Today was jammmm packed. I got an amazing sense for the vibrant tech culture and amazing recovery of New Orleans across its arts, digital media, and biosciences sectors. What a day!

We started the day at a beautiful museum, which went from 9 to 40,000 pieces in 100 years. We ate breakfast at a HUUUGE
30 seat board room table, and the museum was filled with "Art in Bloom" exhibits combining art and flowers (not so great for my allergies).

Having cameras around us the whole day was a bit strange (I felt like it was reality TV), but for the good of the documentary and spreading the word, we are all good sports.

Below are some of my photos and notes on the day.


Random/general thoughts/impressions/learnings

• Lots of people drive from state to state all the time (not like LA)
  
• It's my first time here, and I'm getting a nice sense of what the south feels like (and enjoying it).
  
• Everyone talking about culture and magic
• Huge tech growth
  
• "Silicon Prairie" name of tech in Midwest (Iowa)
  
• Fleur de lis everywhere jewelry and streets
• Lots of y'all
• Trees with beads hanging on them
  
• Old streetcars
• Gas-burning house lamps

Panel at New Orleans Museum of Art

• 3 C's and L
  
• Cost: $13/sf rents
  
• Cash: huge state incentives
  
• Payroll
• R&D
• Digital media: 35% rebate
  
• Angel investor tax credit: 35% back over 5 years up to $5m
• Culture
• Leadership
• Great political leadership team
• NOLA is doing deficit spending in time when rest of country pulling back so want to be at top when economy turns around
• Added more tech jobs than any other region in absolute numbers
  
• Leading country by 30% of startups per capita since Katrina
  
• Brain gain champion: more people with college degree coming than any other region
  
• Challenge: image and brand
  
• Perception gap
  
• Workforce challenge
  
• Turnkey office space challenge
  
• 4 main issues
  
• Crime
• Corruption
• Flood
• Education
• Latter 3 been doing well
• Education: huge reform
• Corruption: not as bad as NY now
• Flood improvements put in
• But still major problem with crime
• Computer science is a challenge
• Working with local colleges and got government grants to put in tech
• Digital media doesn't employ a lot of low skilled workers but bio does
  

Whenever I'm about to do something new, I try to minimize expectations. That allows me to keep an open mind and be pleasantly surprised.

I am thrilled to be going to New Orleans on Wednesday as part of the NOLABound program, and I know it will be a trip of a lifetime. Even so, I'm trying not to get carried away with "expectations" and simply remain open to new experiences and ways of thinking.

One of my professors recently taught that Happiness = Reality - Expectations, so hopefully my method will bring some happiness too.

But if I said that I hadn't been thinking about my trip for weeks now, I'd be a liar. Anyone who's spent some time around me must have heard me saying "Nawlins," "crawfish," "alligator," and "gumbo" an inappropriate number of times. I'm really curious to hear the accent (if any) for myself and maybe pick up a phrase or two of local slang. I want to know which New Orleans stereotypes are true and which are overhyped. It's true that as a francophile I'm looking forward to checking out the French Quarter, the French food, and the French music. Bien oui! And it's true that as a newbie jazz fan, I'm looking forward to some real musical education and hearing what music the locals are into.

I'm also really looking forward to seeing how I can personally help the New Orleans entrepreneurial scene grow and thrive, using perhaps some lessons I've picked up from my time in Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach to help Silicon Bayou (still not sure how I feel about all those names). I know what trends have been hot in California, and I'm curious to see what the scene and people are like in New Orleans.

Specifically, I'm curious about what the lean start-up trend has meant for New Orleans start-ups and how the general entrepreneurial process compares. I'm curious about what industries/spaces/problems are hot, which start-up resources are plentiful, and which are missing. I'm also very interested in how New Orleans views the (tech) world, and if it suffers a little of the same Silicon Valley envy that Los Angeles unfortunately suffers from (constantly comparing itself to its northern cousin). I think each city should emphasize its strengths and unique taste of entrepreneurship, and I hope to discover what that is in New Orleans (and what Los Angeles stands learn from New Orleans!).

Most of all, I'm looking forward to bonding with my NOLABound tripmates and exchanging ideas and experiences. We're all so different and come from such diverse walks of life, and yet I can already tell from our conversations over the past week (on Twitter) that we all share something common to entrepreneurs: a positive attitude and a desire to learn, explore, and help others. I can't wait for Wednesday!