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.
Every year, The Big Idea attracts a large crowd at the final pitches during the culmination of New Orleans Entrepreneur Week.
One of the highlights of NOEW is the crowd-driven pitch competition called the Blackstone Big Idea.
Through a nola.com poll, the community will vote for their favorite startups to make it to The Big Idea. Voting begins on February 22, and 10 startups will make it to the final round for their NOEW debut.
The 10 companies to receive the most online votes will be unveiled on Monday, March 7 and then go on to pitch their ideas in front of thousands of spectators during the culmination of NOEW on Friday, March 18 from 5:00 to 8:00pm.
The three entrepreneurs to collect the most chips will go on to make their pitch to a panel of celebrity judges who decide the overall winner and recipient of the $25,000 grand prize.
The 20 semi-finalists are below in alphabetical order:
- Bayou Baby Bites
- Catalyst:ED
- Culturalyst
- Design Unwined
- FreshCane
- Gator & Crane
- Gigsy
- Girl’s Guide
- Greek Girls Rice Pudding
- HALO Global
- Juggle Enterprises
- Lionheart Prints
- Mashball
- Meusu
- Pupular
- root + arrow
- Scenehound
- Swipeifieds
- The Sweat Social
- Thinkerella
Last year, over 3,300 people attended the event and allocated a total of $50,300 in funding to 12 entrepreneurs.