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:
Amazon.com Bringing Sunday Package Delivery Service to New Orleans
Amazon.com, in partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, has announced that a series of cities will now receive online package deliveries on Sundays. Los Angeles and New York metropolitan area Sunday deliveries began last week. Other expansion cities, along with New Orleans, will be included in the seven day a week delivery schedule beginning in 2014.
De La Salle High School Goes High Tech
In partnership with Dreamworks Studios, local private high school De La Salle has announced the addition of an animation and post-production studio on site. Although the studio isn’t expected to be complete for another nearly two months, the school’s President Michael Guillot said, “When it opens, students will get training in skills that will give them a leg up in the video production, digital media and software production industries. Students will be taught mobile application development, web design and how to design for different social media platforms.” De La Salle has also added its Creativity Studio, equipped with a 3D printer.
Baton Rouge Tech CEO Wins Bronze Stevie Award for Women in Business
7 years ago, Czarina Walker founded InfiniEDGE Software in Baton Rouge to provide custom software, website and web applications designed to revolutionize businesses. Walker was recognized at the 10th annual Women in Business Awards as part of the largerStevie Awards network. After receiving entries from 18 nations and territories, over 240 executives worldwide participated in the judging process and picked the winners. Walker has been named the winner of a Bronze Stevie Award in the Female Entrepreneur of the Year – Business Services category.
Local Sports Supplements Venture Sees National Potential
BQuick Nutrition is a high-growth company focused on becoming the first independently owned National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) Certified for Sport, all natural and non-GMO (genetically modified organism) product line on the market, all while keeping its New Orleans roots. Longtime friends and New Orleans natives Brandt Quick and now partner Charles Allen have been working on their sports nutrition energy, endurance and recovery product formulas for years and now have four products on the market. “Making it work in New Orleans is unique. We feel like we have a hidden gem going on,” said Allen. “Next year could be incredible.”
Atlanta PR Firm Expands to New Orleans to Work with Local Tech Startups
AR|PR, the Atlanta-based public relations company that targets the tech startup community, has expanded to New Orleans after noting the city as an emerging tech hub. The firm has chosen to work out of local coworking space Launch Pad, solidifying the move after a New Orleans launch party last week. “Soon after founding AR|PR in August of 2012, I quickly realized that early stage companies were attracted to the culture, value and services that we offered,” said Anna Ruth Williams, Founder and CEO of AR|PR. “We were the recipient of some great timing in the Atlanta market and felt New Orleans is an emerging tech hub where we can replicate our success.”
Four Local Companies Will Pitch for $25,000 at 2nd Annual BioChallenge
Finalists have been chosen to pitch at the BioChallenge, the second annual pitch competition hosted by the New Orleans BioInnovation Center. Four local life science startups will pitch for $25,000 on November 18th as part of Innovation Louisiana a three-day celebration of life science technology in state in conjunction with Global Entrepreneurship Week. Finalists include: MiniVax, Advano, InnoGenomics Technologies and TRUE-See Systems.
Doula Service and Farmers Market Reach Crowdfunding Goals Through Equity Endeavor Platform
Launched by students Broderick McClinton and Eric Soonier, Equity Endeavor is a cost-effective way for business owners to raise funds outside of the traditional equity and lending types of financing. Out of the seven companies chosen to launch crowdfunding campaigns in Austin and New Orleans through Equity Endeavor, four were successful. Two of the successes came were New Orleans-based businesses: Birthmark Doula Collective and Hollygrove Market & Farm. Birthmark Doula Collective raised over $25,000 from 76 crowdfunders. Hollygrove Market & Farm raised almost $15,000 from 143 crowdfunders.
Open Innovation Leader Takes Center Stage at Healthcare Technology Meetup
Health 2.0 promotes healthcare technology through a global series of conferences, code-a-thons and more targeted at tech and startup communities. New Orleans debuted its chapter back in July and has held monthly meetups ever since. The November meetup, featuring Tom Krohn, Director of Open Clinical Innovation at Eli Lilly will be held on November 21st, 2013 at 5:30 PM at the New Orleans BioInnovation Center (the event will wrap up at 7:00 PM sharp due to a Saints game that evening).
Godfather of Growth: Are You on the Path to Killer Sales Growth?
New New Orleanian and contributor Don Lazzari has risen up through the ranks of the technology sales over the last 25 years and wants to share his advice on sales and growth with readers. In his first post, Lazzari focused on the path to rapid sales, asking, are you on it? How do you know? What can you do to fix it? Click here to find out more.
NFC Technology Looks for a Foothole in the Payment Processing Market
Author Rene Henry runs an e-commerce business through his mobile phone–he can’t imagine life without it. He writes, “Technology is improving the way we conduct payment transactions, but merchants and consumers haven’t quite settled on a common system. Near-field communication (NFC) devices use radio signals to connect at close range, and this technology comes to retail world in the form of mobile wallets. Strategy Analytics recently slashed its forecast for future NFC-based mobile payments. In May, the firm projected that NFC mobile payments would reach $1 trillion by 2017. An October report dropped that number down to $48 billion. Concerns over standardization and competition from mobile credit card processors has NFC-based technology struggling to get a footing in the market.”
Entrepreneurship Endeavors Part 3 of 4: Your Very First Taxes
Entrepreneurship Endeavors is Hibernia Bank’s take on managing an entrepreneur’s finances properly that describes the excitement, challenge, and trials that any entrepreneur might face when starting a business in New Orleans. In the third post of the series, the company discusses your very first taxes.
2nd Annual Louisiana IT Symposium Connects Regional Leaders
The 2nd annual Louisiana IT Symposium, held on December 4th at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in New Orleans, will gather the region’s IT leaders to explore news ways to collaborate and maintain competitive advantages. The event is designed for Chief Information Officers and their direct reports and other specific IT personnel and is closed to the public. Attendees will hear from opening keynote Tim Babco, CIO of Pool Corporation, as well as lunch keynote Chris Filandro, Vice President and CIO Meritage Homes. Engaging panels, breakout sessions and networking opportunities are also on the agenda for the daylong conference.