For those of you who have attended SXSW Interactive in the past, you know it grows bigger and bigger each year – 2013 was no exception! Each year, thousands of people travel to Austin, Texas to interact with their favorite brands, connect with like-minded individuals, attend sessions about an interesting topic, and discover the newest innovations in technology. This year, enterprise software and technology had more presence at SXSW than ever before. This comes as no surprise, as enterprise cloud application revenues are booming! So, of course we couldn’t miss out! Yammer CEO and co-founder David Sacks discussed why he thinks enterprise has become such a hot topic at SXSW this year:
To explore the impact of social on enterprise, leaders from Yammer gave a series of talks on the SXSW stage. On March 8, VP of Engineering Kris Gale partnered with futurist Lyn Jeffery to explore lessons we can learn from the Shanzhai “copycat culture.” The talk focused on problems with US innovation, which is causing businesses to struggle to keep up with competition and changing markets.
.@kgale: Companies vulnerable to disruption because they optimize for efficiency. Organize around value you provide, not way you provide it
— Yammer (@Yammer) March 8, 2013
The Shanzhai focus on the following five core tenets to operate:
Shanzai rules: build nothing from scratch, innovate @ small scale, share as much as u can, sell it before you make it, act responsibly #sxsw — Yammer (@Yammer) March 8, 2013 The five rules of #Shanzhai, according to @lynj of @iftf, at #SXSW twitter.com/originalspin/s… — Jeff Yang (@originalspin) March 8, 2013
1. Build nothing from scratch
When you assign people goals, not tasks — people innovate naturally, and morale is better. Standardized process is a red flag, says @kgale
— Yammer (@Yammer) March 8, 2013
SXSW quote of the day: “Assign people for goals, instead of tasks to enable everybody to innovate”, @kgale, Yammer #swesxsw — Martin Thörnkvist (@thornkvist) March 8, 201
2. Innovate your processes at small increments
3. Share as much information and knowledge as you can
“Share as much as you can” is a rule of Shanzai that should be built in automatically — not an extra step that someone has to take @kgale
— Yammer (@Yammer) March 8, 2013
Share as much as you can in your business – work openly and break down silos – great advice from @yammer #SXSW — Steph Hinds (@growthwise) March 8, 2013
4. Sell before you make it
“Sell it before you make it” rule of Shanzai –> translates to “don’t build solutions in search of problems” says @kgale — Yammer (@Yammer) March 8, 2013
5. Act responsibly in the network
Act responsibly innetwork –> Command-and-control is there when you don’t trust people. Figure out *why* you can’t trust, says @kgale
— Yammer (@Yammer) March 8, 2013
On March 9, we hosted a party for Yammer customers, users and friends at the Hangar Lounge to continue the conversation of innovation in the enterprise. The beautiful three-story space allowed us to deliver several parts of the experience to attendees.
In the morning, we had amazing presentations demonstrating how several of our integration partners have used the Yammer API. They showcased how connecting their apps to Yammer has allowed a richer experience for their users.
As the sun came out later, attendees hit the rooftop deck to enjoy cocktails, snacks, music and each other’s company!
Simultaneously, in his session Insights about Innovation, David Sacks sat down with Jason Calacanis to discuss what it takes to create a disruptive startup in today’s market, and how innovation plays a key role.
Great talk on innovation with @jason and @davidsacks! #sxsw2013 twitter.com/tapdave/status…
— Dave Bisceglia (@tapdave) March 9, 2013
David Sacks shared insight and advice to today’s entrepreneurs. He shared three elemental tips to the audience:
1. Don’t be afraid to raise capital
4 things @davidsacks looks for in an angel investment: A hook, a market need, a distribution strategy, and high barrier for copiers #SXSW
— Nick deWilde (@ndewilde) March 9, 2013
2. Be innovative
“No real entrepreneur wants to build something that’s simply a feature of someone else’s product.” ~@davidsacks #SXSW — Jason Fell (@jwfell) March 9, 2013
3. Don’t try to invent something completely new if you don’t have to.
“Saying you’re not going to copy is like saying you’re not going to learn” @davidsacks #sackschat — Kyle Dardashti (@kyledardashti) March 9, 2013
“If you don’t copy, you’re being foolish.” – @davidsacks on why large tech giants clone small Startups #SXSW
— Nick deWilde (@ndewilde) March 9, 2013
Read more about David Sacks tips to entrepreneurs here.
Check out more photos from our SXSW event on our Facebook page and photos from attendees’ tweets here:
Thank you for your hospitality, Austin; see you next year!
