Startups see SXSW as launch pad

AUSTIN (KXAN) - From red carpet movie premieres to interactive demonstrations, South by Southwest is all about business.

 "It's a lot of face time," said Wes Wilson, CEO of a graphic design startup.

 "What I really want to bring back to Fargo is a big stack of business cards that I can use to help grow the company," said Libby Issendorf, a digital strategist.

"Really meet a lot of people and get a lot of bang for our buck in three days without having to kill ourselves on money," said Andrew Murphy, co-founder of a startup company.

For Murphy, who traveled all the way from Sunnyvale, California, SXSW is really all about monkey business.

"What we really are hoping to do is get connections with people in the film industry, music and interactive and web industries," Murphy explained.

Murphy's startup makes interactive art pieces like dancing monkey robots and he's trying  to make a name for his company, Monkey Wrench Design .

"We've met hundreds of people in tons of industries we never even thought of," Murphy added.

Wilson is another entrepreneur who wants to get his graphic design startup off the ground.

"We just want people to know that we are here and that we are in the community and that we've arrived," Wilson explained.

An interactive karaoke game was Wilson's crafty way of getting potential clients to stop and take a look at his product over the weekend.

Aside from budding business men and women, there are workers who just want to have fun.

Namely, the volunteers who get paid in perks.

"You get to sit in on panels and interactive events," said Nikki Gafford, SXSW volunteer.

"It's really exciting for me because it's my first year doing it and I've never done a red carpet before, today was my first," explained Sarah Boger, SXSW volunteer.  "I met an astronaut."

The harder and longer volunteers work, the better the perks.

Most said they're aiming to work more than 70 hours to get their hands on a free pass to the music portion of the festival.

Music passes typically cost a couple hundred dollars.