NOLABound Day 1 Notes -- New Orleans is Magic

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
  

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NOLA Branding Talk

• Speakers coordinates Trumpet, IdeaVillage
• Background in ad, brand management
• Grew up in NOLA
• Worked on west coast, multinational accounts
  
• Came back to New Orleans to apply lessons
  
• Business responsibility not just as trickle down
• Business as important to society's function
• Talented people now idealistic, motivated to do right things

• 2 year head start on recession due to Katrina
  
• Had to challenge your own BS at that time, understand weaknesses
  
• Closer community: French hung on longer, surrounded by water, deep slavery
  
• Architecture, food, music are symptoms of creativity
• NOLA hates to be bored
• Culinary entrepreneurs developing in new media, wider spread
• Put together fund using 35% credit to create venture unit
  
• Infrastructure development, bringing investors and foundations to NOLA
• Naked Pizza Company
• Use fast food infrastructure but to create natural healthy pizza
  
• Brand = business idea that attains cultural influence
• Imbue early businesses with branding and cultural influence conversations
• Fast food industry figured out how to set up in areas with poor infrastructure and sell to bottom of pyramid
  
• Naked Pizza only possible in a place like NOLA (known for unhealthy food)
  
• Still in early stages
  
• NOLA (and NOLABound): crowdsourcing of economic development ideas
  
• Cross disciplinary
• 3 organizations working together: Downtown Development District (DDD), Greater New Orleans, Inc. (GNO, Inc.), IdeaVillage
• NOLABound program and other visitors

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Growth Industry Panel

• Business is about: Knowing what customer wants, Providing it, Telling the world
• They're doing this for NOLA
  

• New Orleans offers industries of the mind an immediate, intangible, mysterious, quicksilver, slippery connection to inspiration
  
• Degas, Tennessee Williams spent time
• Makes you do better work
• New Orleans as modern muse
• How do we turn that into a brand?
• Only 1 Fortune 500 company
• Raise your own bar
• Recreating one of world's greatest cities

Film

• Jolene Pinder
  
• Hollywood of the south 
• New orleans #3 in film production after LA and NY
• Film tax incentives
  
• > $300K budget and employ LA people and film here to get 35% tax credit
  
• 46 projects in 2011
  
• $531M generated last year by film prod
  
• Can bundle projects so smaller indie ones can benefit
• Film festival
• Created drive-ins on abandoned buildings and super markets
• Food trucks
• Developing more theaters in the city
• Only one major theater 
• Get creative about how showing movies in city

Tech transfer office

• Jason Doherty 
• Bio innovations center 
• Created wet lab and office space for up to 60 biotech startups
• Lots of good science being done at local universities, lots of grants
• But little resources to start companies and commercialize inventions
• Creating entrepreneurial environment for biotech in NOLA
• Connect startups to capital sources, permanently in same office space as the startups
• Need to have a couple good hits

Tech

• Chris Reade
  
• Moved his tech company from NY to NOLA
  
• Had road rage in NY and hated it
  
• Considered SF, Chicago, NOLA
  
• SF too competitive, too difficult to recruit
  
• Chicago winters bad
  
• There was a 4% tax additional on software dev
  
• Got it repealed
  
• Now there's a 35% credit for digital media projects
  
• Complete about face
  
• #1 growth in IT jobs
  
• Has been king cotton, sugar town, brewery, finance
  
• At end of the longest river of the continent, there will be an important city
  
• What keeps him here: values
  
• Community values important but not obvious
  
• In NY, important is how much rent you pay, where you live
  
• In NOLA, value is how good a life you have
  
• Mardi Gras Indians: dirt poor but respected for joie de vivre, tradition
  
• Grew big family of friends in only 10 years in NOLA (45 people show up to brunch at his house)
  
• Learned to fail fast
  
• Try lots of different sideline businesses
  
• Starting Digischool at Delgado to educate local residents for digital media

Sustainable industries

• Beth Galante
• Lived here since 1988
• Tulane Law School
  
• New Orleans has magic
  
• Intoxicated by music festival there
  
• Energy and environmental law
• Was prosecutor
• Chose to be rich rather than wealthy
• Didn't go to other job in DC or Chicago
• Mission to inspire sustainability
  
• Leed platinum, zero emissions projects
  
• Every new school and renovation is Leed silver or better
  
• Greenest school district in US
  
• Sustainable industries: energy, water, waste
• No such thing as waste, just feed stock
• Opportunity to turn waste into feed
• Working with restaurant assoc. to reuse food waste
• 50% tax credit for renewal energy in LA, top tax credit in US
• Solar, offshore wind, geothermal, biofuels
• Construction industry exploding
• Energy efficiency project with gov't and private sector together

Social Entrepreneurs of New Orleans

• Andrea Chen
• Graduated from Stanford
• Design thinking
• Came as teacher for TFA
• One of her students shot
  
• Citizens just stepped up to plate to solve problems after Katrina
• Made street signs by hand
• 80% of system is now charter schools
• Run a pitch competition called Pitch NOLA
• Funnel ideas into accelerator programs
• Access to resources and people
• Recruit talent to come to solve problems
• 50% obesity in teens who get 50% of calories at school cafeteria
• Changing cafeteria food

Tech

• Chris Boudy
  
• Born and raised in NOLA
  
• Magic is what grew tech scene
  
• Love people, invite people into their homes
  
• 14 tech user groups now
• He does web design, webmaster for school system
• Went to SXSW to show they were real
• Barcamp Nola unconcerence
• TEDNOLA
• Very laid back
• Take our time
• Love each other
• Help each other out
• Started New Orleans tech group to report on tech news
• Did Teen Tech Day to teach kids about tech and social media
• Tax credit huge, now have mobile app companies, create jobs
• Coworking spaces: have 2-3 now
• Code for America: government initiatives
• App to fight crime, report issues
• IBM research on making city more efficient
• GE announced 300 new tech jobs
• Gumbo pot: slowly cool ingredients to make a good soup

Tech

• Zach Kuperman
  
• Grew up in NOLA 
  
• Runs Silicon Bayou news tech blog
  
• PollBob digital media app to poll friends
  
• Day to day attorney corporate law
  
• 1965: 600K people, slow decline until Katrina, complacency
  
• Katrina was catalyst to change
  
• Wanted way to follow along with industry so started blog
  
• Met Chris Schultz who had his own tech blog and ran Barcamp
  
• Now 4-5 buildings or physical spaces where tech startups together, critical mass
  
• PollBob raised $100K from friends and family and small fund, used tax credit, state handholds and helps
  
• Challenge still: access to capital
  
• Traditionally has been heavy asset based like oil and gas
  
• Small angel funds have popped up

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Search Influence Company Visit

• Inc 500: only company in New Orleans
• Brought all Indian offshore work to NOLA
• Will Scott
• No walls office
• Pods

• Content production; 5K content pieces per month
  
• Developers
  
• Operations: AdWords and Microsoft certified 
• Account management
• Built product management system on top of SugarCRM
• People like to use local vendors and support local businesses
• You can start anything here and will get local customers next day
• They don't think about the exit; just building something in NOLA and doing good business
  
• They don't think about fundraising; grow organically
  
• Before, if you were halfway smart you left NOLA; now it's not the case
  
• New Orleans is still clay, not hardened yet, I can do something here
• Community huge
• Everyone is a crew, has marching leader, huge loyalty
• Walking to work is huge
• Be in community, not plugging into cubical each day
• Everyone in office young, fun, friendly

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Bioinnovation Center Happy Hour

• Mixer for NOLA Entrepreneur Week
  
• Katrina created a need for social entrepreneurship
  
• Tulane is creating a major in Social Entrepreneurship at the university