Website Promotes N.O. for Startups

 

 

Website Promotes N.O. for Startups

Local entrepreneurs want to draw others 

Sunday, April 06, 2008
By Jaquetta White, Business writer 

A group of local entrepreneurs hopes that by creating a Website promoting New Orleans as a viable place for start-ups they can turn the Crescent City into a hub for such ventures.

The Website, startupneworleans.com, provides stories of successful entrepreneurial ventures, links to stories about New Orleans' revival and a contact and information form that is sent directly to local entrepreneurs. The site was created by several local business owners.

"It's a Website for entrepreneurs, created by entrepreneurs," said Nicolas Perkin, founder of the New Orleans Exchange and one of the founders of Startup New Orleans. "Part of the Website agenda is to show the entrepreneur practical reasons why New Orleans makes sense for entrepreneurs, particularly media and technology startups." The modest effort, which does not compare in size or goal with that of the city or the region's economic development agencies, aims to recruit five startups to New Orleans in the next year. 

"We are targeting just a narrow group with that very specific twist," said Sean Cummings, another of the initiative's creators. Cummings heads the New Orleans Building Corp., the body that serves as the landlord for city-owned properties, and has been involved in real estate development. "What we're offering them is immediate trust and access to facts. We can show them firsthand what's going on here," Cummings said.
 
The Website features brief descriptions of businesses that were launched in New Orleans, including the advertising firm Trumpet and technology firm Turbo Squid. Links to those companies also are provided. There is also a link to news stories that laud New Orleans as a place for business innovation. A profile of Gov. Bobby Jindal is included. And entrepreneurs can submit a short questionnaire on the site and request to be contacted by one of the several entrepreneurs behind the site, Perkin said.

The goal is that the site would act as an appetizer while the entree would be an introduction to other entrepreneurs in New Orleans. Startup New Orleans is focusing its efforts on startup firms, specifically those in the technology and media industries. It is not designed to usurp the efforts of economic development agencies, such as GNO Inc., which also recruit business to the area. In fact, the founders of the group have little to offer potential entrepreneurs aside from guidance in navigating New Orleans' business community and, perhaps, connections to potential local investors. 

"It's that peer-to-peer relationship," Cummings said. "We're not offering someone a subsidy or a tax break. That's all the role of the state government and the federal government. But we take away the fear factor of New Orleans and replace it with enthusiasm in New Orleans."

Cummings said he used to kid Perkin, before he started the New Orleans Exchange, that when the company launched Perkin would double the number of entrepreneurs operating in town. 

"While that is in jest, it is also reflective of the reality that New Orleans has had in the last few decades," Cummings said. New Orleans had "ceased to be a place where entrepreneurs came to set up their companies."

Cummings said he sees an opportunity to build the network of entrepreneurs through such a recruitment effort because entrepreneurs increasingly are basing decisions about where to set up their ventures based on the quality of life cities offer as opposed to their size. New Orleans, despite its challenges, is attractive because it offers a comparatively low cost of living, Cummings said. What's more, said Perkin, the city's continued recovery also makes it an attractive location for people who want to get in on the ground floor of the rebuilding effort and attach "meaning to their work."

"New Orleans offers such an amazing lifestyle. The city itself is in rebuild mode," Perkin said. "The city itself is going through a startup or entrepreneurial rebirth." 

There currently is no plan to expand the effort beyond its current base as a Website into a more formal organization. But Cummings said that if the group meets its target goal of recruiting five new companies in one year, forming a more formal group that would be involved in lobbying efforts on behalf of entrepreneurs might be considered.

The Idea Village co-founder Tim Williamson said the effort is validation that New Orleans is able to attract start-up business. 

"I think it's just showing that the movement is starting to build and grow. Building a vibrant entrepreneurial network is key," said Williamson, whose company works as a business incubator, but is not directly tied to startupneworleans.com. "You're starting to see high-growth entrepreneurs moving to the city."

Williamson said he sees the effort as one component of a network being built to recruit and retain that type of talent to New Orleans. 

"What's interesting is the common theme is innovation," Williamson said. "We're all focused on recruiting and retaining talent to drive innovation."

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Jaquetta White can be reached at jwhite@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3494.