The myth of SXSW Interactive is that both Twitter and Foursquare exploded onto the Web 2.0 scene – the reality when you look at the services and when they were adopted by many is a little different. Still, the mantra is there, and that means many will be looking to Austin for the next big thing in mobile.

Kim-Mai Cutler doesn’t think we’ll find one.

But the reality is a bit more complex. From Facebook’s beginnings up until the IPO last year, the most hyped consumer startups like Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr a) tapped into people’s vanity or need for self-expression and b) leaned toward advertising.

The apps that I’ve stuck to in the last year like Zimride’s Lyft, Uber, etc. a) actually rely on users paying for goods or services (not advertising!) b) match supply and demand in two-sided markets in real-time and c) can pay for growth once they nail their lifetime value.

The key with these models is highly controlled growth. Startups like Lyft and Sidecar are limited by the number of quality drivers they can hire. Exec is only expanding to cities out of SF now that the company feels confident that it can maintain the user experience while scaling the supply-side remotely. These companies grow carefully, city by city and country by country.

Not by betting the farm on one big splashy SXSW launch.

Read on at TechCrunch.

Take Foursquare (already an SXSW legend for their launch and subsequent $10 box of chalk marketing stunt), and a dash of board game (Monopoly) and then do what programmers do (Mash-up) and… do you get the SXSW 2012 Killer Game, or just some filler?

Discuss.

Tip of the hat to Edw and Laughing Squid for the find.

There’s little doubt that the story of Foursquare (the popular location based web service) can ignore South by Southwest. From the launch in 2009 to the acceleration in 2010 and beyond, the focus of smartphone users in Austin makes Foursquare almost invaluable (let’s not talk about how it feels like a ghost town when Interactive leave and Music takes over).

Foursquare is now in the position that it’s used as a tool by others, and Mashable have highlighted six social media campaigns using Foursquare… and Pepsi’s SXSW 2011 is featured.

Each March, digital natives descend upon Austin, Texas for SXSW Interactive. Naturally, they check in to bars, restaurants, events and food trucks. This year, if users followed Big Boi on Foursquare and checked in throughout Austin, they could unlock the Golden Ticket badge, which pops up after checking in, just like any other badge. The Golden Ticket earned users a spot at a Big Boi concert during SXSW.

There’s lessons here for any campaign at SXSW, be it a product launch or capturing the buzz.