SXSW Recap: Venture Panels, Professional Development, & Investor Swag
While the SXSW (South By South West) conference itself hosts nearly 50,000 people the event in it’s entirety attracts closer to 300,000 people over a span of weeks. The Texas Venture Alliance served as a force multiplier for our members, their goals, and activities, in several areas:
TVA hosted an After Hours LP & VC Lounge
Several venture capitalists and members were recommended and placed on panels, such as Claire England, and others featured in this Eisner Amper recap
50 venture-backed startups and investors received venture swag to wear, sparking dozens of new conversations during networking events
We created a highly popular resource for the SXSW startup & venture community via “The Investors’ SXSW 2023 List” that ended up attracting almost 3,000 views
Some members received sponsorship for their events via our introductions and increased attendee interest for their events such as “Austin Young Investors”
“Fueling Innovation: New Tools For Funding More Ventures”
Texas Venture Alliance Board Member and Experiences Committee Chair, Marisa Vickers, organized a venture panel focused on alternative fundraising. This was a jam packed room on the topic of “Fueling Innovation: New Tools For Funding More Ventures” featuring Builders + Backers & Texas Venture Alliance, and held at the Midwest House/Half Step on Rainey Street.
From Builders + Backers Partner, Kathleen Hale: “We didn't quite plan it this way but talking about alternative and innovation approaches to funding ideas today felt spot on. Thanks to Midwest House for hosting me and the Builders + Backers team. And shout-out to CS Freeland for leading such a great conversation in front of a full room. We shouldn't let funding structure get in the way of great ideas being tested. That's what we're working to change and to continue to grow the B+B Pebble Fund and the ventures multiply.”
“Connecting the Connectors” at Capital Factory House
A second panel, “Connecting the Connectors” was organized by Austin Venture Crawl sponsor, Eisner Amper, with the description: Startup and venture "master connectors" from various startup ecosystems humble-brag on what is best about their local startup hubs and generously share thoughts and ideas on what it takes to foster a strong startup community.
In this conversation CS Freeland of Texas Venture Alliance, Mauricio Milan investor at Ilum Ventures, and James Phelan, TVA Founding Member, and Managing Director at Founder Institute Texas, talked about what it was like to be super connectors in their respective ecosystems, sharing tips, tricks, and more.