years %HESITATION they’re doing several different activations are the the country of Japan or people from various ask various parts of Japan or doing several different activations at this year’s event so again I think that’s really really need to be able to %HESITATION provide a platform where people can network with other very very creative people from not only around the US but around the world and and somewhat contradicts summer current narrative that Blimpie’s a matter what happened the U. S. %HESITATION yeah that’s only matters what happens all around the world right right right

I’ve lived in the Netherlands dash fifteen sixteen twenty years ago now and it Austin was a lot of people know about Austin because a south by and so that’s been going on for awhile yeah %HESITATION so okay we we got it just a few more minutes so I want to know about what used to be your accelerator but is now your pitch program at south by because this %HESITATION whole first season that we’re doing with the up and comers has been focused on accelerator so tell me more about that we started about a decade ago as a added another element to the event %HESITATION called south by southwest accelerator we’d we’d I I think we typically try to add some kind of new element every year sometimes that succeeds sometimes doesn’t you know and a sense that’s a start up like approach your addy you’re putting out some got a new feature of the users like it great if they don’t then move on to something else so the idea at that point was to how can we better showcase %HESITATION start ups that are coming to south by southwest %HESITATION this year we changed the name to south by southwest hitch %HESITATION and that was simply because accelerator given what most people know or accelerators at this point really wasn’t the right word for what we’re doing it it was more I’m at its competition as opposed to a program where people make you baited for you know two months three months and got %HESITATION counts in support we’ve had a you know roughly five hundred %HESITATION start ups go through this %HESITATION or be part of %HESITATION south by southwest pitch over the last decade and by that I mean finalists will typically get about five hundred applications in every year and fifty of those were chosen as finalists %HESITATION so it’s a great way for us to recognize highlight showcase %HESITATION innovative start ups innovative founders innovative entrepreneurs from around the the US across the world we’ve seen a %HESITATION a %HESITATION real research %HESITATION or a lot of international participation in this and stop us up was pitcher last few years which again matches this this continued growth in international attendees what’s interesting last two years is is seen more and more Austin start ups make it into the finals I think one of the things that got the most buzz at south by southwest two thousand eighteen was this Austin company that does the three D. house printing they were a %HESITATION finalists are they won their category and south by southwest pitch they you know they they printed a house on site during the event %HESITATION and again it was something that that really got a lot of press and and %HESITATION so %HESITATION reflective of of more and more %HESITATION cool start ups coming out of Austin getting more national international attention

that’s great I know you have a number of Austin companies in this year’s patch when is the pitch event and and do you have to have a badge to attend the after bash attend the pitch event is Saturday March ninth and Sunday March tenth there ten categories and pitch so %HESITATION there each time slot on March ninth March tenth has a different category one of the kind of cheats or hacks %HESITATION for this for pitch is to %HESITATION if you can’t go to the individual category presentations you go to the awards show on Sunday night where %HESITATION you can see the kind of best the the best in each category is recognized and there’s always a lot of energy at that award show %HESITATION and great place to make connections whether it’s with the judges who were %HESITATION often big time BC is or the the the start ups that won their individual category or the start ups who %HESITATION came in second third or fourth in their category again they’re they’re all quality things coming from around the US around the world and it is one of the many things that add so much wife and energy and excitement the south by southwest eight well that’s an awesome opportunity so I hope our listeners and viewers will check it out take advantage of it in the future good teacher festival so what we’re gonna wrap it up and I just want to thank you for your time it’s been absolutely thank you for great hearing all this history and the stories it’s very inspiring and hopefully will be able to work with here for years to come wonderful I hope so too thank you so much thank you all right

thank you Hugh this is been super insightful I know our listeners have gotten a lot out of hearing the stories about how south by his lunch some of the world’s most innovative companies and concepts I am really looking forward to seeing what comes out of south by this year and all your future festivals the up and comers team include yours truly heather Wagner read producer Mariah Gosset along with our audio engineer Jake Wallace special thank you to Dan Dillard and everyone it found in Austin for your support if you are enjoying the show make sure you have subscribed on your favorite podcast platform and maybe leave us a little five star review to help other people find the show you can follow me at choose consulting on Instagram and our link is in the show notes thanks for listening