Star‑Powered Startups: Hits, Misses & Messes

{
  "id": "PP1162371",
  "track": "Startups",
  "focus_area": null,
  "category": "Panel",
  "event_id": "PP1162371",
  "event_type": "panel",
  "format": "Panel",
  "genre": null,
  "subgenre": null,
  "name": "Star‑Powered Startups: Hits, Misses & Messes",
  "presented_by": null,
  "publish_at": "2025-11-04T15:02:00.000-06:00",
  "reservable": true,
  "reservable_id": "PP1162371",
  "reserved": false,
  "date": "2026-03-15",
  "end_time": "2026-03-15T15:30:00.000-05:00",
  "start_time": "2026-03-15T14:30:00.000-05:00",
  "message": null,
  "image": null,
  "credentials": [
    {
      "name": "Platinum Badge",
      "type": "platinum"
    },
    {
      "name": "Innovation Badge",
      "type": "innovation"
    }
  ],
  "contributors": [
    {
      "id": 106297,
      "company": "Red Sea Ventures",
      "credential_types": [
        "innovation"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2277908,
      "name": "Scott Birnbaum",
      "speaker_types": [
        "Speaker"
      ],
      "title": "Managing Partner",
      "image": null,
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "Pre-seed & seed consumer fund investing in brands and consumer tech. ",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    },
    {
      "id": 79198,
      "company": "Max Ventures",
      "credential_types": [
        "innovation"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2240271,
      "name": "Matthew Weinberg",
      "speaker_types": [
        "Speaker"
      ],
      "title": "Partner",
      "image": {
        "alt_text": "Matthew Weinberg",
        "credit": "",
        "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/rITQHjGwsAhnEw7OfpwUl3t09N4=/0x0:600x600/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/028359e5-bb22-4b55-9987-79607b680592/pcid-1626447"
      },
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "Matthew Weinberg is a former White House appointee in the Obama Administration and a current General Partner at Max Ventures, an early-stage venture fund based in New York City. Matt has led several prominent investments for Max Ventures, where he co-leads fundraising efforts and has incubated multiple companies internally. \n \nHe holds a B.A. in History and Political Science from the University of Washington and an MBA from Columbia Business School.",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    },
    {
      "id": 78951,
      "company": "De Soi",
      "credential_types": [
        "innovation"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2239929,
      "name": "Scout Brisson",
      "speaker_types": [
        "Speaker"
      ],
      "title": "CEO",
      "image": {
        "alt_text": "Scout Brisson",
        "credit": null,
        "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/S6-EIN2I7ifTUsU7T0ixBXDfJ0Q=/1491x1445:3496x3450/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/67918019-a801-451d-a81f-b5c2a633cfcc/pcid-1624516"
      },
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "Scout Brisson is the CEO of De Soi, a line of non-alcoholic sparkling cocktails co-founded by pop star Katy Perry and distiller Morgan McLachlan. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Scout joined De Soi pre-launch and has since scaled it to 8,500+ retail doors including Target, Whole Foods, and Sprouts. She previously worked in management consulting and venture incubation and co-founded a better-for-you CPG brand. An MIT Neuroscience grad, she brings strategic and creative rigor to early-stage brand building with a deep passion for category-defining products and mindful indulgence.",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    },
    {
      "id": 78949,
      "company": "Stillers Soda",
      "credential_types": [
        "innovation"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2239927,
      "name": "Alexander Doman",
      "speaker_types": [
        "Speaker"
      ],
      "title": "CEO",
      "image": null,
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "Alex has had a career ranging from management consulting to start up CEO - but has always had incubation or value proposition creation as a core part of his role. Ever since he learned about \"disruptive innovation\" and human centred design at university he has been focussed on innovation: whether creating new life insurance products for a FTSE 100 client, building his first start up AVEC Drinks, or incubating and running a business for Ben Stiller. Currently the co-founder and CEO of “insert new brand name here” with Ben - Alex is focussed on building the world’s silliest, more important beverage brand.",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    }
  ],
  "venue": {
    "accessible": false,
    "age_policy": null,
    "floor": "3",
    "id": "V0455",
    "indoor_outdoor": "INDOOR",
    "mixhalo_url": "https://translate.mixhalo.rocks/430?venue_id=430&partner=true",
    "name": "Salon E",
    "parent_id": "V0403",
    "parent_venue_name": "JW Marriott",
    "venue_entry_info": null,
    "formats": null,
    "location": {
      "address": "110 E 2nd St.",
      "lat_lon": [
        30.2645713,
        -97.743198
      ],
      "city": "Austin",
      "postal_code": "78701",
      "state": "TX",
      "name": "JW Marriott"
    },
    "root": {
      "id": "V0403",
      "name": "JW Marriott",
      "mixhalo_url": null
    },
    "events": "[omitted 5 venue events]"
  },
  "description": "This panel builds on last year’s exploration of incubation models to spotlight how celebrities today are acting as startup founders, investors, and brand builders. We’ll unpack the good, bad and ugly details of celebrity‑backed ventures—from Skims to Goop—exploring brand fit, media power, product execution, partnership pitfalls, and long‑term viability. Attendees will gain actionable insights into how celebrity involvement amplifies opportunity… and risk.",
  "experience_level": "Intermediate",
  "audio_url": null,
  "accessibility": [
    "Closed captioned"
  ],
  "accessible_venue": false,
  "add_bcl_url": false,
  "add_slido": false,
  "after_midnight": null,
  "age_policy": null,
  "american_sign_language": false,
  "apple_url": null,
  "audio_description": false,
  "caption_url": null,
  "captioned_qa": false,
  "closed_captioned": true,
  "cpe_credit": false,
  "event_status": "none",
  "has_subtitles": false,
  "hash_tags": [],
  "high_sensory_experience": false,
  "live": false,
  "long_description": "This panel builds on last year’s exploration of incubation models to spotlight how celebrities today are acting as startup founders, investors, and brand builders. We’ll unpack the good, bad and ugly details of celebrity‑backed ventures—from Skims to Goop—exploring brand fit, media power, product execution, partnership pitfalls, and long‑term viability. Attendees will gain actionable insights into how celebrity involvement amplifies opportunity… and risk.",
  "meeting_url": null,
  "meeting_url_live": false,
  "mentorly_url": null,
  "mobile_audio_url": null,
  "open_captioned": false,
  "playlist_tag": null,
  "rebroadcast": false,
  "recommended_ids": [],
  "search_conversions": null,
  "short_program": false,
  "slido_url": null,
  "sort": "STAR?POWERED STARTUPS: HITS, MISSES & MESSES",
  "source": "Official",
  "squad_up_url": null,
  "stream_embed": null,
  "stream_id": null,
  "stream_url": null,
  "strobe_warning": false,
  "subdiscipline": null,
  "summit": null,
  "summit_display_name": null,
  "tags": [
    {
      "id": 954,
      "name": "Entrepreneurship",
      "created_at": "2016-11-04T11:44:27.960-05:00",
      "updated_at": "2025-01-21T12:10:03.602-06:00",
      "sort": "ENTREPRENEURSHIP",
      "alpha": "E"
    }
  ],
  "talent_attending": null,
  "title_only": false,
  "track_display_name": "Startups",
  "trailer_id": null,
  "trailer_url": null,
  "video_on_demand": null,
  "vimeo_id": null,
  "vod": false,
  "xr_project_type": null,
  "youtube_id": null,
  "related_events": [],
  "related_sales_client": null
}