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The Art of Speed: my favorite panel of the day
This was a great panel for anyone who wants to start their own company.
The panelists were: Mike Cassidy, who has started and sold several companies and is known for pushing to do this on a quick time frame. And by “quick,” he means meeting with three venture capital companies in one day, and having term sheets by the end of the day at 4:30 p.m. That’s just one example of how Cassidy rolls.
Then there’s Cali Lewis, part of the husband-and-wife team behind Geekbrief TV, three-to-five minute podcasts covering consumer electronics and new technology.
Last but not least, Evan Williams, who helped launch Twitter, Pyra Labs and Odeo. He still works at Twitter and credits SXSW for helping Twitter explode in popularity last year. Our technology and culture writer Omar Gallaga wrote about this phenomenon last year.
The “Art of Speed” was moderated by Tim Ferriss, author of “The 4-Hour Workweek.” Williams also credits SXSW with getting his book off the ground last year.
A lot of the the talk revolved around productivity and efficiency. There were also some entrepreneurial success stories from SXSW last year:
-One obvious time-suck is e-mail. Ferriss doesn’t do it at all and outsources it to an assistant. He joked that attending SXSW, with its abundance of laptops, is like an alcholic attending a bar.
-Ferriss also mentioned that filling up your day with meetings to look productive may not be the best use of your time. Warren Buffett doesn’t keep a calendar, he said.
-Cassidy said he comes home every day at 6:30 and runs every day at lunch. He finds that there’s always a crisis but you have to make room for a personal life.
-The most important thing is finding great talent and keeping it, Cassidy said. He courts talent, having them over to his house for dinner, sending flowers, etc.
-Cassidy hates first-day paperwork and insists that is completed before the employee’s first day so that person can actually start real work their first day.
-Williams said he didn’t intend for Twitter to explode last year during SXSW; it happened by accident. They had the right sponsors, and the right people were using it when they came to SXSW. Afterward, it really took off.
-Ferriss said he also hit it big at SXSW last year when he was promoting his book. Afterward, his book hit the New York Times bestsellers list. He said the key was not meeting as many people as possible, but spending as much time as possible with about 10 people.
-Be careful of internal friction issues, Cassidy says. You can spend more time trying to fight internal power struggles than fighting external enemies, he said.
-With mentors, don’t be afraid to reach high, going for those people you think might be unattainable. Ferriss said he has helped students at Princeton get in touch with high-profile business leaders such as the CEO of Google, etc. Ferriss also said when sending e-mails, say who you are, and be brief.
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