Digital Mission Blog
The Digital Mission series is run by Chinwag to support UK-based digital companies expand into new markets and attract overseas investment.
It's the Weekend! Time to Work at SXSW
A sleepy Austin, Texas, eased it's way into Sunday. At 2am the clocks switched to Day Light Savings time, cruelly robbing the South by South West attendees of a much needed hour's sleep. I say 'much needed', but there were people crowds up and working their way between the parties and meet ups into the early hours of the morning.
It's a big part of what South By is about: Finding people, meeting people, connecting with people. In the evenings, as well as the day, deals are planned, meetings arranged and contacts made. That's how it works here.
Saturday started with a vast array of panel sessions, keynotes and gatherings. As ever, Dana Boyd was a firm favourite, talking about privacy and stirring up her own bit of controversy. The last time I saw her speak was during the Digital Mission to New York, which certainly became a topic of conversation. By noon the exhibition hall was open to visitors, and it's fair to say that people flocked to the Digital Mission stand. It's in a central location, slightly towards the front of the hall, which makes it easy to find, and a great place to meet.
There were always at least a few dozen people around at any given moment, many times it felt more like a flashmob. The tables on the stand giving the opportunity for the Digital Mission companies to demonstrate their wares and show their portfolios. Talking to people this evening, it sounds like there have already been some exciting successes. Not bad for a Saturday!
There is still a chance for those here to come and meet the digital mission companies at the Great British Breakfast on Tuesday morning, so do come along if you are here, and spread the word if you are not!
Digital Mission: Doing Business in the USA Masterclass
The first day of the Digital Mission to SXSWi 2010 day starts with the masterclass, an opportunity for the companies to wrap their heads around doing business in the USA, the legal issues, the cultural approach, the business landscape and insight into SXSW.
Techfluff's Hermione Way stopped by to film some of the attendees and Leah Mayo from UK Trade & Investment's office in Houston.
Thanks to Viadeo for sponsoring the Digital Mission video.
Digital Mission Master Class - South by South West Begins
It's Saturday and I'm nestled next to a power socket and Ethernet connection on the Digital Mission stand. South by South West is in full swing around us, with the companies talking, demoing and networking their way though the show. It's hard to describe the buzz in words; the tweets on the #sxsw hash tag rush past at the rate of a couple a second and the streets and hotels of Austin are packed with people from the digital media industry.
Yesterday the Palm Door was the venue for the master class sessions. The Winston & Strawn team talked the companies through the issues around setting up a US entity, both in terms of tax and legal benefits. Thinking about where you establish a US entity can be a complex issue, each of the US states has different laws and regulations. The session also covered how to avoid intellectual property issues when working with contractors, and key employment issues businesses setting up in the US should be aware of.
The UKTI team talked through the US digital market, with Bart Bohn (Austin Technology Incubator), Lorenzo Thione (Microsoft), Matt Cohen (OneSpot), Deborah Sauter, (Digitaria) and Aziz Gilani,(DFJ Mercury Venture Capital) leading a lively panel, including some heated debate! David Maher-Roberts (The Filter), Richard Moross (Moo.com), Toby Daniels (Social Media Week) and Sumon Sadhu (YouNoodle) shared their experiences of setting up in the US.
The panels stressed the importance of adapting to the market - most companies don't end up with the revenue model they started out thinking they would have. Today's start up costs are much lower, with scaleable cloud infrastructures, and access to large audiences through social media. Define your talent to price ratio, and go where that talent is. The US provides a huge range of opportunities, and UK businesses setting up here are following in the footsteps of many who have successfully done so before.
The sessions rounded off with Andy Budd (Clearleft), Shawn O'Keefe (Producer, SXSW) and Rob Corradi (NeonState) sharing their tips for getting the best out of South By, from changing your socks when the sun goes down, to using the rule of two feet - If a session isn't working for you, walk over to another one. The digital mission companies are already blogging their experiences.
If you are at South by South West, drop by the Digital Mission stand (you can't miss it in the exhibition hall!) and recharge your batteries and download your email, while you chat with the mission companies.
UK Launches at South by South West
It might be called 'Glastonbury for Geeks', but despite the laid-back demeanour, South by South West (SXSWi), there's plenty of business going taking place.
SXSWi is famous as a launch-pad for Twitter and laterly foursquare, and with so many tech types crammed into Austin for a week, provides the perfect cauldron of opportunity for spreading the word.
The UK firms taking part in the Digital Mission are seizing this opportunity with both hands (imagine a mobile phone in one hand, a mouse in the other). Here's a summary of the shiny new launches that will be unleashed from from Brainient, Codegent, Codility, Littleloud, Little World Gifts, oneDrum, PageDo, Skimlinks, Smidgn and Tweetjobs:
Brainient, Helping Publishers Monetize Video
Brainient helps video publishers monetize their video content through affiliate marketing and interactive elements. Create interactive in-video advertising campaigns, get feedback from your viewers through polls or contact forms and make more money through our 7000 affiliate marketing partners. Publish and distribute your videos with our open-source video management platform focused on scalability and ease of use.
Codility Launches New Pricing for Their Coders' Tests
Codility, providers of tools to test prospective coders, have launched new pricing model based on monthly subscriptions at
SXSWi! If you come to the Digital Mission stand and talk to us we will
be happy to give you our entry plan for 1 month for free.
Codegent Launching Dash, Speedy Online Business Setup
DASH is the fastest way to set your new business up online. DASH streamlines the setup process of your domain name, core services such as email and calendar through to a hosted, branded content managed website and blog. In addition all the social media accounts that you might need are created for you and fully integrated so you can start marketing straight away. DASH will transform your business idea from vision to reality in under 30 minutes.
Littleloud Launching New Animated Doctor Who Series, Dreamland
Dreamland, Doctor Who's all new animated adventure series created by Littleloud for the BBC is now available on DVD. Created in eye-catching high-definition 3-D animation, the series sees the Doctor, played by David Tennant, hook up with two new companions - Cassie (Georgia Moffett) and Jimmy (Tim Howar) - and pits him against a new alien race, the monstrous Viperox, led by Lord Azlok (David Warner).
Little World Gifts, Launching Exclusive Location-Aware Virtual Gifts
Virtual goods and merchandising startup Little World Gifts announced location-based virtual goods, offering a different spin on the location-sharing offering of apps like Foursquare and Gowalla. This functionality will feature three location-based items exclusive to the event. There'll be a classic English gent's bowler hat available when you open up the app at their stand in the convention centre. A commemorative Texas quarter plus a retro sheriff's badge will be available elsewhere in the city - and part of the fun is finding them! If you're an iPhone user and are going to be in Austin, sign up for the closed beta at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BBXGNVX
oneDrum adding sharing and collaboration to Microsoft Office documents
oneDrum will be the first application to take the compromise out of Microsoft Office. Users can share files by dragging them onto contacts; a separate copy is then kept on every collaborators computer. If users are editing them at the same time they can see where every other editor is working, with changes applying across copies in realtime.
Pagedo, Landing Pages Made Easy
We will be launching to the public, for the first time, our product, PageDo - the simplest way to build effective landing pages. PageDo is an online service for small business and marketing professionals to quickly build landing pages to collect user information online from email, twitter and social media campaigns. It's an exciting product, and great timing, particularly as 2010 has been dubbed as the "year of Conversion Rate Optimization".
Skimlinks Launching Skimkit, Creating Valuable Affiliate Content
The ultimate tool for content creators. SkimKit aggregates the very latest products and offers from hundreds of international retailers into a smart desktop tool, minimising research time and empowering editors to create links in content, which are automatically monetised using the Skimlinks technology. Creating more valuable content has never been so easy.
Smidgn, Doing For Facts What Twitter Did For Status Updates
Smidgn radically simplifies the way you share interesting facts on theweb. Start using our platform as a fun way to get the back-story on your Twitter friends and followers. Share what you know to get recognition in your areas of expertise and build your online reputation.
Tweetjobs, Providing A One-Stop Shop For Jobs On Twitter
Following proof of concept and back-end technology, Tweetjobs is launching a newly-engineered User Interface goes live, making it easier than ever for jobseekers to get timely and accurate job opportunity information - delivered as THEY want it.
// Details on all 40 Digital Mission to SXSWi Companies
// Digital Mission to SXSWi Activities
Picture courtesy of Benjamin Ellis. Some rights reserved.
Mission Possible: Digital Mission to SXSWi 2010
Preparations for the impending mission to South by South West interactive (SXSWi) are in their final stages. Chinwag Towers is littered with all manner of goodies ready for the trip to Austin.
Hermione Way and her crew at Techfluff.tv, with a helping hand from the folks at Viadeo, have put together a trailer for the Digital Mission to SXSWi, giving a flavour of the companies attending, and capturing the pace of what awaits them...with a dollop of tongue-in-cheek for good measure.
Check out 'Mission Possible'...
Thanks to Viadeo for making the video possible and for UK Trade & Invesment and Winston & Strawn for supporting the Digital Mission series.
If you're lucky enough to be heading to Austin for SXSWi, there'll be lots of opportunities to meet the Digital Mission companies at the expo stand and the Great British Breakfast, networking fry-up.
Keep up-to-date with Digital Mission goodness by following @digitalmission on Twitte or subscribe to the Digital Mission newsletter.
