I emailed and texted a wide array of "South by" regulars, each of whom imparted some very valuable wisdom. Their advice was so good that I felt like I had to write this article and share it with anyone else interested in making the most out of their SXSW experience.

Of course, we all know that if there's one truism in entrepreneurship, it's that change is the only constant we can rely on. And sometimes we really do need to change course. So how do you know if you should pivot or reboot?

Success in the startup world has more to do with skills than with ideas. The best approach as a new entrepreneur is to try and fill the glaring gaps in your skill set, so that if your startup fails, at least it will be failing for an interesting reason.

To me, lean is a state of mind that a founder and team needs to have across all aspects of the business. The specific product and engineering approaches are at the core of the lean startup movement. But if you can apply lean to hiring, sales, marketing, customer service, finance, and everything else, you will be rewarded with a fast, nimble company.