Editor’s Note: An uber special thanks to our friends at uShip who inspired this ‘South by South America’ themed post. However, they did not create nor endorse this post.
Hearing the lineup of countries attending SXSW this year, it is starting to sound more like South by South America! As all the local and international press begins to surface about Chile and their big showdown going on at South by Southwest 2013, some folks have asked us why are we “late” on releasing a news story regarding Chile’s involvement this year.
(In photo, Nixter team from Chile when they first arrived to U.S.A.)
At AndesBeat, we work to provide exposure in many different ways to early-stage startups and major foreign technology firms ideally before they enter the Chilean market. So our interest is more targeted towards promoting:
- The start-ups and foreign tech companies at the SXSW conference who are newly launching in Chile
- The start-ups and foreign tech companies preparing to launch a product or service in the Chilean market
- An individual who can share an experience with Chilean startups who are not able to attend SXSW but can learn or benefit from the experience
SXSW – Success, F*ck Luck!
(ummm, yes, we’re still independently owned)
Before ‘South by South America’, all you die-hard long time AndesBeat readers and fans are likely to remember the controversial titled guest post from SXSW a year ago from the wild and crazy Francisco Sáez, Nixter CEO. His signature sign-off Success, F*ck Luck! became the rally cry for our underground Chilean startup founders and the inspiration behind AndesBeat first limited edition t-shirt.
These are definitely the types of stories and adventures we want to cover!!! The post, written in first person, covered Francisco’s experience as a Chilean startup founder for the first time at SXSW participating in Startup Spotlight (Startup Village). Keeping it real, he shared his perspective, what he saw, who he met and reminded us that our success is not so much related to being tied or validated by certain people or networks or even the ‘genius’ product we thought we created, as much as it is holding the vision and staying focused and true to what you do no matter how tough things sometimes get.
VIDEO: Gary Vaynerchuk presents at SXSW 2010 – love this guy!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEYjvifUdeM[/youtube]
Global Clients. Global Perspective.
Working with global clients and also for startups wanting to be more globally competitive, it means we also must work from a global perspective. The way the business and investor worlds see things is that Chile will be showcasing at SXSW this year…..along with Mexico, Brazil and other countries in Latin America and from other parts of the world. Even SXSW promo trailer states that ‘the world’ is coming to Austin.
For those of you traveling to the event, don’t make it about you. Take the focus off yourself! Let someone else make it about you. Let AndesBeat talk about how cool you are. Know that oftentimes at events like this, strength is in numbers. Be a resource and leverage your credibility from that of your group.
Lead the conversation with your startup or company is being showcased in the Chilean Pavilion. Try to encourage people to come to the Pavilion, get involved in the conversations about what’s it like doing business in Chile and give them a reason to stay and chat, just a little longer.
And regardless of the fun and networking taking place at the event, understand that the real business to be done cannot be made simply by visiting a booth, pavilion or attending a party. Don’t get disappointed if people don’t get excited as you about your product. Note: I still heart you mucho Chileno startup founders.
The event provides a tremendous platform for exposure and a chance to also see what others are doing. And here are a few things you can do to enter folks into your relationship pipeline:
Tips to get ‘more interactive’ at SXSW 2013!
1. Order MORE business cards this week!! The worst thing you can do is run out of business cards. Take double the amount of business cards you think you will need – I would say take minimum 1,000 business cards.
2. Carry a small notepad or voice recorder: Have a way to collect information or follow-up with people who are really interested in your product. A small notepad or voice recorder (app) will allow you to take notes about special things you want to remember about the conversation and feedback & ideas people gave you.
3. Don’t try to close sales. Instead identify the person(s) who are really excited about what you are offering and championing your product and make sure you follow-up with them as promised. Or if you used their suggestions or feedback, let them know or send them a printed thank you card for their suggestions etc. Also, go visit other booths and startup founders outside of the Chile Pavilion and share your feedback and ideas as well.
After the show, investors among others will go back home and do thorough research, reach out to others in their network about their experience and understanding of the market, visit the respective countries which they are interested, look at the infrastructure in place, universities, top companies conducting business there, talent and see where the opportunities are.
How did Chile get ‘here’?
That is one of the questions that people will ask themselves after seeing the mini Chile festival at SXSW.
And indeed it is the question we sought to answer back in July 2011 when we wrote our first AndesBeat posts in stealth mode. Realizing that Chile was not behind in innovation, but in our perspective, creating a different kind of innovation in real-time, we desired to record what we saw from our first-hand experience having been on the ground.
As history belongs to those who write it, for new readers, we invite you to look back at some of our most popular posts and see who have been the early adopters and key influencers in the market and how things have been involving. And know that we plan on covering lots more stories at SXSW 2013.
If you are a startup/organization representing Chile at SXSW let us know!
What’s next for AndesBeat?
We love Chile and by far think we have the most awesome startup community on Earth (in Silicon Valley they want to be like us :-P). We always work from the inspiration and encouragement of our local startup founders and developer’s communities coupled with the challenges met by our foreign clients and investors transitioning into the market. This gives us a deeper platform from which to build and create and hope that it reflects in the quality of reporting, opportunities and resources we work to bring to our community each day.
As we have been a little quiet over the past few months, in terms of what we have been doing as of late, I think an excerpt from the description in our team page, summarizes our recent work the best –
[We] realize that when we see things that others cannot see, we must stop to do what others have not done. So our work in generating the AndesBeat is not in ‘banging the drum’ louder but in recruiting and teaching more people how to play with the soul, rhythm and flavor unique to South America.
In the next days, weeks and months, you will start to see just a small sampling of exactly what that means and where, how and with whom we have been Generating the AndesBeat in the U.S.A., Europe, Africa and Asia.
Until then, keep rockin’ hard to the core!
