Helga Henry: Bringing ideas back from US

Mar 19 2010 By Helga Henry

At South by Southwest Interactive (SxSW) I joined more than 17,000 delegates who gathered in Austin, Texas, to debate developments in the interactive world.

As part of a trade mission supported by UKTI, I heard inspiring speakers like tech guru Clay Shirky.

Using a series of apparently random examples including balloons, monkeys and lingerie, Clay analysed humans’ use of the internet with reference to primates and their propensity to share.

While designers and web developers have hardcore conversations about programming, there is also a thriving strand on business and going freelance.

As I am increasingly interested in spotting and developing creative talent, and putting that talent to work, I attended some stimulating panels on turning passions and talents into viable business ideas.

In one session, artists learned how to defy the art market by exhibiting and selling online.

In another, we used the techniques of improvised comedy to learn how to be more persuasive when dealing with clients.

A recurring theme of these sessions was the need to ensure that your business has sufficient capital – be it an “emergency fund” to pay for healthcare (a big concern in the US) or a more substantial requirement to build your business infrastructure.

And that’s one area where our region has a distinct head start.

I recently became a board member at the Creative Advantage, a venture capital fund of over £1 million that has been earmarked for the region’s creatives.

I am confident that it could be a “game changer”.

If you are based in the West Midlands (or are willing to be), if you have a killer creative business idea that simply lacks the capital to build it to a scale that makes it profitable, then check it out.

I was also privileged to attend the world premiere of the documentary “Lemmy”.

The event was sponsored by the mighty Home of Metal archive from our friends at Capsule and attended by the Jack Daniels swigging Godfather of Heavy Metal himself.

But Lemmy has a strong work ethic and at 65, is still rocking: recording, playing and touring.

If that isn’t turning passion and talent into a business, I don’t know what is.

* Helga Henry is general manager at Fierce and a board member of Creative Republic