Yesterday was a good day.
As an aspiring social entrepreneur and increasingly part time geek, I’ve had my theories on why technical / programmer / geek / web type people stick to certain kinds of focus areas when trying to make a living for themselves, and yesterday an intuition I’ve had for some time now was reinforced.
Things I realised:
- Most industries have been working just fine without the internet for much longer than I’d given them credit for, so start operating on different levels
- Competition is everywhere, learn how to deal with it and be better than it
- The only limits to what I thought was possible were in my own head
- Business is like an onion, you have to unravel it
So the take home is that after figuring out one or two things, I’m starting to move faster and not feel like I’m walking through molasses = progress.
w00t! Pretty excited to see that my panel submission has been highlighted by the folks at ReadWriteStart /ReadWriteWeb… If you’re going to SxSW and you’re into bootstrapping / building a startup, then this is a great place to start finding great talks / panels…
_ For Your Voting Pleasure: Ten Startup-Related Panels from the SxSW Panel Picker - ReadWriteStart
When you think about South by Southwest Interactive, your memory may serve up warm recollections of open bars, awesome booth swag, and the occasional keynote worth remembering. But amid the festival atmosphere, thousands of would-be entrepreneurs, web developers, and VCs mill around looking for (or pitching) the Next Big Thing.
It comes as no surprise, then, that the SxSW Panel Picker is replete with startup-related panels. Ladies and gentlemen, for your consideration (and votes and comments), here are ten could-be-awesome proposed SxSW panels all about the space we love best. Look closely, and you just might see some themes, such as bootstrapping, revenue models, and life outside the Valley.
Seeya there!
If you’ve got a few mins, would appreciate your vote for my panel submission for SxSW next year
Starting and Selling Startups - Lessons From the Coalface
This session looks at finding that ‘right idea’ and following it through the phases of building a company, building the product and selling it on. It covers people, technology, finance, working with investors, scaling-up, general do’s and don’ts, what to look out for in an acquisition partner and more…
Questions Answered:
1. Why values and working with integrity is so important
2. Why talk is cheap and execution is everything
3. Why hiring right is so important and what you should do to motivate, grow and develop your team
4. Why you can’t succeed on your own
5. Why a frugal approach to technology, premises and other operational elements makes sense
6. How you distinguish between attitude , aptitude and talent; which you need and how you go about acquiring staff with the right mix of each
7. When equity is important, and when it’s not
8. How to tell serious investors from ‘chancers’ and how (in general) one should work with investors
9. The pros and cons of an acquisition – when to take it and when to run for the hills
10. How not to get sucked into the black-hole of scaling-up
Lessons From the Long Trenches: Bootstrapping 301
Bootstrapping can be a painful, problem-ridden process, laden with hundreds of potential mistakes the eager entrepreneur can make. From strategy, to finding funding and managing resources, this session shares hard-earned insights into what some of those obstacles are, what tools startups need and why it’s definitely worth it.
Questions Answered:
1. Why is bootstrapping one of the best ways to start a company?
2. Why are integrity and values so important?
3. How do I leverage what capital I have, even if it’s not much?
4. What kind of people should I hire?
5. What skills do I need in order to bootstrap successfully?
6. Why I should “Always Be Closing”?
7. Why starting up is just a state of mind, and not a state of being.
8. How do I leverage debt and credit smartly?
9. Why do I need to be good at networking?
10. Why do I need systems and processes?
If you do, thanks millions.
If you’re gonna be there, please ping me / comment so we can make a plan to hook up then.
And, checkout the other interactive panels too!
