Gadgetory

South by Southwest is hoping to attract an even bigger slice of the red hot startup scene ever since Twitter broke out in 2007 the 20 year old festival of music film + interactive media has been seen as proving ground for fledgling businesses since then the parties the pitches and the products have come fast and furious but some experts wonder just how valuable the South by Southwest experience really is for the most part I think a lot of these companies come they're expecting to kind of break out and they really don't because they get lost and my you know amidst the noise of you know hundreds of other companies but then there are the parties you have to schmooze that's what you have to do if you need customers you need partners if you need to meet engineers or you need to raise money you have to be there I mean you just why why would you avoid the OP the possibility that at some drunken night at three in the morning you will you know you might just run into that person that will cut you to check that's so important or introduce you to the partnership that you need cashing in on networking opportunities isn't an easy formula most trade shows even big ones like CES the problem with being a startup at CES is no one cares about you you're just in the shadow of these big companies making big product announcements of shiny new TVs and home audio systems and really large well-financed you know splashy projects as for South by Southwest it's still the hottest ticket in town this year it will launch startup village a one-stop-shop for entrepreneurs offering pitch sessions and networking events CNET's six years South by Southwest veteran speculates if the festival's best years could be behind it I worry if it's you know kind of like gone you know jump the shark or gone past the point of no return and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and I think that you know as you know I always ask the question of you know do these companies know why they're going and apparently they get some return because the you know it just keeps getting bigger each year for cnet news I'm Sumi das you