The Silicon Bayou has been buzzing with tech and entrepreneurial news. Here are the most popular stories published on Silicon Bayou News in the past seven days:
IBM Announces New Technology Center in Baton Rouge
IBM’s Senior Vice President Colleen Arnold and Governor Bobby Jindal announced a plan for the IBM Services Center: Baton Rouge. The Center is the latest in the series of investments IBM has made in high-tech science and innovation. It will provide software development and software maintenance services to clients in the US and is the result of a public-private partnership with a 14 million investment over 10 years that will be used expanded higher-education programs.
Startup Weekend Comes to New Orleans for First Time April 5-7
Startup Weekend is a 54-hour event where developers, designers, marketers, product managers, and startup enthusiasts come together to launch startups. On April 5th, the event comes to New Orleans for the first time ever. Startup Weekend New Orleans will be held at Propeller and is expected to bring between 80 and 100 innovators to the event. One co-organizer said it is less about a hackathon and more about the startup as a business.
It’s a wrap for the fifth annual New Orleans Entrepreneur Week
Contributor Adriana Lopez wraps up the 2013 New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, covering pitches and events from Wednesday on (check out her halftime report for the first half of the week). Click here to read more about each event.
Annual Tulane Business Competition Announces Finalists Vying for up to $70K
The Tulane Business Plan Competition has announced the finalists for its 13th annual competition. The student-run, international competition received 51 applications this year. Twenty moved onto the second round and three companies– Be Well Nutrition, TRUE-See Systems, and Humanure Power– will pitch for $50,000 during the finals on April 19th, 2013 at Tulane University. Additionally, a second track called the Domain Companies New Orleans Entrepreneur Challenge will award $20,000 to the company that “presents the best plan for the creation or expansion of a New Orleans-based business that demonstrates strong growth potential and positive local impact.”
Daylong Marketing Seminar GrowNOLA Announces Agenda for Inaugural Event
GrowNOLA is a daylong marketing seminar coordinated by RPM & CO, a New Orleans-based growth strategy and marketing consulting firm. The inaugural event will take place next Thursday, April 4th, 2013 at NOLA Spaces. Attendees will hear from industry experts through a series of presentations about the tools they need to grow businesses.
ChapterSpot Secures Meetings with Potential Investors After Winning Coulter IDEApitch at NOEW
The annual Coulter IDEApitch gave four companies– Audiosocket, Bioceptive, ChapterSpot, and Tutti Dynamics– a chance to pitch in front of a panel of national VCs, including Coulter, for a chance to be flown to San Francisco for meetings with potential investors. ChapterSpot, a fraternity and sorority management site that will be expanding into other markets soon, was announced the winners of the 2013 Challenge.
Launch Pad Kicks Off Skillshare Class Series for Entrepreneurial Community
As part of Launch Pad’s five-week programming, they will be offering up Skillshare classes for the entrepreneurial community in New Orleans. The classes are open to all and free to Launch Pad members. The series kicked off with a class led by Michael Johnstone called, “Quieting the Noise: The Realities Every Startup Needs to Hear to be Successful.” Stay tuned for information about future classes.
Louisiana’s Online Lagniappe Starts the Weekend with Digital Marketing
Louisiana’s Online Lagniappe highlights Rouses Markets, New Orleans Public Library, and Hotel Monteleone this week for doing online marketing right. The lagniappe’s lagniappe last week went to a promotional video for New Orleans. If you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, click this link and enjoy! Is your Louisiana-based business doing things that amaze online? Send Flynn Zaiger of Online Optimism a note at Flynn@onlineoptimism.com and it just might be included in next week’s column.
Startups and Employee Stock Options
John Olagues, author of Getting Started with Employee Stock Options, contributed to Silicon Bayou News last week with his post about stock options in regards to startups. Instead of your more traditional IPO, Olagues has created a new form of employee stock options called Dynamic Employee Stock Options. He said the new type of ESOs (DESOs) benefits all parties to the options contacts and better carries out the goals that the grants of employee stock options are intended to achieve.
Schedulist Renamed StaffInsight, Announces New Productivity Tool with Applied Management Systems
From now on, Schedulist will be known as StaffInsight. CEO of StaffInsight Chris Laibe said the company is changing to reflect their strategic pivot to position themselves properly in the healthcare market. Additionally, StaffInsight and Applied Management Systems(AMS), a recognized leader in healthcare management based in Burlington, Ma., have announced the completion of their co-developed software application to help healthcare providers track and manage their labor productivity.
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