Mentor Session: Paul O'Brien (Startup Economist)

Event ID: PP1149372

Sun, Mar 15, 2026 | 3:00 PM - 4:15 PM

Venue: Room 400-402 (Hilton Austin Downtown)

View on Official SXSW

Summary

Meeting with this mentor is highly recommended if you're interested in Storytelling, Policy, Funding.

Contributors

Raw Event JSON

Large nested arrays are compacted for page readability. Full payload remains in dataset files.

Open JSON payload
{
  "id": "PP1149372",
  "track": "Startups",
  "focus_area": null,
  "category": "Mentor Session",
  "event_id": "PP1149372",
  "event_type": "panel",
  "format": "Mentor Session",
  "genre": null,
  "subgenre": null,
  "name": "Mentor Session: Paul O'Brien (Startup Economist)",
  "presented_by": null,
  "publish_at": "2026-01-16T10:00:00.000-06:00",
  "reservable": true,
  "reservable_id": "PP1149372",
  "reserved": false,
  "date": "2026-03-15",
  "end_time": "2026-03-15T11:15:00.000-05:00",
  "start_time": "2026-03-15T10:00:00.000-05:00",
  "message": null,
  "image": null,
  "credentials": [
    {
      "name": "Platinum Badge",
      "type": "platinum"
    },
    {
      "name": "Innovation Badge",
      "type": "innovation"
    }
  ],
  "contributors": [
    {
      "id": 79126,
      "company": "Startup Economist",
      "credential_types": [
        "innovation"
      ],
      "entity_id": 2240186,
      "name": "Paul O'Brien",
      "speaker_types": [
        "Speaker"
      ],
      "title": "Managing Director",
      "image": {
        "alt_text": "Paul O'Brien",
        "credit": null,
        "url": "https://images.sxsw.com/RVfw4U-6C4s5-dqh30SXWZTtckg=/0x15:500x515/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/031a35a0-02fc-4489-b6b1-40a18569a7e7/pcid-1231905"
      },
      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "Long time technology and startup veteran, Paul O’Brien has been known as SEO'Brien for his extensive work as a Startup Economist and publisher at seobrien.com. In charge of Public Affairs for Founder Institute, O’Brien works in Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship Economic Development, guiding governments in fostering ecosystems where startups thrive. Since his first job when Yahoo! was at the cutting edge, he has mentored and advised thousands of startups.",
      "links": {},
      "type": "person"
    }
  ],
  "venue": {
    "accessible": false,
    "age_policy": null,
    "floor": "4",
    "id": "V0367",
    "indoor_outdoor": "INDOOR",
    "mixhalo_url": "https://translate.mixhalo.rocks/?venue_id=429&partner=true",
    "name": "Room 400-402",
    "parent_id": "V0365",
    "parent_venue_name": "Hilton Austin Downtown",
    "venue_entry_info": null,
    "formats": null,
    "location": {
      "address": "500 E 4th St.",
      "lat_lon": [
        30.2651364,
        -97.7381904
      ],
      "city": "Austin",
      "postal_code": "78701",
      "state": "TX",
      "name": "Hilton Austin Downtown"
    },
    "root": {
      "id": "V0365",
      "name": "Hilton Austin Downtown",
      "mixhalo_url": null
    },
    "events": "[omitted 5 venue events]"
  },
  "description": "Meeting with this mentor is highly recommended if you're interested in Storytelling, Policy, Funding.",
  "experience_level": "Beginner",
  "audio_url": null,
  "accessibility": [],
  "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": false,
  "cpe_credit": false,
  "event_status": "none",
  "has_subtitles": false,
  "hash_tags": [],
  "high_sensory_experience": false,
  "live": false,
  "long_description": "Meeting with this mentor is highly recommended if you're interested in Storytelling, Policy, Funding.",
  "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": "MENTOR SESSION: PAUL O'BRIEN (STARTUP ECONOMIST)",
  "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": [],
  "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
}