Max Hoberman grew up in Austin, graduated from the LBJ High School, now called the Liberal Arts and Sciences Academy of Austin.

Then he went on to get a bachelor’s degree in photojournalism from the University of Texas at Austin’s College of Communications. After graduation, he decided to pursue a career as a game developer and spent 10 years with Bungie Studios.

In 2006, Hoberman launched Certain Affinity, which is now Austin’s largest independent game studio. It has 125 employees currently with plans to hire 105 more game developers, Hoberman said.

And Certain Affinity just purchased the 55,000 square foot building which previously housed the Texas Association of School Boards at 7620 Guadalupe Street.

Mayor Steve Adler made the announcement Friday, noting its the first construction project to benefit from the Texas’ Media Production Facilities Development Program, according to a news release.

Hoberman said the project has been in the works for a year and construction began in November. The company expects to move from its 25,000 square feet of leased space in North Austin at 3107 Oak Creek Dr. in June. The new building will include two floors of creative development space, amenities, playtest labs, sound design suites and a virtual reality development lab.

The first floor will feature an open design and will be available for lease to other companies in June. STG Architects designed the site plans and Balfour Beatty is the general contractor.

“Everything we’ve done has been designed around fitting the maximum number of developers on the second and third floor of the building,” Hoberman said. “A lot of the work we do tends to be high profile and confidential.” And that’s why the company doesn’t plan to use the first floor, he said.

Certain Affinity also has plans down the road to expand further with plans for a parking garage and another 50,000 square foot building, Hoberman said.

Certain Affinity is entirely bootstrapped. The company has been profitable every year and has grown every year, Hoberman said. It has generated more than $100 million in revenue. For the first time, Hoberman said he’s looking at venture capital investment to expand the company even faster.

Certain Affinity co-develops major games such as Call of Duty, Halo and Doom. Currently, the company is working on four game titles, including two it has developed internally, Hoberman said.

“Austin is a city where good ideas become real, and this is one of the best. Certain Affinity is leveraging Austin’s strength as a game-developing center to create opportunities where, for too long, inequities have held entire communities back. This is exactly how we should be using economic incentives – in this case, sales tax exemptions – to target jobs and opportunity where Austin needs it most,” Mayor Adler said in a news release.

“Certain Affinity is a leader in digital gaming and home entertainment. It is fitting to have Certain Affinity as the first company in the state to be the recipient of this new incentive, which reinforces Austin’s standing as a center of innovation and creativity in digital media. The Chamber through Opportunity Austin is pleased to have worked alongside their leadership to reach this successful moment that will benefit the entire local community,” Kerry Hall, 2017 Chair, Opportunity Austin, said in a news release.

South by Southwest is a great place for a startup or even an established company to get some traction.

It doesn’t matter if you have a big budget or a low budget, there are all kinds of ways to stand out from the crowd at South by. Some of them require a lot of advance planning, while others require Guerrilla marketing tactics, imagination and a lot of legwork. Both can yield lots of impressions and tangible results. And make sure to work social media with a clever hashtag.

Lots of media attend SXSW every year, so it’s a great place to get some press.

Of course the best way to stand out at SXSW is to invent the next big thing. Twitter, Foursquare, Gowalla, Foodspotting, Meerkat and others all gained big traction at SXSW. Some like PR Pro Laura Beck advise startups not to launch at SXSW because it’s such a busy time, but it’s a great place to showcase your startups to an international audience of technology influencers. And Honest Dollar officially launched at SXSW in 2015 and a year later, Goldman Sachs bought the company. So who knows, your startup might just be the next big thing. Or it might just be a flash in the pan. RIP Meerkat.

• PANELS – Pre-event: Pitch to Panel Picker and set up a panel with a compelling topic. (You can also try to hit up established panels to see if they had someone fall through and need to fill a spot.)
• TRADE SHOW – Get a booth at the SXSW Trade Show. It’s fantastic real estate right in the convention center that reaches a global audience. TriNet, the human resources company, put a giant Yam in the convention center a few years ago and got press for pitching a faux YamTrader startup.
• PARTY – Hold a party. Official parties must get approval from SXSW and other parties often require a permit from the City of Austin, which takes advanced planning. But you can do small pop up parties at hotels and other venues with select influencers in your industry. Gary Vaynerchuk used to host after hours wine tasting parties. He would send out the party invite via Twitter after midnight.
• PODCAST – Podcast stage – this is new this year at SXSW. The conference organizers are giving 42 podcasts a Podcast stage to do live shows. It’s open to all badge holders. (Submissions are closed for this year but you’ll have another opportunity next year)
• PITCH – Enter pitch competitions and other competitions that allow you to showcase your company on stage. Holt Ventures Industrial Technology Pitch Competition.SXSW Release It pitch competition. SXSW Accelerator. First Honest Dollar won the SXSW Release It pitch competition and then the startup won the 2015 ATI SXSW pitch competition.

THINGS TO DO AT THE SHOW

• MEDIA ROOM – Hit up the press room to reach the media. The media is everywhere at SXSW. One of the ways to get your name in front of them is to drop off goodies at the press room. Reporters like free stuff but ethics rules prohibit them from taking anything with a big price tag so keep it small like notebooks, pens, hangover kits, umbrellas, hats, T-shirts, candy, breathe mints – you get the idea. The possibilities are endless.
• EMAIL – Reach out directly to media to set up appointments, if possible. The SXSW press department provides a list of journalists who are attending SXSW. Reach out to them on SXSW Social also. It’s not always possible to connect for a one on one meeting, but it doesn’t hurt to try. Also, there are several journalism related parties like The Awesomest Journalism Party Ever put on by Hacks and Hackers. Lots of media outlets also host their own parties like Mashable, CNN, etc.


Where’s Waldo? He was in line with Laura Lorek, editor of Silicon Hills News, at SXSW Interactive last year.

• STUNTS – Attention-grabbing stunts – Last year, Wesley Faulkner, social media manager of NameCheap, dressed up like Waldo from the children’s books Where’s Waldo. He had people take pictures with him and post to social media with a special hashtag and they got a free domain name. The campaign went viral and earned more than 2 million impressions, according to the company. Big budget attractions include Mr. Robot’s Ferris Wheel last year and General Electric’s solar powered Merry-go-round from a few years ago. But by far, the biggest lines I’ve ever seen were at the Mashable tent in 2014 for people to get their picture taken with Grumpy Cat.
• WEIRD FACTOR Host some weird stuff. Chaotic Moon does a great job of this. They famously tasered an intern with a drone strike a few years back. And every year, they’ve got about a dozen different projects on display.
• LEGOS – The Lego Pit – a cheap way to get pictures of your logo out there. People build skyscrapers and other creations with company logos and others take pictures. It’s a low budget way to make an impression. And it’s fun.
• T-SHIRTS – Not as big as several years ago, but people still love getting free T-shirts. Even better if you ask people to wear the T-shirt in exchange for a reward.
T-shirts of SXSW Interactive 2010 from Laura Lorek
• GIVEAWAYS – Candy with stickers. Or hangover bags with stickers. Or breathe mints with stickers. Or just stickers. People love free stuff and stickers. Bags. Just make sure the promotional giveaways have your brand, website and other details on them.
• RIDES – Weird rides – TaskRabbit had a giant, furry truck that looked like a brown rabbit and handed out ice cream. Uber hired a fleet of branded pedicabs. Lyft gave piggyback rides. PayPal gave rides in antique and vintage cars.
• PROBLEM SOLVER – Solve problems for people. Branded charging stations are a great idea. Also, portable chargers. And like in the example above, people need rides. Chevy had a fleet of electric vehicles that gave people rides to different venues one year. Paper maps of the best places to eat, get coffee, drinks, buy souvenirs, etc. (Posse did this in 2014 and reported it went over well)
• COSTUMES – Mascots and costumes. Every year, I see people getting their picture taken with people in costumes whether it’s Hipmunk’s giant chipmunk, people dressed as pandas, robots, hearts, superheroes, etc. It must be working because people keep doing it.
• POSTERS – Old fashion flyers – one of the cheapest ways to get the word out about your company is to create a poster and plaster it on the poles around the convention center. Just be prepared to make hundreds because they get covered up quickly. But they can make quite an impression.
• PAPER – Paper products – The Daily Dot, which considers itself to be the newspaper of the Internet, created a real newspaper broadsheet for SXSW one year and placed it at parties around town. Silicon Hills News also produced a special 32-page magazine for SXSW twice. We’re not doing it this year, but we might bring it back next year. It was a huge hit.
• POP-UPS – Last year, Besomebody, which is no longer around, created pop-ups around town with people displaying their passions – singing, dancing, painting, drawing. The platform was geared at teaching people a new skill. It also rented out a giant billboard.
• GAMES – Sidewalk games – Foursquare used chalk to create Foursquare playing courts outside the convention center several years back. It was effective at getting their brand out there.
• EVENTS – Host an event like running, hiking, going on a tour. Guy Kawasaki used to host an ice hockey meetup. Others have had skeet shooting outings. Lots of people in town want to see the area beyond the convention center. Sometimes organizing a bus to a getaway like Salt Lick is the perfect way to get some quality time with an influencer audience.

If you have a favorite attention-getting tip, that’s not mentioned here, please add it to the comments.

Also, ADVERTISE in Silicon Hills News – great way to reach the tech audience. (Only have two spots left for sidebar ads for March – act fast) HAVE FUN! BE SAFE! And contact Laura Lorek at 210-413-3955 LauraLorek@gmail.com or Laura@SiliconHillsNews.com to let us know what your company is doing at SXSW Interactive.

Got a world changing idea?

Then you might want to apply to Capital Factory’s $100,000 pitch competition.

Capital Factory, a high tech accelerator and coworking center in Austin, announced recently that it has gathered together a group of investors to give one startup a $100,000 investment.

“Any tech or consumer startup can apply on AngelList to pitch at our Funding Day on February 24th,” according to a post in Austin Startups on Medium by Capital Factory.

“We want to see Austin entrepreneurs thinking bigger and shooting for the stars. If you’re really trying to change the world, we will help you get started,” Brett Hurt, CEO of data.world and founder of Bazaarvoice, Coremetrics and Hurt Family Investments, said in the post.

“This is the money you need to quit your job and become an entrepreneur,” Joshua Baer, founder of Capital Factory said in the post.

The $100,000 investment is the startup funds to get a team focused full time on building a product. In addition to the money, Capital Factory will provide free rent, free hosting and other perks. They also provide access to an extensive and well-connected mentor netowrk.

“Getting the first check is hard enough as it is — it’s even harder in today’s market if you are female. I’m looking forward to backing more diverse teams with women in key leadership positions,” Jan Ryan, founder of Women@Austin, said in the post.

Apply now, because according to a post by Baer on Twitter, they have already received 100 applications and they plan to meet Wednesday night to decide who gets to pitch on Feb. 24th.

Klever Logic is no more.

The Austin-based startup announced on Tuesday that it has rebranded to FlashParking since its parking attendants are known as the “Flash Guys.”

Under the move, all of Klever Logic’s solutions including FlashValet, FlashPARCS and FlashMobile are now under the FlashParking brand. The company also launched a new website which provides a 360-degree view of FlashParking and its solutions and customer portal.

FlashParking recently landed $3 million in venture capital led by Austin-based serial entrepreneurs Sam Goodner and Dan Sharplin. The company used the money to hire more employees and to move last month into new headquarters located in South Austin.

FlashParking, which launched five years ago, now runs in more than 850 venues nationwide. Its platform has processed more than 33 million vehicles to date.

“During the re-branding process, it was important to us to maintain the integrity of the Flash brand and our continued commitment to being the best and fastest in the industry,” President Sam Goodner said in a news release. “It is our goal that the new FlashParking brand will become recognized as the industry standard for a superior parking solution that delivers on the promise of Parking in a Flash.”

The fast growing data.world, a social network for data people, Tuesday announced it has closed on $18.7 million in venture capital funding.

The Austin-based startup reported the funding round closed at double the valuation of its previous round. To date, data.world has raised $32.7 million. The company plans to use the money to build its data platform.

Pat Ryan’s family investment group led the round with participation from Chicago Ventures, Fyrfly Venture Partners, Hunt Technology Ventures LP, LiveOak Venture Partners, Shasta Ventures and Sherpa Asset Management AG. Angel investors included John Mackey, co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods, Daniel Pruitt, serial entrepreneur, Arthur Patterson, cofounder of Accel and former director of the National Venture Capital Association, Walter Robb, former co-CEO of Whole Foods; Adam Ifshin, CEO of DLC Management Corp.; Ralph Mack of Mack Capital; Adam Zeplain, investor in After School and Andela; Scott Booth, initial investor in Alibaba and cofounder of Lead Edge Capital and Kip Tindell, cofounder and Chairman of The Container Store.

“Amazing things happen when people join forces and use data to answer questions, solve problems and rise to solve our most urgent societal challenges together,” Brett Hurt, cofounder and CEO of data.world, said in a news statement. “We’re proud to welcome an extraordinary group of investors on our journey to radically improve data discovery, usability, and most importantly, collaboration. Closing this second funding round so close to our first, and with most of it still in the bank, is a tremendous validation of the opportunity in front of us and the rapid progress we’ve made since our preview launch in July.”

Since its launch in July of 2016, data.world, has worked on data projects with the White House, the Anti-Defamation League, the U.S. Commerce Department, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency and others. data.world is a Certified B Corporation.

“data.world is cracking the code on building a platform company that is transformational in its impact on business and society,” Jason Pressman, Managing Director at Shasta Ventures and data.world Board of Directors member, said in a news statement. “data.world has solved the hard, high-scale technical and social challenges involved in data collaboration to deliver an essential tool for all kinds of groups doing meaningful work.”

South by Southwest Interactive is less than a month away so it’s time to prepare.

This week, there are several events that will help you do just that. Make plans to attend the PR Over Coffee Event at Galvanize on Wednesday evening featuring Silicon Hills News and other local media outlets discussing how to get noticed at SXSW. If your company doesn’t have money to rent a Ferris Wheel, this is a good meetup to go to find out affordable ways to get in the headlines.

And SXSW is also holding a couple of community meetups this week. The first is the LGBTQ SXSW meetup Tuesday night at Dropbox offices. And an Austin community meetup at Google Fiber on Thursday.

This week is also Tech Diversity Week in Austin with events throughout the week on a variety of topics including leadership, inclusion, recruiting a diverse workforce, cultivating a culture of diversity. It also includes the National CIO Symposium at Silicon Labs and the Omni Hotel downtown on Wednesday.

MONDAY – Feb. 20th – 6:30 p.m. at Capital Factory – Austin Christian Technologists and Entrepreneurs host a panel event: Changing Habits: How Patterns Affect Our Lives.

Feb. 20th – 7 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. Austin WordPress Group at the Austin Baptist Church – How to Build an Effective Content Creation Strategy.

TUESDAY – Feb. 21st – 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Capital Factory: Austin Music Tech Monthly Meetup.

Feb. 21st – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Dropbox Offices – LGBTQ SXSW Community Meet Up

WEDNESDAY – Feb. 22nd – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Galvanize – Marketing Madness – PR Over Coffee Meetup on Getting Your Startup in the Headlines During SXSW.

THURSDAY – Feb. 23rd – 6 p.m. to 8:30 at WeWork Congress – FinTech Austin Meetup: Rapid Growth, the Lazy Way with Matthew Pollard.

Feb. 23rd – 7 p.m. at the Austin American Statesman – The Online News Association/Hacks and Hackers meetup is on using drones to cover the news.

Feb. 23rd – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Google Fiber – Austin Community SXSW Meetup

FRIDAY – Feb. 24th – 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Galvanize – Austin AI Exposed: Austin Innovators Reveal the Future of Artificial Intelligence.

Upcoming Events:

Feb. 27th- March 1 – Social Media Week Austin

March 8th – PR Summit Austin