Ever year, the city of Austin plays host to one of the greatest conferences in the World - SXSW.  The week begins with SXSWi, the interactive portion, celebrates the creativity and passion behind the coolest new media technologies.  We at Moximity are glad to be part of this great event over the next few days…so, if you are in Austin, come find us!  Here’s where we will be:

Friday, March 13 - Moximity is one of the 16 Austin companies to participate in the first Austin Interactive Showcase, held in conjunction with the Entrepreneur’s Lounge, The Showcase falls on the first night of the Lounge, the first night of SXSW Interactive and the evening the Lounge is sponsored by the City of Austin. Envisioned and coordinated by Porter Novelli’s Austin office, the Showcase runs from 5-7 pm, Friday, March 13, 2009, at Fogo de Chao.  More info here: http://tinyurl.com/aqxs48

Saturday, March 14 through Monday, March 16 - Several PR events and panel sessions…highlighted by Mexican Food, BBQ and Shiner Beer!

Tuesday, March 17 - Join us for the 5PM panel on Using GPS & Location to Enhance Social Networking.  First there were social networks, and then there were location-based social networks, and now GPS and navigation-enhanced mobile social networks. This panel will explore how these emerging platforms integrate with existing social networks (facebook, twitter, etc), leverage GPS navigation functionality, and take location-aware social networking to the next level.

Overall, it will be a great weekend, and we’re excited to see all our friends and users.  So, if you see someone with a Moximity shwag, stop us and say hello!

Moximity is excited to be part of the 6th annual Rice Alliance I.T. and Web 2.0 Venture Forum occuring tomorrow.  We’re one of the five teams presenting in the morning - if you are in Houston, come check us out!  We’ll try to have pictures from our trip up next week!

That was the title of an email going around about how startups are going to face a strong funding crunch as a result of the economy. No sense worrying about what you cannot fix, so we are focusing on what we CAN do.

I am amazed how fast Moximity is moving. Less than a month ago we were dark, then came our launch in the iPhone app store, a smashing launch party (thanks to the Belmont), followed by great press coverage that had even Jay Leno talking about our Texas-based startup (thank you, Porter-Novelli).

Through it all, we’re making sure we continue to execute the myriad day to day activities needed to build Moximity into a successful business. We are cost-effectively building our user base, and continue improving our product – we just rolled out with a national data base, so you can take it everywhere you go. We will be integrating reviews and unveiling our website soon (although we are still limiting our user base to Austin, Texas).

Moximity now has revenue in the form of advertisers, enabling us to speak to potential investors about our sustainable business model. No matter how tough the times, we know that if we continue to listen to users as well as advertisers to ensure we deliver the best possible experience for them, we have a shot.

To quote one of my favorite movies…. “if you build it, they will come.”

Monica Sanchez, VP-Sales/Marketing

Last week was an exciting week for Moximity, albeit an extremely busy one. The week really started on Tuesday, when Moximity was one of the companies selected to pitch our idea at the Texas Wireless Summit. So, on Tuesday afternoon, several of the Mox team headed over to the alumni center at The University of Texas to demonstrate what we’ve been working on. Special thanks to Aces Lounge for running a spectacular special for those in attendance at the TWS! And, to top things off, on Wednesday night, it was announced that Moximity had been voted the “Best Pitch” by those in attendance!

Next up was a panel discussion on Location Aware Applications. I was part of a fantastic group, which included Clint Wheelock, VP & Chief Research Officer at ABI Research, Joe Chen, the Founder & CEO of GeoSpot Inc., Andrew J. Graham, CEO of Austin’s own Bones in Motion, Inc., and Dan Lowden, VP of Business Development and Marketing at Wayport. The conversation ranged from lo-jacked cameras to the future of mobile devices, and the related services that will accompany the evolution of location aware applications. Austin Startup live-blogged a bit of the panel here.

Finally, on Thursday, Moximity was one of six finalists to participate in the Innotech Beta Summit. Presenting to a standing room only crowd, Moximity was featured alongside companies like 21st Century Technologies, GameWager, Gravitant, Minggl and OtherInbox. Austin Startup has additional information here. And, special thanks to Malaga’s Tapas Bar for running a great drink special for everyone in attendance at Innotech.

At the same time, we’ve been working on some great new features for both our iPhone app, as well as finishing up the website. While last week was a lot of fun, we’re gearing up for a big November!

Bryan Jones, CEO

In case you missed it, this has been a great week of media coverage for Moximity. We were featured in the USA Today, Washington Post, VentureBeat and TechCrunch.  We were also the lead story in TechMonday in the Austin-American Statesman. Finally, in a case of local news reaching mainstream, news of our release made it into the mainstream, as we were mentioned in the monologue of Jay Leno - check out 6:52 into his monologue! It’s been a lot of fun to see people start talking about Moximity – and we’re excited about the impact that our product will have. That’s why we’re not pausing to celebrate – rather, we’re hard at work, improving and creating to make Moximity the product our users deserve.

Bryan Jones, CEO

Bryan told me about Moximity in March of 2008 – or rather, he told me he was leaving my case to other very capable lawyers, as he was leaving his law firm to work full-time on a startup. “A startup?” I asked. “Let me know if I can help out, I have startup experience.”

Six months later, I left my old job and am totally hooked on Moximity, working hard to improve people’s social life by bringing it from the virtual to the real world. In other words, our job is to get people and their friends to the best places and events going on around them…. including myself. In four short weeks, I know five times the number of Austinites than when I started, have been part of one of the coolest parties in Austin, and gone to coffee shops, restaurants and – yes – bars that I never thought I would see. I am also getting an education on the “Austin way” to do business. May the impact on all our users be as immediate and positive. If so, we’ll set the world on fire.

Monica Sanchez, VP-Sales/Marketing

Come join Moximity tonight at the Belmont (6th and Lavaca) from 10 pm to 2 am for our iPhone app launch party right after the TechCrunch/Austin Ventures Meetup!

“Guest list” “Check”

“Drink specials” “Yup”

“Band from ACL Fest” “Got it”

“Cool bar” “The Belmont, of course”

So go the preparations for our launch party – things are moving quickly at Moximity and we are ready to celebrate. Join us tomorrow, September 25, 2008 starting at nine (although to be honest, with so much to do, I’ll probably go to The Belmont earlier for one of their great dinners and just start partying as we decorate).

I’m excited to get to do some Tequila shots with people on the cutting edge of tech… looks like a bunch of  people from TechCrunch will be coming over to our party to enjoy great drinks and an awesome band, Autamata, which is playing at ACL the next day – many thanks to Austin Ventures and FameCast for this!

Planning a party is one of the many things I love about being in marketing – you get to show people a good time. But I must admit, having the “aha lightbulb” go off in their heads when they see that Moximity shows them where their friends are, as well as the cool places they could be going – that’s the highest high a marketer can ask for.

Monica Sanchez, VP-Sales/Marketing

Sitting on the outside, it’s easy to forget all the small steps it took to get to a certain destination. Along the way, the ups and downs that happen with a startup always seem, at that time, to be much better and worse than they probably really are. But, as entrepreneurs, you keep your head down, working on getting to achieve that next minor step. At some point, all the minor steps result in something that works and functions. The stop isn’t necessarily that you’ve reached perfection (is that possible with a tech company?), nor does it represent the end of the journey, but it’s a great place to take a second and reflect.

I feel that way with Moximity. We’ve been working away for the past few months, and for us, that journey has led us to this week. As most of you know, we are having a kickoff party this Thursday night. If you haven’t already, pull out your phone and text “Moximity” to 41411. Not only will you get details of the party, but you will also get registered for a VIP trip for two to the South Padre International Music Festival over Halloween weekend. We’re excited to see you this week – and look forward to having you as part of the Moximity family.

Bryan Jones, CEO