At this year's SXSW, thousands of entrepreneurs will pitch their startups to potential investors, talent, clients, and customers. But what if the product is a city? What and how are they pitching?
Starting on March 12th, Chicago will be down in Austin selling itself as an emerging tech hub and a destination to set up startup shop. ChicagoMade - a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, Choose Chicago, and World Business Chicago - is committed to highlighting the city year-round as a global center for innovation and business and the organization will be leading the city's presence at SX.
In Austin, ChicagoMade will have a massive trade show booth where they'll be showcasing, yep, Chicago-made products and promoting Windy City startups. For example, everyone at the booth will be wearing BucketFeet shoes and they'll be handing out Field Note notepads.
From the 15th to the 17th, ChicagoMade will also hold themed Happy Hours at its booth that will be hosted by some of the city's top makers and influencers. On the 15th, TechNexus CEO and Founder Terry Howerton and Smart Chicago's Daniel X. O’Neil will host. The next day, Jimmy Chamberlin, the Smashing Pumpkins drummer and LiveOne CEO, will headline the Happy Hour with the Nusiki founders and, on the 17th, the final event will be hosted by folks from Bloodshot Records, Music Dealers, and Invisible Records.
ChicagoMade has also tapped some of the city's attendees to serve as 'Chicago Ambassadors' while they're down at the conference; these include Modest CEO and Former CTO of Obama for America Harper Reed, Chicago Ventures' Kevin Willer, Inventables CEO Zach Kaplan, and The Onion President Mike McAvoy.
Outside of spotlighting the city's best tech talent and products, ChicagoMade will also feature its top musicians and artists. Throughout the week, the ChicagoMade Music Showcase will run live performances from Vic Mensa, Twin Peaks, and Gemini Club.
Though the happy hours and concerts will certainly help Austin passersby formulate a "warm" opinion of Chicago, the initiative's goal goes beyond simply "having a good time."
At last year's conference, a conversation between ChicagoMade and Dom & Tom, a New York digital agency, resulted in the operation opening a 50-person office in Chicago. And a ChicagoMade dialogue with Music Dealers that started at SXSW eventually ended with the licensing company expanding its downtown office.
With the people and programming assembled, ChicagoMade will be in Austin with a pretty impressive pitch deck. Now they just have to close the deal.
(Image via ChicagoMade).
