New Orleans StartupDigest – May 2, 2011


New Orleans StartupDigest

Good Monday Morning!

Who had a great time at Jazz Fest this weekend? We’ve got a big week for startup events this week in New Orleans.  The Work Week conference series kicked off this weekend with Sync Up and continues today with the Second Line conference.

Second Line has so great startup focused speakers including Matt Galligan of SimpleGeo and Perry Chen from Kickstarter.  Yours truly is moderating a panel about capital access and incubators today at 2:30pm.

Launch Fest follows on Wednesday and Thursday at the New Orleans Museum of Art.  Wednesday programming is directed at aspiring startup founders and Thursday has programming for entrepreneurs and investors including the demo day pitches for the Launch Pad Ignition companies.  The Ignition founders have come a long way in just seven weeks, all building amazing products and launching great companies.  Personally, working with these founders has been one of the most gratifying things I have ever done.

Come see the next hot startups in New Orleans on Thursday at Launch Fest. See you there.

As always, email me with any startup events on your agenda for upcoming editions of the NOLA StartupDigest.

– Chris

New Orleans StartupDigest is curated by:
Chris Schultz – Founder of Voodoo Ventures and Flatsourcing and co-founder of Launch Pad

New Orleans StartupDigest is made possible exclusively by:
The Kauffman Foundation supports entrepreneurship and innovation so that economies grow and prosper and ultimately human welfare expands. Kauffman develops, operates and funds programs such as Startup Weekend, Kauffman Labs, and Global Entrepreneurship Week. Follow the Foundation on Twitter @KauffmanFDN

What’s Going on in the New Orleans Startup Community


Second Line Conference
When: Monday & Tuesday May 2-3 – 9am – 4pm
Where: XLIV Champions Square

The inaugural Second Line conference launches this year with a focus on disruptive innovation, value creation, and sustainable social impact.  Hot of the success of last year’s TEDxNOLA, Gerard Cox is producing the conference and has lined up an impressive roster of talented speakers.  James Carville & Wendell Pierce headline in addition to Scott Gerber, John Besh Matt Candler and Matt Galligan of SimpleGEO.


Launch Fest
When: Wednesday & Thursday may 4-5 – 2pm – 5pm
Where: New Orleans Museum of Art

With two half-day sessions, Launch Fest returns for year two, and takes on new significance this year as the demo day for New Orleans’ only startup accelerator, Launch Pad Ignition.

Day one features programming for entrepreneurs and those who are thinking about starting a company.  Day two features investor focused discussions by Brad Feld and a Startup America panel with Scott Case, CEO of Startup America and Sean Greene of the SBA.


Sync Up
When: Friday & Saturday May 6-7 – 10am
Where: New Orleans Museum of Art

This is the 4th year of Scott Aiges’ music industry conference.  Swing by the conference in the morning before you headout to the fest and learn from musicians, festival bookers and film producers technologists.


The New Orleans Startup Digest is a bi-weekly email newsletter curated by Chris Schultz, Founder of Voodoo Ventures and Flatsourcing and co-founder of Launch Pad.  This post is the newsletter published on 5/2/11.