Texas McCombs at SXSW 2023

Members of our business school community were speakers, mentors, judges, and moderators at this year’s edition of the megafestival

South by Southwest 2023 enabled attendees to hear from Texas McCombs alumni, students, faculty members, staffers, and university leaders, who appeared on panels and sessions — everything from one-on-one mentor meetings to large-scale ballroom talks — throughout the festival.

Here’s your chance to relive the expertise and excitement shared at SXSW across a range of business areas, including entrepreneurship, innovation, wellness, and more.

A Conversation with Bill Gurley

Bill Gurley, MBA ’93, general partner at Benchmark, appeared at “Featured Session: Turning the Tables on Tim Ferriss: A Conversation with Bill Gurley” for a conversation on investing in startups, reading as procrastination, and the art of the interview. And Gurley shared his thoughts on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, as reported by Business Insider, which he contrasted with the 2008 financial crisis. “At the very least, we should reflect on what happened in the past before we throw a lot of darts at what’s happening here,” Gurley said.

Changing the Game for College Athletics

Lillian Mills, Texas McCombs dean, introduced “How NIL Is Changing the Game for College Athletics,” which she referred to as “a seismic shift in the landscape of sports business.”

The session — shining a light on how McCombs’ sports business education intersects with Texas Athletics, two world-class programs — was part of the university’s full-day Discover Texas on March 11, which included panels; a networking space; KUTX recordings; and live music from Nik Parr, BBA ’16, followed by headliner Lucius at the Burnt Orange Bash.

Climate Award Winner

Amod Daherkar, BBA ’25, CEO of Gazelle Ecosolutions, joined Shell’s panel, “Ag Update: How Start Ups are Scaling Up Climate-Smart Agriculture,” to discuss how Gazelle Ecosolutions, a startup that grew out of UT’s Global Sustainability Leadership Institute, restores grasslands to fight climate change and catalyzes conservation through tech-enabled land management. The team was among two winning startups to receive the Shell|THRIVE Climate-Smart Agriculture GameChanger award.

“We couldn’t be more excited to move forward with the GameChanger and THRIVE Accelerator program and see where this opportunity goes. We’ve been so fortunate to have UT supporting us every step along the way and couldn’t have asked for a better school to help support our startup with the connections and pool of talent it provides,” Daherkar said.

The Gazelle team includes Amod Daherkar (CEO), BBA finance ’25; Siddharth Thakur (chief technology officer), B.S. electrical and computer engineering ’25; Mihir Bendre (chief sustainability officer), B.S. computational engineering ’25; Douglas Pham (carbon markets), BBA finance ’25; Grant Kitlowski (software lead), B.S. aerospace engineering ’25; and mentors Thoralf Meyer and Kelley Crews, professors, Department of Geography and the Environment.

AI Pitch Judge

Bryan Stolle, BBA ’81, MBA ’87, served as a judge at “SXSW Pitch: Artificial Intelligence, Voice, & Robotics Technologies,” where early-stage technology was presented to technology experts, high-profile media, venture capitalists, and angel investors.

Student Mental Health

Anjali Bathra Ravikumar, MIS ’23, took part in Harvard Business Review’s SXSW EDU panel “What Is Educators’ Role in Student Mental Health?” to discuss the importance of college students’ mental health and well-being. “We tend to lose sight of accepting this additional responsibility of taking care of your mental health,” she said. “And I think the first step to that is normalizing that, and talking more about that, so that’s why I’m here today.”

Digital Ethics

Cara Biasucci, director of Ethics Education and creator of Ethics Unwrapped in the Center for Leadership and Ethics, appeared at a full-house fireside chat with Tino Kuehnel, CEO of byte, for “Unleashing Happiness — Why Digital Ethics Matter.”

Alcohol’s Carbon Footprint

Tri Vo, BBA ’07, co-founder of Fierce Whiskers, and Aimy Steadman, MBA ’13, founder and COO of BeatBox Beverages, appeared on the panel “Brands Shaking Up Alcohol’s Carbon Footprint” to share their approaches to integrating sustainability in manufacturing and operations. “It’s not all about changing the world as a company. It’s about the chance to inspire others to change the world,” said Vo. Those sentiments were echoed by Steadman. “Responsible business is love in action. We’re focused on being that next-generation company to serve the next generation,” she said.

Inclusive and Equitable VR Design

Allison Morrison, EMBA ’25, reality labs policy manager at Meta, moderated “Metaverse Equity: Inclusive and Equitable Design in Virtual Reality” at the company’s downtown office.

Those weren’t the only places where Texas McCombs showed up at SXSW:

SXSW Edu

Art Markman, professor of marketing and vice provost for continuing and professional education and new education ventures, “Online Graduate Education at Research Universities.”

Kendra Scott, CEO, Kendra Scott and founder of KS WELI; and Jan Ryan, professor and former executive director of entrepreneurship and innovation at UT, “Incubating Female Students into Entrepreneurs.”

SXSW Interactive

Amira Pollock, Texas McCombs MBA coach, instructor, and lecturer, mentor session.

Sam Malcolm, M.S. business analytics ’19, senior analyst for the Alamo Drafthouse, mentor session.

Tamara Fields, BBA ’96, managing director at Accenture, “Accenture Open House and SXSW Reception.”

Lesley Robinson, Texas McCombs lecturer, co-creator of the entrepreneurial LeadHERship course and director of the Kendra Scott Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute (KS WELI), SXSW Pitch Advisory Board Member.

Story by Jeremy M. Simon