South By Texas State

By Bonnye Hart

Suneel Gupta is the creater of The Kahani Movement. This is a website where “members of the Kahani social network collect and share stories from the first major wave of South Asians that immigrated to the U.S. Kahani means “story” in Hindi,” says Gupta. He was inspired to find a way to share stories from his own family’s experiences he grew up hearing. Personal stories of living in exile, experiencing violence stemmed from racism, great triumph and adjusting to a new environment are recounted through videos, photos, and blog posts.

“David Isay’s Storycorps proved that ordinary people have extraordinary stories to share – you just need to ask. The Kahani Movement brings the original Storycoprs concept into the Web 2.0 space,” says Gupta.

Gupta is well versed in the world of Web 2.0 and open-source approach to projects. He was formerly the director of Mozilla Labs. “Social media allows our members to collaborate, share ideas, and promote each other’s work, which is critical to the project’s success,” says Gupta.

Gupta needed a platform that would allow people to share their stories within their small communities and beyond. “Tools in the Web 2.0 space, have allowed us to reach millions of people and let them reach other,” says Gupta. He built the Kanahi site based on Ning, a user-friendly social networking site. Gupta works closely with the Ning team to bring these untold stories to life online.

Gupta is looking forward to SXSW interactive 2010 as a panelist and participant. “There is no better platform than SXSWi to share a new idea and get feedback from interesting, innovative people,” says Gupta. He’s got the same idea all savvy SXSWi-goers have while attending the conference–contribute and grow. Gupta says, “we are hoping to share some of the things we’ve learned through Kahani — where we’ve met our goals and where we stumbled a bit. Moreover, we’re aiming to offer Kahani as a model to be replicated because we believe that every community has stories worth preserving.

Read more about Suneel Gupta’s upcoming panel here StoryCorps 2.0: Social Networking Meets Storytelling (Suneel Gupta, The Kahani Movement).

In the world of business, the tried and true ways of starting a company are changing.

In her presentation at SXSW, Donna Fenn author of the book, Upstarts! GenY Entrepreneurs Are Rocking the Business World, will examine how GenYers are rewriting the entrepreneurial playbook one start-up business at a time.

What makes GenYers so different from their predecessors? The CEO’s of Generation Y are not only young but tech savvy, and they have a whole new way of communicating.

“They’re a very social generation and so they tend to start companies with partners, seek out advisors and mentors, tap into the resources of their colleges and universities, and generally draw in communities of vendors and customers into the larger visions of their companies, Fenn said. “I think this ultimately makes for stronger, more sustainable companies.”

Fenn, who has worked in business journalism for 20 years, says that young entrepreneurs are making an impact in just about every industry where technology can give them an advantage over the competition.

“Younger entrepreneurs tend to be collaborative, tech-savvy, and very agile. They’re also very socially conscious and focused on work/life balance and creating productive and fun workplaces,” Fenn said. “So I think those are all traits that entrepreneurs of every generation should take note of and attempt to emulate.”

GenYers also keep up with trends in social media. These tools help them communicate with customers, meaningfully and intimately. Social media helps build their business, by enabling them to create powerful brand identities.

“Look at what Tony Hsieh (Zappos)  has done with Twitter – there’s no better example of how to use social media to your competitive advantage,” she said.

However, both young and old entrepreneurs have some knowledge to offer each other, she said. Older entrepreneurs have the knowledge that comes with experience. They are better negotiators, manage people better, and are not as easily distracted.

Fenn became interested in GenYers a couple of years ago.

“I began noticing more and more companies that were started by people in their twenties – more than I had ever seen in my twenty plus years in business journalism. I wanted to know what was driving them to start businesses, what kinds of companies they were starting, and if those companies were really so different from the ones I’d covered in the past,” she said.

The negative stereotypes of GenY are that they are spoiled and entitled, something that Fenn’s personal observations continually refuted.

“I have to admit that as a mother of two GenYers, I felt a little protective and possible defensive. My gut reaction was: wait a minute, this is an amazing generation of kids and I’m tired of hearing stories about how they all rely on their parents to micromanage their careers,” she said.

“I know that happens, but many of the young CEOs I spoke to were actually employing their parents and providing a major means of support to their families. That doesn’t sound entitled to me.”

Fenn’s advice to the college student who wants to create a startup of his/her own? Use what’s available to you to get ahead.

“Never again will you have as many free and valuable resources available to you as you have in college, so take full advantage of them. I’m talking about knowledgeable professors, possibly courses in entrepreneurship and/or on-campus incubators and entrepreneurship clubs, “she said.

Fenn also believes that the spirit of true entrepreneurship is purely based on your motivations.

“Entrepreneurship doesn’t always start with an idea. You’ve got to have passion for the entrepreneurial life – for building something that’s of value and that in some way will make life easier and better for the people your company touches, “she said.

“If you just want to get rich, forget it. Entrepreneurship is like journalism – it’ll make you miserable unless you love it so much that you can’t possibly imagine doing anything else.”

Fenn describes her book as a conversation starter on the topic of GenY and entrepreneurship.

“I hope that older readers come away with a new perspective on GenY and that they realize that this generation is doing business in a way that really does define the future of entrepreneurship for all of us,” she said. “And I hope that younger readers are inspired to pursue their own entrepreneurial dreams!”

By Sang Hee Park

John Halcyon Styn will lead a SXSW panel: Casting Crib Cutesploitation – Using Your Kids as Content. He owns Royal Pink Productions, a consulting company that specializes in online video ad social media. Royal Pink Productions helps craft digital landscapes of people’s websites with integrity and authenticity. In other words, they work with large corporate organizations which work with the individual consumers that have become critical in the modern digital world. So, they help large corporations use the tools, like Youtube and Facebook, effectively. Royal Pink Productions has experimental projects such as HugNation.com that work to use the web to foster connections.

Watch this interview with Styn on CNN:

Styn also hosts the blog Life Student.

Styn frequently speaks about blogging, webcam, chat and community building, and consults with large companies to help them understand the delicacies required when courting the information generation. He has been going to SXSW for about 10 years. He has received a web award and been on a number of panels.

Watch his interview about SXSW:

According to Styn, many people, who were innovators and users of the early web, have become parents. He said he is interested to know what the risks and rewards are of having children while broadcasting online. So he decided to speak about “Casting Crib Cutesploitation – Using Your Kids as Content.” He wonders whether or not people are on the edge of a huge crisis of privacy. He used the example of “David after the dentist”, saying videos are simply fun, but have can influence a person’s future or violate privacy.

By Robert Hill

Andrew Huff’s panel for SXSW 2010 is called “The Online News of Tomorrow.” Such a title can conjure up several topics and can have a discussion that would lead into various directions. Mr. Huff is the editor and publisher of Gapers Block, a city-centric web publication based in Chicago. He is also a professional blogger and social media consultant. Knowing this about Mr. Huff, the first question regarded his opinion on the future of online journalism, specifically as it pertained to the hyper-local brand of news that he is a part off. He believes both print and web news will move extremes (worldwide and hyper-local) and believes “localized editions (different content for different parts of the city) will best positioned to remain strong thanks to local businesses trying to reach their immediate neighbors through advertising.”

As to how such publishers can “sell” their type of localized coverage to consumers in mid-sized cities not named New York or Chicago or Los Angeles, Huff pointed to examples in Lawrence, Kansas (Lawrence.com), the Duke City Fix in Albuquerque and BhamTerminal.com in Birmingham, Alabama. He posits the venture “can work in smaller markets if they understand their audience well.”

It appears the transformation in this, a century old industry, will encourage innovation and consumer empowerment. Such is evident with the rise of user generated content. Huff points to CNN’s iReport as evidence of the trend taking hold. He did caution that the press may encounter a legal minefield when publishing accounts produced from non-employees or non-journalists. However, as soon as that issue is eliminated or defined, the practice may increase.