CityBusiness Coverage of Launch Pad Expansion to Lafayette

Posted in: Press by Chris Schultz on April 23, 2010

We were very excited to be featured in City Business regarding our expansion to Lafayette.  Check out the article here.

Launch Pad eyes Lafayette for new office

POSTED: 08:36 AM Friday, April 23, 2010
BY: Jennifer Larino, Staff Writer
TAGS: Chris Schultz, FiberFete, Intellectual Property building, Lafayette Economic Development Authority, Launch Pad

New Orleans-based collaborative workspace group Launch Pad said it plans to open a new office in Lafayette within the next few months.

The announcement, made Thursday at the FiberFete conference in Lafayette, comes at a time when grass-roots technology communities in the two cities are attempting to bridge a gap across the Interstate 10 corridor, said Chris Schultz, founder of Launch Pad.

“We want people from Lafayette to come work in New Orleans and the other way around,” Schultz said.

Launch Pad has not signed a lease for a particular location but has viewed commercial spaces in the city.

Schultz said he approached the Lafayette Economic Development Authority about a Lafayette Launch Pad two months ago following a Twitter message about the possibility that generated immediate positive response from both the New Orleans and Lafayette technology communities.

“It’s reflective of all of these things kind of clicking for digital media. Things are happening,” Schultz said.

Launch Pad is interested in leveraging the speed and economy of the Lafayette fiber-to-home network expected to be up and running by the end of summer, Schultz said.

Launch Pad New Orleans pays just under $1,000 a month for Internet service; the much faster fiber service in Lafayette will cost $29 a month.

“It’s one of the only networks in the country like that,” he said. “I really think it’s a wonderful thing and will attract our type of technical, creative people to Lafayette.”

As Launch Pad approaches its one-year anniversary it will also be adding another floor to its office in the Intellectual Property Building as well as testing the waters for a Baton Rouge opening.•

NY Times features Launch Pad

Posted in: Press by Chris Schultz on April 7, 2010

We were highlighted in a recent NY Times post that covered the 504ward business plan competition one year later.  While 504ward did not produce its business competition for 2010, it did produce BizCamp which was hosted at Launch Pad, and continues to execute

on its mission of retaining talent in New Orleans by providing career opportunities.

Why a New Orleans Business Competition Decided to Shut Down

By LORA KOLODNY April 6, 2010, 12:48 pm

As it was getting started in 2008, the New Orleans nonprofit 504ward wanted to make a big splash while advancing its primary goal: to retain or draw talented young professionals and their businesses to New Orleans, a city still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

The main beneficiaries of last year’s 504ward competition were the winner of its grand prize, playNOLA, and the second-prize winner, LaunchPad.

Meanwhile, LaunchPad — a k a  LaunchPadNola — which was started by Chris Schultz, offers co-working space and business classes in New Orleans. It has 43 tenants today.