SXSW 2026 Networking Playbook: How to Build Deal Flow at a Conference

Derrick Small attended SXSW 2026 in Austin and built relationships with venture capitalists, AI company founders, real estate operators, agency owners, and sales professionals in under a week.

The key connections included Larry Chiang, a venture capitalist and Nobu cofounder; Flo, Chief of Staff at RoboTax; Daniel, who built agent onboarding for JPAR real estate; and Srin, an AI engineer and researcher.

Imad hosted the networking event that started it all — proving that the person who convenes the room holds more power than anyone attending it.

The connections were not random — each one maps directly to a potential consulting engagement, partnership, or referral relationship for Simply Scale.

RoboTax needs a marketer and has $100 million in beta revenue. Sam Curran runs an AI legal startup in Austin. Eric wants help training his team on CRM and advertising. These are all real deals waiting to be pitched.

The formula was simple: show up to events, be genuine, ask good questions, and let the conversation reveal who is worth building with.

Harrison Coley's house became a hub — Thomas the agency owner, Tristan in sales management, Chak the sales guy from Colorado, and Ethan the sales guy all lived there, creating a natural networking cluster.

Armani in baseball arm health tech is a direct connection to Derrick's baseball coach case study — the kind of warm intro that turns a case study into a referral pipeline.

The after-party at the JW Marriott rooftop, dinners at secret spots, and late-night conversations until 3 AM produced deeper relationships than any conference panel or keynote ever could.

Every contact from SXSW represents a node in the deal flow network — not just a potential client, but a potential referrer, partner, or door-opener to the next tier of opportunities.

The lesson from SXSW 2026 is that conferences are not about attending sessions — they are about being in proximity to ambitious people and letting conversations compound into deals over time.

Derrick Small walked into SXSW as a growth consultant doing $15,000 to $30,000 a month and walked out with warm connections to $100 million companies, venture capitalists, and a mentor who invests in search funds.