Founder Chaos (Realistic Week in the Life) + Exclusive SXSW Event List

Hey what’s up hello! The Creator Match 🧩 team hand-picked 30+ of the best “Creator Economy” events at SXSW (from 1000s)—including exclusive, invite-only events you won’t find on the official event page...

This UNOFFICIAL list is STACKED—featuring everything from private dinners with global Brands, poker nights, basketball pickup games with Marketers, a Creator Mansion, and a LinkedIn Creator Meetup.

A Realistic Week in the Life of a Founder on a Work Trip

Greetings from the Miami Airport! Just landed from JFK—partly to escape the freezing cold, partly to connect with some Brand & Creator partners. As I sit here waiting to taxi, I can’t help but reflect on the absolute WHIRLWIND of the past week during my NYC work trip.

Let me give you a behind-the-scenes look at what a real week in the life of a Founder at Creator Match looks like:

Sunday: Travel Troubles & Talent Hunting

✈️ LAX ➡️ NYC (after a 4-hour delay)
🥶 Landed at midnight in 10-degree weather
📄 Reviewed 486 applications for a new role we are hiring for at Creator Match 🧩 💻 Late-night co-working at July’s office with Wells until 2 AM

Monday: Couch Surfing & Creator Dinners

🛋️ Woke up on a friend’s couch (thx Neal Sivadas)
💼 Co-worked at Eitan Miller’s office
🍽️ Hosted Creator Match’s first LinkedIn Creator Dinner with Tara Knight 🧩, Brandon Smithwrick 🧠, Piper Phillips, Gigi Robinson, and Brett Dashevsky

Tuesday: Gym, Media, & Midnight Hustle

🏋️ 7 AM gym grind with Jakob Kagel
🎤 Invited as an Influencer to attend the Fiverr Amplify Event—met Steven Bartlett (Diary of a CEO), the Fiverr CEO, and Creator friends (Ashwinn & Terry)
📞 Brand calls from every cafe in the city ☕
🍝 NYC Founder’s Dinner with Jacklyn Dallas and crew
💻 Worked until 2 AM in a random hotel lobby—startup vibes only

Wednesday: Power Lunches & Late-Night Syncs

🥗 Lunch at the LinkedIn NYC office with Allyson, Scott, & Courtney
📰 Interview at Wall Street Journal HQ
🏢 Follow-up meeting at the Fiverr office
📞 More brand calls (yep, at cafés again)
🍽️ Dinner in Soho with friends (Brandon, Matt, Matt, & Diogo)
🌙 10 PM Dev Sync to plan Creator Match’s product roadmap.

Thursday: Coffee, Collabs, & Co-Working

🛋️ Woke up on another couch (thx Wells Douraghy)
☕ Coffee & Product Demo at Notion HQ with Danielle Ito
🥗 LinkedIn lunch round two with Sim Singh & Leah Shin
🤝 Meetup at Captions AI office with Selena & Katherine

Friday: Product Pitches & Coffee Chats

🏡 Switched couches again (thx Noah Helfend)
📞 9 back-to-back calls (from SXSW speaker prep to Creator Match product demos)
☕ Coffee meetups with Jazmin Griffith and Albe Tremblay

Saturday: Startup Detox (Kind Of)

☕ Worked at a coffee shop all day
🔥 ❄️ Sauna/Ice bath rave + DJ at 10 PM — No clue, my friend got me a ticket lol

Sunday: Off to the Next Adventure

☕ Worked at a coffee shop all day (pt 2)
🏋️ Chest/Tris workout at friend’s apt building
✈️ Flew out to Miami & Tampa

Real Talk - Work, Fun, or Both?

Here’s the thing—trying to build something as a Creator or even growing in your career isn’t all hype. It’s late nights, stress, and trying to make things happen with whatever energy you’ve got left.

Everyone keeps asking me if all this travel is for work or fun... honestly, does it even matter? It’s all one big blur of emails, meetings, events, and the occasional beach moment if I’m lucky. This is the life I dreamed of—the chaos, the grind, the crazy stories to tell. This is why I jumped into startup life.

Whether you’re in the thick of it or still figuring it out, we’re all just trying to make it happen. The chaos isn’t going anywhere, but that’s what makes it fun, right?

Thanks for being part of this wild ride with me. If you ever need to vent about the madness, share ideas, or just want to share a recent chaotic story, reply to this email.

The only way to get through the chaos is to do it together…

PS - Miami this week, LA next week, Austin week after (for SXSW)!