Artists Becoming Entrepreneurs in Seoul

The Forrest Four-Cast: October 11, 2016

This week, I am excited to be speaking at StartupCon 2016 in Seoul, South Korea. The long plane trip notwithstanding, this event provides an incredible opportunity to connect with a lot of founders, funders and digital creatives in this emerging ecosystem in Asia.

Titled “SXSW’s Past, Present And Future of Innovation,” my talk matches one of the larger themes of this event — that there is a direct connection between artistic communities and entrepreneurial communities. I will cover a little bit of the history of March in Austin and describe how the main focus of the event has transitioned from music to technology over the last 10 years. I will also stress that despite this shift in demographics, celebrating massive creativity remains the bottom line for everything we do — and that this bottom line really hasn’t changed since SXSW began as a smaller, regional music-focused event in 1987.

Other speakers at StartupCon 2016 include Gabo Arora (United Nations), Rashmi Bansal (author), David Cuartielles (Arduino), Jesse Draper (Halogen Ventures), Marjon Van Gurnsven (Cirque Du Soleil), Tom Kelly (IDEO), Yiying Lu (500 Startups), plus numerous others from Asia and from across the world. In addition to this strong lineup of speakers and startup-focused sessions, several Korean bands are also part of the event — thereby reemphasizing this artist to entrepreneur theme.

The trip to Korea underscores our ongoing efforts to grow the international footprint at SXSW 2017. Representation from the Far East has increased dramatically in recent years and we expect this trend to continue next spring in Austin. Stay tuned for more details!