If you haven’t been to Austin before, it may not be what you have in mind. It’s a bit like the Vatican City: it’s own unique island sharing only occasional cultural trait with the surroundings (tacos, cowboy hats donned on a spectrum of irony, and the assumption that “nice jeans” constitute business wear).

That’s to say that it’s in Texas, but not Texas. Not in the broader cultural sense, anyway, though perhaps in the Norwegian use.

Austin has long been the refuge of the weird, artistic, and those whose parents back in the suburbs didn’t quite know how to describe what their kid was doing with their life. Naturally, this made the perfect environment for entrepreneurship.

SXSW will do its very best to tell you its a grown-up conference for serious people, and serious people do find themselves among us on a surprisingly regular basis, but don’t be fooled: SXSW is Austin’s Festival of Austin. It is, on any given year, what we say it is.

This is why so many visitors arrive, get pulled into the whirlpool of chaos and spat out a week later, dazed, confused, and with only a faint idea of how they’ve spent thousands of dollars for a suitcase of tchotchkes, a couple hundred new contacts (half of which were met in line in an unrelated industry), and the vague sense that they could probably do with a green juice, a nap, and concert-grade earplugs (if only to vary the tones of relentless self-promotion).

It’s neither a conference in the traditional sense, nor a festival, nor a forum. It’s zeitgeist manifested with a side of kimchi tacos.

This is important to know because, unlike a tech show like CES, the majority of events at SXSW are unofficial and hosted by locals. And these evolve every year based on the time-honored technique of vibes.

So when you come to Austin for SXSW, you’re not just seeing the inside of a conference hall (and as it happens, we don’t have one of those this year). You’re seeing Austin.

Some useful context about Austin

• Austin is a university town, so it’s young, vibrant, and—with several sprawling nightlife districts—slightly sticky. Dirty Sixth is the OG and is usually hosed off in advance of SXSW in respect for our guests. East Sixth is Dirty Sixth’s younger, hipper sibling who only moved to Austin a few years ago after its startup HQ relocated from California. Whether something is considered East or West has nothing to do with the East-West assignment on the street address but rather where it is located in relation to I-35.

• As the countercultural odd one out, Austin has traditionally been a haven for artists and musicians. We proudly declared ourselves the “Live Music Capital of the World” and ran the city with the motto “Keep Austin Weird.” Our finest afternoons were spent in old lawn chairs outside coffee shops chatting with strangers or on the grassy slopes of Barton Springs, where someone would entertain with a guitar and everyone was welcome. Austin was where you could be whatever you were and no one much cared: parents back in the suburbs weren’t asking and we weren’t telling. Have a terrible idea for a business that sounds like a ton of fun? You’d have a co-founder, funding, and a hot desk before you ever left the park. Of course, that was in the Good Old Days™–it’s a bit more complicated than that now, but Austin is still pretty good in that way. The spirit of “let’s go find out!”, of risk-taking, collaboration, and long evenings swapping ideas under string lights and Willie Nelson covers is the very fabric of Austin. This relaxed, “what do we have to lose?” attitude combined with the open spirit of our artist class set the stage for the startup scene you see today. Unlike California, it wasn’t money or pedigree. It was that none of us had either of that to lose.

• The political tone of Texas legislation does not map neatly onto Austin business culture; the innovation community here is fairly globally oriented and often more aligned with European perspectives than you’d expect from headlines. We are well aware of this dynamic. Austinites, however well trained and generally housebroken we may be, will probably talk to you about politics the moment we learn you are from Elsewhere. Please forgive us. Traditionally, Austin is known as a blue dot in a red sea, a left-leaning, progressive city surrounded by the Republican-led rural areas. It is also the capitol of Texas, which means that Republican administration of the state is an uphill stumble from the bars hosting rallies a few blocks away. This means that the locals you encounter tend to live on the pulse of politics and current events, and tend to be more informed than is likely recommended for healthy blood pressure. It is highly likely you’ll hear immediate acknowledgements of our current affairs with curiosity for your opinion and a genuine appreciation that you’re visiting the US. 

• Texas is a big and varied state, distinguished primarily by our common disdain for different football teams. Texas is not part of the South in any meaningful way; this will open deep, emotional conversations for which you are unlikely to be prepared lest you already have several drinks in you and no place to be next. Texas is its own region, with its own microcultures, which is often why Texans will respond “Texas” as where they are from when asked.

• Austinites will talk to you and, in keeping with American stereotypes, will get right down to business, especially in the fast-paced movement of SXSW. Even if shrouded in quips about how it’s so hot the pavement is melting or how long the line is, small talk is functional: do we like each other, are we helpful to each other, and do we need to continue to know each other. Expect to be asked why you’re here and what you want rather abruptly; know that it’s not intended to be rude, but rather to avoid potentially missing a meaningful connection because the line moved forward or an event started. Speed networking and rapid impressions is the name of the game, so directness and being very practical about exchanging information are tools worth preparing. 

A few fast facts and good-to-know things about Austin

• Austin is laid out on a grid divided by the river and I-35. When asking directions (particularly on Congress), you’ll benefit by asking which side of the river or (for streets like Cesar or 6th) which side of I-35. Rivers and highways are absolute; “east” and “west” are relative.

• Austin’s hippie heritage gave us many things, but it also meant we passed up on infrastructure that went to cities like San Antonio. The Austin metro area has about 2.55 million residents, with about a million of us living in the city proper. Traffic is atrocious. Think classic American traffic, but with a mix of hybrids and self-driving cars among the big ol’ pickup trucks. Getting from one venue to another during SXSW will be an endeavor. See the section on Getting Around below. 

• Austin is anchored by giants: Dell and Texas Instruments built much of the area’s original backbone. You’ll find many other names you might have come across here with major campuses or significant operations: Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, IBM, Oracle, Tesla, Cisco, AMD, VMware. 

• Angel investors, family offices, and private foundations shouldn’t be underestimated. Accredited investors can move mountains if so inclined to do so. We usually aren’t talking about small checks and micromanagement, but rather significant, embedded, and well-connected institutions–even if that institution is simply a last name. These can be powerful allies and champions, not underestimated. 

• It is so much hotter here than is reasonable for mammals. There is a fair to partly cloudy chance that you could get concussed by a hardboiled egg falling out of a nest in summer, and by March the city is usually into decent swimming weather, be that in a rooftop pool, Barton Springs, or in your own sweat. Blazers from May on are not for looks but rather to hold the sweat in. On any given week between March and May, we may have mild temperatures and Spring flowers, tornadoes and flying monkeys, and soul-crisping sun. It is indubitably the best time of year to visit outside of October, so enjoy it. (Warning: air conditioning is universal and aggressive).

• Our streets are reliably untrustworthy. Cesar Chavez is 1st Street (and it’s pronounced “cess-ar”, not caesar). Spanish is otherwise inconsistently applied: San Jacinto is “San Jack”, Guadalupe is “Gwad-a-loop”, Chicon should always be pronounced “Chicken.” No one knows how to refer to the neighborhood of Mueller. We have some half streets too, like 38th ½ and 2nd ½, which only exists for about half a block. Some streets are sometimes one ways, and because this wasn’t enough fun, we also have a few roundabouts. I-35 also splits into upper and lower levels, which limit your options for specific exit streets.