Yesterday we had the pleasure of walking Alan Weinkrantz, PR extraordinaire and Express News columnist, through our preparations leading into SXSW on Friday. He brought in some fantastic pizza (too kind, sir) and we gave him a little taste of what it’s like “living” in a start-up like we do. (For me, being in a start-up apparently means I need more sleep… those are some massive bags.) You’ll see some other friends in the video like Pear Analytics and MailFinch (if the name sounds familiar, he’s a fan of Brandstack too). Ignore the mess, we’re not normally that sloppy.
If you’re going to SXSW, feel free to stop by and say “hi”, grab a shirt, play some RockBank, record a video. Our friends and office mates at Pear Analytics will be at the booth next to us, so it’ll be a party! Can’t wait to meet you!
Check out the full article by Alan at http://voices.mysanantonio.com/sxswlive/2010/03/48-hours-to-go-how-four-san-an.html.
Follow Alan and Nan Palmero as they explore everything San Antonio folks are doing at SXSW on http://voices.mysanantonio.com/sxswlive/.
All companies were start-ups at some point and some remember their roots better than others. We’ll be at SXSW this year, hoping to help some other companies get their roots planted. Upstack has partnered with building43 to offer a start-up prize package to a lively entrepreneur with an idea that rocks!
We call it The Awesome Start-up Giveaway. You know why? Because it’s a giveaway… er… because it’s awesome.
To enter:
Just record a video telling us what you want to build or what you’re building and submit it to the contest page at http://upstack.com/sxsw. Record it on your own OR if you don’t have a camera or anything like that (aren’t you adorable), you can come by our booth at SXSW where we’ll be ready to hook you up. Record your brief video at our booth and be our movie star for the day.
So, what exactly is in this Awesome Startup Giveaway?
To sum it up: Here’s the truckload of stuff the winner will get… with a little help from our friends.
Upstack:
Custom graphic design Logo, website, stationery design and 2-year domain registration.
Rackspace Cloud:
$500 credit for Cloud Servers.
Freshbooks:
1 year of Shuttle Bus invoicing service
Pear Analytics:
1 year Site Juice SEO Monitoring
PSD2Live:
PSD to XHTML conversion and Wordpress integration
MailFinch:
1 year snail mailing service.
It’s just about everything you could need to make your idea into a reality.
In case you’re wondering what the video ’should be’… not this. 
**For the record, Pablo and Katelyn rocked this video! Thanks guys!
So we’ve left a few “Here’s what were doing at SXSW” posts and as you can probably tell, we’re really excited! Just yesterday we had to talk Pablo down from the roof of our building because he said he couldn’t take the excitement anymore. He’s on level ground now and trying hard to not chomp off all of his fingernails. (For the record, I think he’s an attention hog, so don’t put that much weight into the situation.)
Well, as if we needed to do more, we’re getting ready to make a BIG announcement next week with the site that’s fanatical about the internet, building43. Yep, the same building43 that’s driven by Robert Scoble and the great folks at Rackspace.
Without giving away the whole shibang (no idea if that’s a real word or not, but still going with it), we’ve partnered with some incredible companies like Rackspace, FreshBooks, Pear Analytics, and others to help one entrepreneur jump start their venture.
Make sure you check back early next week for more details… and stay away from tall buildings if this excites you. Thanks.
Every week, we’ll summarize the week in Brandstack. Every week, you will read it. Glad we had this talk.
Here’s take two of the new and improved Week-End Wrap-Up. Now with pictures! Again, it’s amazing the quality of logos we get and we sell weekly. We’re so very proud. *tear*
— Cloud Cast by littleboxofideas – 40 springs
— DogCat by vasvarip – 37 springs
— jollidrop by NancyCarterDesign – 36 springs
— friendby by willfarant – 35 springs
— YellowRoom by voxsix – 32 springs
We’ve added someone new and important and awesome to the Brandstack team. But before we’ll allow them to contribute, they must answer the gauntlet of questions
To introduce the Brandstack world to Katelyn, we asked her a few straight forward questions. Here are her answers:
Q: In less than 8 words: Where are you from? What do you enjoy? What do you want?
A. Knoxville; art, food, cats, internetz, FUN PPL; fulltimejobatBrandstack!! (does that last one count as one word if I squish it all together?) [Nope. --Ed.]
Q: So honestly, how annoyed are you by the music in the office?
A. Haha I really like it! More plz.
Q: Have you ever seen anyone taller than Ryan Kelly (@pearanalytics) in person… seriously?
A. I thought so once, but then I realized I was at a zoo and it was a giraffe.
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Every month, Brandstack will recognize logos which exhibit particular badassedness. Is that a real word? At Brandstack, it is. Scroll down to see why…
We’re back with our second go at this feature after having a lot of fun going through and selecting logos last month. It seems you guys really enjoyed what we came up with, so why not keep the party going? Like Mardis Gras. We had some extra beads, so we went with 42 instead of 23 logos.
And to clarify, these are logos all posted in the month of February. That is why they are badass logos for February. We can’t show you logos for March because they don’t exist yet and we do not have a time machine. At least… not yet.
Ecorigami by matjak continue reading
Every week, we’ll summarize the week in Brandstack. Every week, you will read it. Glad we had this talk.
As you can probably already see, we’ve decided to make our Week-End Wrap-up feature a little prettier for you. Who doesn’t want to see these beautiful logos on a weekly basis? Nobody. That’s who. Wait… double negative… Yeah, nobody.
— Angryz by TabithaKristen – 56 springs
— Ultimate Victory by 1981 – 48 springs
— Databox by Martys – 44 springs
— Nordero by WildOne – 41 springs
— Chip-Chop by DNA – 36 springs
It’s almost that time of year. In the next few weeks, South By Southwest will be rolling into Austin, Texas as will we. We’ll be showing off Upstack, our new service for custom graphic design work and we’re sure to be the belles of the ball. First of all, we’re all going to be wearing the most exquisite evening gowns, with… Well, actually, we don’t want to ruin the surprise.
In all seriousness, we’re very excited about exhibiting our new creation at SXSW 2010 and getting to meet with a lot of you in person. We’ll be giving away $100 discounts on design work through Upstack and some other great stuff we’re sure you won’t want to miss out on.
In all funness, we’ll also have an Xbox set up, most likely with Rock Band so you can show off your skillz to us. Who knows, you might impress us and we’ll marry you. Be forewarned, though, we don’t know how to cook.
So, what we’re really getting at is, you are cordially invited to come hang out with us at booth 1123 between March 12th and the 16th. We’d love to see you there.
Every week, we’ll summarize the week in Brandstack. Every week, you will read it. Glad we had this talk.
A good showing again from the always awesome designers of Brandstack. Let’s keep it up, guys!
The Top 5 Most Sprung Sales this week:
Buildog — by oski – 40 springs
Silk Skin — by designabot – 36 springs
NUHOOO — by malbardesign – 31 springs
Webanchor — by alterego – 15 springs
Eco House — by Corobori – 14 springs
The Brandstack Favs for this week:
Bird — by Houston-we
Droplettes — by tanami
PixelPyrate — by 1981
BOMBERSS — by mircha69
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Since announcing our new service Upstack, we’ve met with quite a few questions about the process and a little bit of skepticism that what we’re saying can’t be done. Allow us to clear the air.
Here is exactly what Upstack is not:
Upstack is not a place where anyone who owns Illustrator can design. Every designer is screened for design quality and process before seeing their first project.
Upstack is not spec work. In fact, we don’t even hold design contests in which our designers get paid chump change after budgets are split up. Designers see project fees up front and don’t lift a pencil until they are paid.
Upstack is not a place to get only logos designed. We have already completed several web, print and illustration projects in our infancy and working on more. **Side note: We are currently enlisting more web and print designers as well. If you feel like you have what it takes to do print or web, please request an invitation.
Upstack is not a place where they can steal other people’s work and hide behind anonymity. All of our designers sign non-disclosure agreements and provide picture ID to verify identity, ensuring confidentiality for clients and accountability on the part of the designers.
Upstack is not just another website where the client-designer relationship is diminished. The beauty of this concept is that we provide you with a killer network of designers and the tools to make your design project a success. After that, we’re just advancing the traditional design relationship. Once the project is started and your selected designers are in place, both parties are in direct contact with each other in a one-on-one environment.
Upstack is not a concept that has been done before. This one goes out to those people who are speculating that this is just another spec site or another logo mill. Which brings us to our next point.
Upstack is not for everyone. Upstack was developed for a more sophisticated customer… someone who understands the value of a great designer and the message they can convey.
How can this work?
Because we’re brilliant! But seriously, we have already received a strong response of beta requests and we feel we’ve determined the sweet spot of pricing and functionality for the type of customers looking for quality custom design work. We’ve put a lot of thought into this from both sides of the equation. What will make designers and clients both happy and repair the relationship between both sides to more efficiently achieve great design? It won’t be contest sites. It’s going to have to be something else.
