While we’ve attended the conference for the past several years, this year we were excited to participate on two panels – The Building Blocks of a Smart World and Are You a Builder or a Backer?
Nextdoor’s Director of Partnerships, Jeremie Beebe, was part of “The Building Blocks of a Smart World” panel, moderated by Fortune’s Leigh Gallagher alongside Dan Lieberman of SmartThings and Karen Roter Davis of Urban Engines. The panel featured the different companies and products that can help build the smart, connected world of the future.
Dan Lieberman, Karen Roter Davis, Jeremie Beebe, and moderator Leigh Gallagher discuss technology that can help build the smart world of the future.
We discussed how Nextdoor is connecting police departments and local governments with residents to make their communications faster, more targeted, and smarter. SmartThings weighed in on how to build the infrastructure to make our homes smarter by connecting all of the devices we use within them – thermometers, vacuum cleaners, light switches – to one central hub. Urban Engines explained how it is creating a platform to help both cities and commuters make smarter decisions that will make public transportation more efficient.
Leena Rao, Aileen Lee, and Sarah Leary talk about the differences between building and backing new companies.
Leena Rao, also of Fortune, moderated the “Are You a Builder or a Backer?” panel discussion between Nextdoor’s Co-Founder, Sarah Leary, and the Founder of Cowboy Ventures, Aileen Lee. Both Sarah and Aileen have unique backgrounds – each has worked at venture capital firms, and each has gone on to start and build their own companies. Their conversation focused on the differences and similarities between “builders” and “backers” – and whether the careers are mutually exclusive.
We feel fortunate to have participated at SXSW again and always enjoy the opportunity to be part of the discussions that are helping to shape our industry. Here’s to next year!
Looks like SXSW went amazingly for you guys– great to hear it all went well!
That’s great! 🙂