By: Eliza Edge

I came down as an advisor for startup pitches, and it was incredible to see the energy and creativity buzzing through Austin. One of the highlights? Watching Sullivan County’s own Keith Crossland pitch Carbon Negative Solutions Inc.— obviously, the best! Now that I know what SXSW has to offer, I hope to bring a Hudson Valley startup down every year.

The Future Is for Independent Thinkers

One of the biggest themes that stuck with me is the idea that the future doesn’t belong to fast followers—it belongs to independent thinkers. In AI, in startups, in every industry, the real value isn’t in chasing trends but in finding your lane and mastering it. As an investor, I’m looking for founders who deeply understand the technology, the industry, and the space they’re building in—not just those who know how to prompt ChatGPT.

This is an era of paradigm shifts and reinvention. AI isn’t just an optimization tool; it’s a catalyst for completely new ways of thinking and creating.

The Skill Flux: Reinventing How We Learn

One of the biggest paradoxes of the 21st century? “I am what I know” is no longer true. Instead, “I am how I adapt.”

We’ve entered a world where the traditional idea of mastering a single skill for life is broken. Instead of one career for 60 years, we now have 6-month career arcs—constantly learning, unlearning, and relearning. The next war for talent won’t be about degrees; it will be about rapid skill acquisition and time to application. How quickly can you go from knowing something to applying it—and then mastering it—while staying resilient enough to repeat the process over and over?

Companies need to recognize this shift. Learning and development budgets will soon need to match or even eclipse technology budgets because keeping up with AI, automation, and shifting industries requires constant reinvention. We’re biologically wired to resist change, but in this new world, adapting is the only way forward.

Small Teams, Big Leverage

Another key insight? Small teams are the ultimate flex.

With AI tools like Replit, Runway, and JSON-based models, even a small startup can codify its internal knowledge, create synthetic personas for customer discovery, and prototype products at lightning speed. The barrier to entry is disappearing—not just for launching a company, but for testing and iterating ideas.

Large language models are commodifying human knowledge—which means the value of proprietary knowledge is skyrocketing. What makes an organization unique isn’t what’s on the internet—it’s the internal knowledge, insights, and processes that haven’t been trained into these models yet.

Companies that layer their proprietary data into AI models will create a powerful competitive advantage, allowing every team to tap into internal expertise for stakeholder communication, decision-making, and content creation.

The Rise of Creative Generalists

At the end of the day, jobs aren’t static roles—they’re just tasks that shift and adjust. AI is accelerating this transformation, making fluidity of work the new normal. The best founders, employees, and leaders will be creative generalists—people who can flex between disciplines, leverage AI as an extension of their thinking, and continuously reinvent themselves.

I’m grateful for the experience, the people I met, and the ideas that will stick with me long after leaving Austin. The future isn’t coming—it’s already here.

Until next time, SXSW.