What Locals, Mix Tapes, and the City of Austin Taught Me About Innovation

Day 5

It’s my last day in Austin, and the last day of SXSW Interactive. Clouds loom overhead and there’s a hint of rain, it feels like the city is telling me that it’s time to go. I tap for an Uber to get into the city, my trip to Austin was booked last minute so I was one of the unfortunate tourists who had to paid an exorbitant amount of money for a seedy motel in a North East-side dilapidated neighborhood. It’s the opposite of the gleaming sheen of the JW Marriott and the downtown core where I had just been the night before. But this spot feels like the real Texas, and I’m grateful for an opportunity to experience more of Austin than just what SXSW wants to show me. My Uber driver picks me up and makes a comment about the hotel. She’s a middle-aged single mother in a white Subaru, she’s lived in Austin most of her life. I get in the back and I ask her about SXSW. She tells me how important South By is for the economy of Austin, but for her personally too. It’s been years since she received a SXSW badge as a gift and attended the events and shows, now she relies on the festival every year to help her make ends meet. She rents part of her place on Airbnb and has a German couple staying there now. She drives for Uber between her full time job and hopes for surge pricing to help her make some real money. It hasn’t been going as well this year, her place hasn’t rented out for the entire conference, the German couple head home tomorrow, and her Uber fares aren’t meeting expectations. But SXSW Music is just starting. She’s optimistic that things will pick up.

I arrive at the conference center and decide on my last day to take in the start-ups and technology on show at SXSW. One part of SXSW Interactive is a tradeshow where tech companies, business organizations, and various groups in the digital space can show their wares. There’s some amazing stuff in here. And I’m taken aback by just how many start-ups are vying for attention at SXSW. From Bitcoin Cryptoart to NASA and GMO corn, there’s a width breadth of technology and entrepreneurs on display. It seems like every country around the world is here, promoting themselves as the best place on earth for a start-up. Sweden, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, South Korea…clamouring for your business. With some amazing technology on display like IBM’s SoftLayer and Postano’s social aggregation dashboard, it was actually a little music start-up called Share Tapes that stood out for me. These guys have brought the idea of the cassette mix tape to the digital age with credit card style NFC cards that work with most music streaming services such as Spotify. You can make a playlist, or mixtape, on these services, add them to your card, and then give a card to a friend. They don’t need an app, and within their favorite music service, can just open up your mix. Brilliant.