Mobile Pie SXSW Wrap Up

For us SXSW will always be the festival when it all clicked together and somehow through all the free music parties, 30 degree heat, frozen margaritas and cries of 'Awesome!' the definitive vision of what we wanted Mobile Pie to be came into focus. To say that it was useful would be an understatement - attending the festival really helped us get to grips with what we want the company to be, and more importantly the confidence to try and make it a reality.

It was hard for us not to hear about the opportunity to come to SXSW - not only had we been on the look out after hearing all the great things from the other Bristol companies who attending last year, but the process was well supported from the mailing lists/groups we belong to such as SWScreen and Bristol Media. For us SXSW seemed like the perfect festival for what we were interested in - mobile having come of age, and indie games being the current hot topic. But we had other reasons for attending, more sober reasons such as getting to grips with how we could do business with American companies - important goals given our global outlook with digital downloads and the current weakness of the pound.

Preparing for the trip couldn't have been easier thanks to the hard work of Clare Reddington - and the great hints and tips from those who went last year. In many ways one of the best things about the whole experience was the mix of people who joined us, being able to discuss the topics raised during the talks with such a range of people was brilliant and the impact wouldn't have been the same if it was just Mobile Pie going. Before we headed out we made sure that we took advantage of the facilities available to us, using the SXSW website to arrange meetings with American companies and then meet them in the UK's Digital Mission stand (expertly run by the brilliant Chinwag). What was great about this was the amount of enthusiasm the US companies had towards us as Brits - they loved everything from the authentic tea served at the Digital Mission, to the Hat Game organised by the Umbrella Group.

The talks themselves were some of the most interesting and relevant ones I've ever been too. We were completely spoiled for choice as our two main areas of interest, iPhone development and indie games had some of the best talks of the week. So many times during the week I was able to meet some of the companies I'd seen at the top of the iPhone charts or read about in the news, only to discover that they were the same size as us, facing the same problems and getting their information from the same sources. Realising this, and armed with the great practical advice they freely shared helped us gain the confidence to change the direction of Mobile Pie and move towards creating more of our own original IP and concepts, with the aim being to sell them globally via digital download channels. Since we've been back in the UK, our focus has really shifted to making this a reality - with it influencing everything from the location of our new office (close to other creatives) to the jobs we're recruiting for (more design led people, less account handlers).

Receiving funding to attend SXSW was vitally important. As a small start-up we couldn't have afforded to attend without the help we received, and it's hard to see anything closer to home having the same sense of a global gathering that you get at SXSW. It is a shame that the UK doesn't have anything on a similar scale to SXSW - certainly I spoke to plenty of US companies who wanted to come over to the UK for something similar, but had trouble finding anything.

SXSW was the festival that most lived to the ideals behind Mobile Pie, and for that reason and the fact we got so much out of it this time, it'd be hard for us to keep away next year.