Sean already gave you his sxsw wrap up earlier this week in his Thank You Austin post, so I thought I would give you mine. What does a girl that has barely started treading the waters of tech learn at the biggest conference of the year? Find out.
There are a few different companies that caught my eye while walking the exhibit hall and attending the parities. I met the founder of Moontoast. A very cool new start up that launched on March 16th. A social network built of experts that can answer pretty much any question you can come up with. They are building an online marketplace of human knowledge where they encourage you to share what you know.
I talked with Mark Erwin from Standard Answer. Their booth in the exhibit hall caught my attention and they were one of the few booths that talked to me right away. They were very excited and knowledgeable about the site which is still in beta. It’s a new social information networking site that brings people together based on questions and answers. You can answer questions and quizzes to see how your answer compares to other personalities. I am a huge fan of quizzes, polls all of it, so this definitely appeals to me.
At the Digg party on Saturday night I was introduced to Jodee Rich the founder of PeopleBrowsr. I was so excited to meet him as I had been using his service for quite some time now. He was such a pleasure to talk with and answered all of my questions about the service. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I sincerely recommend that you do. I was searching for a service that would easily let me group friends and view @replies, DM’s etc all at the same time, with constant updates. The site is well organized, customizable and full of features. The best thing is they are constantly updating the service.
There are a few people that I finally had the chance to meet that I had often wondered what they were like in person. Loren Feldman was very interesting to chat with. I wish I had a chance to go into his secret hotel lair and see the puppets in person but at least @seanpercival did snap the below pic for me:
Robert Scoble was nice during the day when we were introduced but at night at the tumblr party he grabbed my head like he was palming a basketball! You don’t do that to girls hair, hello! Allen Stern was much more civilized when he shot this pic of me in the exhibit hall:
And last but not least Nick Douglas, inspiration for this site. We didn’t get to talk much as there were already to many people in the bed. Nice meeting you though!
So was it really geek spring break? Well, kinda. I’m sure they are quite a few people that let loose and partied. But just as many were there seeking out the best panels, networking at every turn and getting the word out about them or their company. Some just do differently than others. We like to make outrageous business cards and hit as many parties as possible and meet people from all over. Hope we had the pleasure of meeting you.
Oh and just to clear up a strange rumor going around sxsw about me and Sean, no we are not brother and sister, you guys are sick puppies.
(Headline photo (CC) Brian Solis. www.briansolis.com)
