As a business immigration lawyer and the mother of two small children, hip and cool are no longer part of my vernacular. But hip and cool are precisely what SXSW is all about!

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival experience is awe-inspiring and truly overwhelming to a first timer like me. The 30,000 or so attendees and the plethora of workshops and other events can make it all seem daunting.  From a Saudi princess delivering a keynote address, to Jimmy Kimmel really live the list of famous names and people seems almost endless.

And then there are people like me. I was incredibly honored and grateful to speak not once, but twice, at the festival: appearing on an immigration panel about the Startup Visa and then launching, reading and signing my new book of the same name.

I was part of a great team of Startup Visa advocates, led by Craig Montuori and Chris Nicholson of Venture Politics. Both joined me on a panel, “The Startup Visa: A Look Back and the Road Ahead,” that also included renowned investor and founder of 500 Startups, Dave McClure. It was an honor to be part of this conversation with my esteemed colleagues and to address issues that are truly important to me.  Our discussion was live-streamed via a cool new app called “Meerkat” that dominated SXSW.  Between the audience in the room and those on Meerkat, the panel saw a great turnout, both in person and online.

The panel discussion centered on why current U.S. immigration policies simply do not work for startup founders. And it highlighted some of the more practical problems that we have each encountered. McClure, for example, talked about some of the challenging situations he experienced at U.S. borders trying to help CEOs of various companies enter the country. As a result of these overwhelming challenges, McClure stated that, while he continues to invest in US citizen-founded startups in the US, it’s easier to invest in non-American-founded startups in their home country rather than bringing (or keeping) them in the U.S. and dealing with the visa obstacles.

Part of the panel discussion focused on strategies that individual states can employ while Congress remains unmoved in addressing this shortcoming in our immigration laws. One strategy involves getting American universities to expand the existing visa tools they are already making use of to promote immigrant entrepreneurship, as they are already promoting entrepreneurship among their students.

Such a program was piloted at University of Massachusetts under the Massachusetts Global Entrepreneur In Residence program.  Those attending the panel discussion seemed to like and were excited by this idea. Only a few weeks later, on March 30, the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado, Boulder campus announced plans to pilot a similar Entrepreneur in Residence program with the support of renowned venture capitalist Brad Feld.

Incidentally, these and similar issues surrounding the Startup Visa are explored in my new book, which was the focus of my second speaking engagement at SXSW. As a staunch advocate for the Startup Visa, I have been writing and advocating on the issue since 2009. A client and friend suggested I write a book about the need for a Startup Visa in the U.S. and I completed it just ahead of the SXSW conference.  “The Startup Visa: Key to Job Growth and Economic Prosperity in America” is available on Amazon. Foreword written by the one and only Vivek Wadhwa and edited by Lornet Turnbull, journalist and former immigration reporter with The Seattle Times, I hope the book will spark a dialogue on the urgent need for a Startup Visa in the U.S.

Aimed at law and policy makers as well as everyone in the startup ecosystem, SXSW was indeed the perfect platform for the launch.  I felt immensely lucky and proud to have had the honor of launching my book on such a worldwide stage, before such a targeted audience. While there were a few first-time author rookie nerves, the book reading and signing were a success.  The following day, I was lucky enough to hand signed copies to some Republican lawmakers, starting my mission in a process to inform law and policy makers on why the current system needs reform.

All in all, SXSW was an incredible experience and I hope that the tech world is just a little bit more aware of the Startup Visa.

But even more people need to be aware of the Startup Visa.  The Washington Technology Industry Association has long been an advocate for a new visa category for entrepreneurs. I have been fortunate to team up with WTIA to help advocate solutions. I hope our advocacy efforts will greatly help WTIA membership as well as Washington State.  Though it will not be an easy task, I am confident that WTIA and its membership can bring force to the mission and movement of the Startup Visa.