South By Southwest Interactive was a whirlwind of beards, staches, supporters & haters. All said, the trip in itself was a huge success - not only to discover facial hair techies - but to meet some of the most genuine and intelligent gents who like to split (and grow) hairs.
A few highlights below with the "best beard/stache" announcement happening this Monday. Stay tuned!
Tom Merritt & Dan Patterson kicked off the SXSWi interview series in Austin - and did not disappoint.
(Photo by: Marcus Nelson)
Our interview with Trammell gave insight into the bearded tech cultures of Digg & Twitter. Trammell recently cut 50% of his beard off, which is ashame as we hope he continues to "let go" & finally put a 'stache on the Fail Whale.
Danny Kastner, CEO of Social Edition, not only rocked some scruff at The Bing party, but also taught the bar what the word 'beard' means on Urban Dictionary.
Local Texan who goes by 'Black Scorpion' who is "a human oddity known for his bizarre & surreal stage performances." If you look closely, you'll see that he is not born with "normal" hands, but rather "magical claws." Regardless, he was super cool, super friendly, and sported a puppet beardo. WIN.
Jon Snyder, Associated Photo Editor at Wired.com ended SXSWi by apologizing for his beard -- "sorry my beards not so long! I had to shave for The Academy Awards." We'll allow that excuse for now, as long as Jon keeps growing it out. We've been friendly with this rad San Franciscan for a while on the Twittersphere and he recently helped us scout our past CES 2011 winner.
Bradford Barker, social media channel manager @Bing. We had the privilege of sitting down with Brad shortly after he rocked the SXSW Bing + Cheezburger Party to discuss the individuality of the beardo. He noted that MSFT has been very supportive of the beard (which makes sense given his Seattle location) - and actually helps him be more recognizable at work.
The delightful Ewan Spence proudly stroking his goatee and pondering what Arianna Huffington would look like with a beard. You can read all about this crazy Scotsman.
Drew Wehrle from Leo Burnett was rocking one bad-ass stache at the Zynga party.
Kyp Malone, lead guitarist for TV on the Radio, doesn't count in our "best beard" series for SXSWi, but since he did perform at the Zynga party, he's definite worth highlighting. Prob one of the most bad ass beards in Austin.