Asian Startups @ SXSW 2013

At SXSW 2013, there were three Asian countries with their own pavilions.

Some thoughts about the pavilions at SXSW

1. When exhibiting in the USA and the primary language for your country is not English (like Japan and Korea), it really helps that a member of your team has studied, lived or worked in the USA. The most engaging booths from Korea and Japan had representatives who had spent significant time living in the USA; these representatives excelled in communicating with the attendees.

2. Having said that, do not hire local folks just for the event to pitch your company. While talking to exhibitors, it was immediately obvious to me which booths had just hired folks for SXSW. Usually, these representatives of the company had no passion and knowledge when talking about the company and the company’s product.

3. It was easy to know which booths were part of the Korean and Japan contingent; for Singapore not so much. Maybe there really is such a thing as Cultural Technology. Read more

Imgembed could do to photos what YouTube did with videos

Imgembed (pronounced ‘image-embed’), which has big ambitions to change the way stock photography is paid for and used online, has launched at SXSW 2013. According to Alex Goh, founder of Imgembed, the platform will soon have about 200,000 images and 60,000 image creators from 190 countries from The Creative Finder.

Previously, Imgembed’s image embedding technology — which allows professionals to protect their images online and track where the images are being used — was available only to the community of The Creative Finder, a site where ‘finders’ meet creatives for networking, collaboration and inspiration. Imgembed and The Creative Finder are started by the same Singapore-based team. Read more

Singapore Alley seeks local startups to be featured at SXSW Interactive Festival 2013

The 20th installment of the annual South by South West (SXSW) Interactive Festival will take place 8th-12th March 2013 in Austin, Texas. SXSW is unparalleled for its boundless energy and cutting edge content, presented and attended by the largest and most diverse group of digital creatives.

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is planning its Singapore Alley at SXSW Interactive Trade Show 2013 to be held 10th-13th March 2013. Last year, approximately 65,000 attendees were present at the SXSW Interactive Trade Show. IDA is currently accepting applications from Singapore-based startups interested in being showcased at the Singapore Alley. Read more

On crashing and burning at a Y Combinator event, and creating a Minimum Viable Pitch

Vincent Ha, co-founder and CEO of Singapore-based Gushcloud, shares his not-so-smooth-sailing experience at SXSW 2012. Republished with permission from the company’s blog.

The sun was beating down on me. The Austin weather at SXSW is simultaneously cold and scorching. Some words come out of my mouth, but I’m not sure what I had just said. Whatever I said, it seems to have gotten a negative reaction.

‘Don’t give me another one of those we’re X for Y type of pitches. Talk to me like I’m an normal person!’

He was referring to my first elevator pitch attempt, “Gushcloud is like Task Rabbit for social media marketing.” But when I tried it at the last event, it seemed to work well!

Quick, think fast.

I brush it off and try again to illustrate what Gushcloud is with a relevant example (read our feature on Gushcloud).

“Sure, so what business do you do?”

“I build live chat software for businesses.”

Crap! B2B business! Can I cram it into the B2C example that I’ve been using all along? I’m starting to feel uncomfortable. I have a beer in hand and I take a swig. Read more

Singapore startup Zopim hijacks SXSW 2012 in Grinch costume

A feather scarf and a huge package... hmm...

Christmas hasn’t arrived, but the Grinch has already terrorized SXSW and the city of Austin with his trademark smirk.

It’s all actually part of a mobile game by Singapore-based startup Zopim, which is representing the country at the festival. The startup’s flagship product, Zopim Live Chat, is helping more than 35,000 online businesses engage their customers real-time through their websites.

South by Southwest (SXSW for short), is an annual music, film, and interactive festival that is drawing over 16,000 participants from around the world. The interactive segment ends on 13th March. Read more

Want to form the “Singapore Alley” at SXSW 2012?

For the first time ever, the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive section of the larger SXSW Conferences and Festivals (including Music and Film) saw official Singapore representation earlier this March.

Held yearly in Austin, Texas, SXSW is a place where people meet, new technology showcased, ideas exchanged and new ones emerge.

It was my first time attending the festivities this year, which happened to coincide with the aforementioned first official Singapore delegation. There was a Singapore pavilion which had the startups showcasing their products and even a Singapore party one evening [check out pictures].

Having had a large hand in making the Singapore pavilion happen this year and being encouraged by the results, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is planning for another Singapore presence at SXSW 2012.

Drawing on lessons learnt from the 2011 festival, there are some changes planned for the 2012. In lieu of a pavilion space, each participating startup will get a 10’x10’ booth of their own. The vision is to have enough companies to form a Singapore Alley that visitors will walk through. This will provide stronger brand identity for individual companies and yet be covered under the umbrella of Singapore’s brand name.

IDA will also look into a SXSW Block Party to draw visitors to the booths, and is planning to work with partners to facilitate personalized 1-to-1 meetings between Singapore startups and SXSW attendees. At the same time, VentureBeat, an influential US tech blog, will select and conduct video interviews the most interesting Singapore startups.

Timeline: Singapore Delegation At SXSW
Singapore Alley Exhibition: 12-15th March 2012

The cost for each start-up is estimated to be US$500 to cover booth space, advertisement, booth setup and related marketing activities. Startups will need to cover their own airfare, transport, SXSW Interactive passes and accommodation. IDA is required to make a decision very soon, so for those who are interested, please send an email to ida_startup@ida.gov.sg.

PHOTOS! Singapore At SXSW 2011 – Part 2

South by Southwest (SXSW) was a BLAST. If you haven’t, you should check out my pictures in part one on SGE.

This yearly conference saw Music, Film and Interactive people descend upon Austin, Texas in the US for two weeks of panels, meetups, day parties (with beer), night parties (with beer x 10) and drunken networking revelry.

I was there to check out the conference, stalk the Singapore delegation, meet old friends and make new ones.

So let’s start with… Read more

PHOTOS! Singapore At SXSW 2011 – Part 1

SXSW 2011 is over. About 20K people from all over the world descended upon Austin, Texas (USA) for two weeks to experience the Music, Film and Interactive South by Southwest festivals.

This year was the first year that our tiny city state of Singapore had an official presence at SXSW Interactive (technology). Made possible by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) (the CIO of Singapore government), SXSWi saw several of our startups exhibit and pitch there.

SXSW has grown in breadth, depth and number of attendees over the past 25 years: check out this cool infographic. This year was my first time there, as with most of the Singapore delegation. Here are some photos! Gorge yourselves. (Part 2 here.) Read more

5 Quick Questions With GoToCamera At SXSW

I’ve been here in Austin, Texas in the US for a few days now for the Interactive portion of South by Southwest (SXSW) and am really excited for the trade show to start tomorrow, where Singapore will have a pavilion with 10 of our startups. But tomorrow is also an important day for one of these startups, GoToCamera. We have a quick 5 Q&A with Varun Arora, founder and CEO of GoToCamera to find out more. Read more

Singapore At SXSW Interactive 2011

For the first time ever in its 18-year history, the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive section of the larger SXSW Conferences and Festivals (including Music and Film) will see official Singapore representation. Supported by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), SXSW Interactive will include a Singapore Pavilion exhibition and a Singapore panel during the SXSW Tech Summit. Read more