Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson focused on innovation in Milwaukee's past, present and future as he pitched the city to an international audience of startup founders and investors March 10 at the popular South by Southwest (SXSW) conference.
"Mayor Johnson totally nailed it," said Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce executive vice president Julie Granger, who was among a contingent of Milwaukeeans who traveled to Austin for the event.
Milwaukee and the mayor's presence at SXSW were possible due to a partnership between Milwaukee's Summerfest Tech event and the Midwest House venue at SXSW.
Click through the slideshow above to see photos of the Mayor's presentation, as well as other Milwaukee executives who attended.
Johnson participated in an international city pitch event in which he had six minutes to pitch Milwaukee as a tech hub. He took questions during the second half of his presentation. Audience members asked whether Milwaukee could provide enough engineering talent to support a large tech company, and about what Milwaukee is currently doing to support innovation and entrepreneurship.
"Mayor Johnson hit on talent and entertainment and what it's like to live in Milwaukee and the access that we have ... and innovation is sort of required for all of that," Summerfest Tech director Lena DeLaet said.
The audience at Johnson's pitch event included Milwaukee venture capital investors Chris Abele of CSA Partners, Jennifer Abele and Raquel Filmanowicz of VC 414, and Joe Kirgues of gener8tor. Kirgues, whose firm operates startup accelerator programs in Milwaukee and nationwide, hopped on stage with Mayor Johnson to help answer the question about what Milwaukee is doing to support entrepreneurship.
The weekend's events had an "underlying somber feeling," given the recent sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a banking partner for many startups and technology companies, Filmanowicz said. The bank's meltdown was called an "extinction-level" event for some startups.
Additionally, Summerfest hosted a welcome party at the Midwest House on Friday evening. Corporate Summerfest sponsors including Generac, Molson Coors Beverage Co. and Wipfli had a presence at the event.
On Saturday, two Milwaukee-area startups pitched their companies at two separate competitions. Milwaukee's Food Fixr, led by Grace Hameister, was the runner-up in the Midwest House Madness Pitch Competition. Hartland-based Wearable Technologies, led by Deepak Arora, was one of five finalists in the artificial intelligence, voice and robotics technology category of the international SXSW Pitch competition.
Summerfest Tech also sponsored two past Summerfest Tech Pitch Competition winners — Sheboygan-based Debtle and St. Louis-based Kwema — in attending this year's Midwest House Startup Challenge at SXSW.
