We’re now well more than halfway through New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, a festival of entrepreneurship that engages a network of entrepreneurs, investors, corporations, non-profits, students, and professionals.
There have been national keynote speakers from Slack, Netflix and GE, in addition to panels around inclusion, scaling your startup, and virtual reality. There were also eight pitch competitions that happened in a single day. If that doesn’t already sound super exciting, what’s in store for tomorrow (March 24) is sure to grab your attention.
If we had to guess, the Friday of NOEW welcomes the most investors compared to any other day. Billionaire Jim Coulter is here with along with a few colleagues and a slew of other investors. He is hosting a private breakfast in the morning and then heading over to Demo Day, where eight early-stage startups will present their ideas to a room full of festival attendees that is now open to the public for the first time.
Other events tomorrow include an invitation-only design sprint hosted by Camelback Ventures and the Trust Your Crazy Ideas Challenge, which showcases local high school students with entrepreneurial spirit.
Beginning at 3:00pm, Coulter will head to judge three growth-stage ventures at the annual Coulter IDEApitch. One entrepreneur will walk away with a $100,000 investment towards their next round. The participating companies include Catalyst:Ed, Supereats, and Acrew.
Last but definitely not least, The Big Idea is kicking off at 5:30pm in the CAC Warehouse. Arguably the most frenzied and fun event of the entire week, the pitch competition will highlight 10 New Orleans area startups. The event is centered around the $25 voting chips in the hands of attendees. The three startups with the most voting chips when voting closes will then pitch live on stage to a panel of judges for a chance at the $25,000 grand prize. One of the final 10 startups will also win a major prize package from Peter Mayer advertising valued at $35,000.
If you haven’t yet purchased your ticket to The Big Idea, get them here. The Idea Village, producers of NOEW, call the event the world’s largest crowd-driven pitch competition.
For tons more NOEW news, regularly check Silicon Bayou News for updates.