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Last week Bawte co-founder and CEO John Jackovin traveled to Austin for South by Southwest Interactive, but before he even set foot in the Lone Star State, Jackovin was looking for opportunities to share his startup with a larger audience.
“This was my first SXSW so I went in pretty blind,” he said. “I used the SXSW website and app to tag sessions that looked interesting, but that was about the extent of it.”
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On Friday, he took second place at the ReleaseIT at SXSW pitch competition, competing against nine other startups from across the country and Canada. Bawte also was selected to record a pitch video with Post-It Notes.
After pitching and experiencing SXSW firsthand, Jackovin shared three tips for other entrepreneurs who may be thinking of attending next year’s event:
- Sign up for every pitch competition you can find. “I found a competition called ReleaseIT presented by SXSW prior to attending and applied. Luckily I was selected and proceeded to finish as runner-up. I wish I could have pitched every day multiple times per day because the best contacts I made at SXSW came from that one pitch competition.”
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Keep your eyes open for opportunities. “There are a lot of cool things you can do to help your startup. I found a competition hosted by Post-It Notes where startups could compete for a chance to have a professionally produced pitch. They selected us and you can see the result below.”
- Go with the flow. “Have an idea of the things you want to see and do and put the critical ones on your calendar. Otherwise, just go with. That goes for parties and sessions. I had hope to hit up the Product Hunt party (sorry, Andy) but the conversations were so good and lasted long after the Iowa Party technically ended that I could not break away to make it.”
Jackovin won a competition through the Greater Des Moines Parntership to send two entrepreneurs to SXSW this year. Kaylee Williams of VolunteerLocal was the other entrepreneur chosen and wrote about her experiences for a series of posts through the Des Moines Register.
Jackovin’s last piece of advice? “Get a hotel room now.”
Watch the video Bawte recorded with Post-It Notes during this year’s SXSW:
Credits: Photos courtesy of Bawte. Video from Vimeo.
