Texas Business Shines at SXSW

South by Southwest is one of Austin’s signature events — for one week in March, hundreds of thousands of people from around the world converge on the city to share their expertise at the event. The festival, first held in 1987, elevates Austin to the global stage, and this year’s sessions especially emphasized the critical role that the McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin, and the broader Texas ecosystem play in driving innovation and economic growth.

McCombs and UT: Cornerstones of Austin’s Startup Ecosystem

Charlie Plauche, MBA ’11 and founder of S3 Ventures, hosted a panel discussion on the startup and venture capital landscape of Texas. He opened by sharing an optimistic forecast for Texas startups. Despite a nationwide cooling after the unprecedented startup growth of 2021, Plauche noted that “Austin, and Texas as a whole, still remains strong.” Venture capital investments in Texas have outpaced other regions since 2018, he said. While other cities are growing more competitive, Austin continues to be a center for technology and startups. Plauche reported that the city accounts for over 50% of venture capital money in Texas.

After presenting his findings, Plauche moderated a conversation with three local investors and founders — Oksana Malysheva of Sputnik ATX Venture Capital, Morgan Flager of Silverton Partners, and Krishna Srinivasan of LiveOak Ventures — that highlighted why Texas continues to outperform other states in entrepreneurship. They pointed to the city’s “considerable talent pool” as a major draw for investors, giving special recognition to a primary source of this talent.

“Investors and major companies are looking to the University for talent and resources,” Srinivasan said, underscoring how UT has become a cornerstone in Austin’s startup ecosystem and how it serves to attract talent from across the country.

UT Showcases Investment in Innovation

The University’s reputation was also on full display at the Hook ’Em House, UT’s second annual official activation hosted by downtown nightclub Antone’s. Event planners transformed the venue into a Longhorn Basketball headquarters just in time for March Madness, complete with basketball court floors, burnt orange walls, locker rooms, and real hoops. The festivities kicked off with performances by the Longhorn Band, donuts shaped like the Hook ‘Em horns sign, and complimentary UT swag.

The event was more than fun and games — the second floor of the venue hosted panel discussions in which experts from UT faculty, alumni, and the business community highlighting the University’s research and future initiatives.

The panel “Texas: At the Heart of Tech’s Future” focused on the state’s strategic plan for a “bigger, better” Texas — with goals including having 10% of Fortune 500 companies based in Texas and the state having its own stock exchange — and how UT contributes to these ambitious goals. The panel featured Jim Breyer, a venture capitalist and UT advisory board member; Claudia F. Lucchinetti, dean of Dell Medical School; Mark Arnold, associate vice president of Discovery to Impact; and S.V. Sreenivasan, a professor of engineering. Interim UT President Jim Davis provided a special introduction.

“UT is creating an ecosystem that allows people to innovate,” Sreenivasan said. Breyer agreed: Despite a hazy economic forecast for the country, he said he believes there is a “spirit of optimism” throughout Austin. “There is no great company that is not around a university, and UT is a center for entrepreneurship,” he said. A California transplant himself, Breyer emphasized that business leaders across the country are taking note of Texas’ reputation for innovation, saying “[Texas] is open for business.”

McCombs’ Healthcare Innovation Initiative, a collaborative program between the McCombs School of Business and Dell Medical School, exemplifies the University’s commitment to pioneering innovation. The initiative is dedicated to championing research and equipping business and health care professionals with the tools they need to improve patient outcomes.

The conversations at SXSW 2025 are a strong indicator that Texas’ reputation for business innovation is growing —attracting talent, investment, and attention from across the country. And with their robust programs, spirit of entrepreneurship, and high-achieving student population, McCombs and UT have helped to earn the state that reputation.

More McCombs SXSW Highlights

• McCombs Student Speaks SXSW EDU: Maryam Zoweil, a first-year student in the Canfield Business Honors program, delivered a talk on depolarizing classroom discourse during the education conference. Read Zoweil’s story.
• “Hello Longhorn” With Carla Vernón, MBA ’98: Carla Vernón, CEO of The Honest Company, sat down for a special live recording of the Texas Exes’ “Hello Longhorn” podcast at the Hook ’Em House.
• Rebooting AI From the Ground Up: Allison Morrison, eMBA ’25, hosted a fireside chat with Rumman Chowdhury, a top data scientist and one of Time magazine’s most influential people in artificial intelligence, on responsible and ethical AI. Watch the session here.
• The SXSW Experience: Have you ever wondered what it’s like to attend South by Southwest? Check out our recap of last year’s festival from a first-time attendee.

Story by Amanda Waxman