Each season, The Idea Village seeks high-growth businesses throughout New Orleans for the startup-focused IDEAxcelerator program that utilizes experienced entrepreneurs as mentors. Today, the non-profit announced its newest class of 17 local companies.
“The Entrepreneur Season strategically and efficiently engages a global network to support high-growth New Orleans-based entrepreneurs, educate the larger entrepreneurial community, and promote New Orleans as an entrepreneurial hub,” said Tim Williamson, Co-Founder and CEO of The Idea Village.
Last year the class worked with seasoned entrepreneurs such as Robbie Vitrano and Carol Markowitz, who provided mentorship through their positions as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR). This year’s program is slightly tailored. The 2014 class will work with one key EIR, Mike Eckert, and a number of other analysts to help them build sound businesses and scale over the 11-week program.
The next generation of companies that will begin receiving mentorship, consulting, professional services, peer networking opportunities and access to capital beginning this week are poised for mentorship, according to Williamson. “All these folks have started a company, raised money, hired people,” he said. “They’re in a position to mentor.”
The program starts on September 26th and runs through “Demo Day” on December 10th.
The new IDEAxcelerator class companies are listed below:
- 4D Supplements, a venture by entrepreneur Jason Navarro, sells a health and dietary supplement formula.
- Athletic Performance Testing, a service providing testing for athletes, produces data identifying areas for improvement, developed by Doug Ellis and Lucius Butts.
- Bar Exchange is a recruiting and career development site for bartenders founded by Simon Blezard.
- Cajun Fire and Brewing Company, a craft brewery under development by Jon Renthrope, plans to offer seasonal beers.
- ChargeQubes rents out battery packs called “qubes” for customers to recharge their mobile phones while traveling or attending events, using a network of kiosks developed by Sean Carrigan, Jason Palmer and Chris Miller.
- CultureConnect is a service to help small and mid-sized museums offer digital guides through mobile devices and increase their interaction with visitors, founded by Samantha Diamond and Monika Smyczek.
- Direct Diagnostics, founded by Theodore Brown, provides a service for individuals to gather and submit medical test results via mobile phones, initially designed for diabetics monitoring their blood sugar with plans to expand to a wider range of health and environmental testing.
- EnricheED, by entrepreneur Andre Feigler, is a service for matching substitute teachers, guest speakers or other flexible staff members with openings at schools.
- Healthy Plant produces organic fertilizer for lawns and gardens mostly by reusing waste from seafood processing, launched by Jonathan Toye and Dennis deBoisblanc.
- IDScan.net gathers, analyzes and verifies data scanned from government-issued identification cards, helping businesses protect themselves from liabilities and collect data about customers, started by entrepreneurs Denis Petrov and Andrey Stanovnov.
- KREWE du optic creator Stirling Barrett makes handcrafted boutique eyeglass frames and lenses.
- Lyte Stix, created by Jorge Nagel of Rehydration Solutions, LLC, makes freezer pops designed to cool down and hydrate athletes and other health-minded consumers.
- Maritant provides a data service to the shipbuilding industry, collecting product specifications for parts and supplies in one place on the Internet, developed by Chris Stuckey.
- mSchool entrepreneur Elliot Sanchez designed a method for quickly opening one-room “microSchools” in community centers or school campuses, focusing on academic areas in need of more attention.
- Munivestor is a web service that presents economic and financial data and news stories on bond-issuing government agencies to aid research by investors in municipal bonds, founded by Damon Burns.
- ThePetiteShop.com, by entrepreneur Elizabeth Bates, is an online fashion store for women who stand 5-feet, 4-inches tall or less, curating clothing from major brands and independent designers.
- SNAP Real Estate Photography produces images for real estate listings, including staging services, photos, floor plans, virtual tours and video, designed to increase the prominence and perceived value of real estate for sale, founded by Darryl Glade and Kris Haug.
For more information visit ideavillage.org.