New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW) is the festival that celebrates entrepreneurship, innovation, and advanced thinking in the Crescent City each spring. This year, from March 11-18, The Idea Village, organizers of the weeklong extravaganza, are expecting the largest NOEW yet.
For the last four years, NOEW has culminated in The Big Idea, a crowd-driven pitch competition. The 5th annual competition will take place on Fulton Street on Friday, March 18 from 6-8pm.
The Idea Village plans to engage thousands of people to provide capital to 10 of the hottest local startups through a live vote at the event. Attendees experience the entrepreneurial movement firsthand while supporting their favorite startups by allocating $25 voting chips to those entrepreneurs’ designated collection boxes. Voting chips for The Big Idea will be available for purchase via NOEW.org beginning Thursday, January 14.
In past years, semi-finalists were chosen by nomination through The Idea Village’s ecosystem partners. Now eligible startups have the opportunity to apply to participate.
In order to be considered for The Big Idea, companies must:
- Be organized as a for-profit venture
- Be located in the 10-parish region of the greater New Orleans region
- Be generating less than $500,000 in revenue
- Be employing fewer than 5 full time employees
“We are looking for local founders with the next big idea to be showcased on the largest stage in the city,” said Tim Williamson, co-founder and CEO of The Idea Village. “The best thing about this event is that the New Orleans community gets to decide who will be featured and how much funding each entrepreneur ultimately receives.”
Last year, over 3,300 people attended the event and allocated a total of $50,300 in funding to 12 entrepreneurs.
New Orleans-based entrepreneurs can apply at ideavillage.org through Tuesday, January 19.
———————————————————————————————————–
The 2015 Silicon Bayou 100 is made possible by sponsors 365 Connect, a leading provider of award-
