I just spent the past week in New Orleans (NOLA) at IdeaVillage's
New Orleans Entrepreneurship Week (NOEW). This is
only my third city of thirty over the next five months so I
can't yet draw any big picture conclusions. However, it feels like
something special going on down here in "Silicon Bayou". Here's how you
can plug into the growing entrepreneurship and tech scene.
NOEW Judges' panel, including investor
Jim Coulter
and Archie Manning,
asking questions of three entrepreneurs who pitched that afternoon.
News and Who To Know
- Silicon Bayou News. Reach out to
Julia Ballard
(@juliaballard). Julia covered the major events at NOEW and writes
extensively about the NOLA scene.
- IdeaVillage on Twitter (@IdeaVillage).
IdeaVillage put on New Orleans Entrepreneurship Week and has extensive
reach throughout the community. Get in touch with
Tim Williamson,
Sara Thomas,
or someone on their team.
- 4.0 Schools. Design thinking for the nexus of
education startups in the area working with the extensive network of
NOLA charter schools and Teach for America alums. Contact
Matt Candler (@mcandler), founder of
4.0 Schools. 4.0 Schools also has an
open couch for technical
folks to drop in and work from.
- Launch Pad New Orleans. There's a hub of interesting
companies in the building on Magazine Street.
Sampling of Local Software Companies
What NOLA Needs
There are not enough talented technical people in NOLA. Technical co-founders
and software developers are very difficult to find here. One YCombinator alum,
Kumar Thangudu, who just moved to New Orleans said "tech folks down here are
treated like gods."
