Two brand new events are coming up at Launch Pad in July.  We invite you to join us for both of them.  Please RSVP below.

Wed, July 7th @ Noon – Lunch & Learn: Accounting for the Emerging Business with Don Engler & Jonathan Koenig

We’re kicking off a new luncheon educational series with Don Engler & Jonathan Koenig of Wegmann, Dazet & Company.  They are a local accounting firm that works closely with entrepreneurs and will be sharing some great information about every entrepreneurs most important but often overlooked subject: accounting. A open, informal presentation and group discussion will cover the topics below and more.  Come prepared with your questions:

• The importance of and how to get to having good financial statements to present to lenders, investors and mergers & acquisitions.
• The importance of good internal controls and steps to create them in your growth.
• The availability of state tax credits that can bolster your financial picture as you grow.

The one hour session will be held in the front conference room of the IP building at noon on Wednesday July 7. Wegmann, Dazet & Company is very generously buying lunch so please RSVP below so we can get a head count.

Wed, July 21th @ 5:30 pm – Talent Dating Event @ GNO Code – Mixing business & tech

We try to fill gaps in the startup ecosystem here in New Orleans with the events we host.  This event is designed to bring the tech community (developers & engineers) together with the startup business community (biz peeps & MBA’s).  We want to connect the idea people with the people who can build the ideas.  Modeled after the successful Founder Dating series in the Bay Area.  Give this article a read. The reason we’re calling it Talent Dating and not Founder Dating, is we want to introduce talented people to each other for the purpose of founding a company together or hiring one another to work on a project.

The mixer will take place at 5:30 pm at Capdeville and then will be immediately followed by the GNO Code meeting where the topic will be Apple iPad development.  We invite everyone to attend both.  So we can get a headcount, please RSVP below. See you there.

We had a very exciting 2010 Launch Fest with a lot of passionate entrepreneurs.  Take a look at the impact of the conference in our Impact Report below.

Launch Fest featured three days of half-day conference sessions between the two weekends of Jazz Fest. Topics included social entrepreneurship, straight-talk with local entrepreneurs, and a pitch session to get companies funded. Of course, in the spirit of Jazz Fest we had four nights of mixers, music, and fun topics. Free and open to the public, the sessions were be held at the IP building. With Launch Fest, we put a new twist on the annual right of spring in New Orleans.

Please see the Launch Fest Impact Report below.  In addition, we wanted to share all of the media from the event:

• Preso Slides: http://hu.la/launchfest2010slides
• Pics Tue: http://hu.la/ccKdQk
• Pics Wed: http://hu.la/9DeYjv
• Pics Thu: http://hu.la/aRscVN
• Video Archive: http://bit.ly/lptv

Launch Fest by the numbers:

• 200+ attendees
• 16 sessions over 3 days with 3 evening mixers
• 10 companies pitched to 18 investors
• 70% of the companies were invited to be introduced to investors
• 2 guests ended up this close to Eddie Vedder: http://yfrog.com/89y1kj

Launch Fest Impact Report

Capital is like fuel for startups.  Raising capital can be the most difficult but most important thing an entrepreneur does.  Join us as we demystify the process of raising capital.  The panel will cover funding options from angel, VC to debt.

This is a fantastic opportunity to hear directly from experts and jump start your own fundraising.

• Who:  Shane McCarthy, Michael LeBourgeois, Richard Montgomery
• What: Raising Funding – Seed, Angel, VC & Debt – A Panel for Entrepreneurs
• When: Thursday, October 15th, 2009 – 5:30-7:30pm
• Where: Launch Pad – 643 Magazine St.
• Cost: FREE – Open to the public – RSVP below

Shane McCarthy – Director of Finance - Enhanced Capital Partners

Mr. McCarthy is the Director of Finance for ECP.  He is responsible for ECP’s accounting, finance, and financial reporting functions and assists with the monitoring and maintenance of  its portfolio company investments.  Mr. McCarthy also assists with the administration of the firm’s Federal New Markets Tax Credit business segment, as well as the fund administration for a traditional $225 million private equity fund where ECP is a Managing General Partner.  Prior to joining ECP in March 2006, he was an audit manager with Ernst & Young.  Mr. McCarthy is a member of both the AICPA and the Society of Louisiana CPAs.  He received his Masters in Professional Accountancy and a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2001 and 1999, respectively.

Richard Montgomery – General Partner – VCE Capital Partners

Mr. Montgomery is a member of the General Partner, and runs the firm’s New Orleans office. Prior to that time, he was an attorney in the corporate and securities section of the New Orleans office of Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrère & Denègre, LLP. His practice focused on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, private equity and venture capital financing transactions and entity formation. He is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association.

Mr. Montgomery earned a J.D. in 1999 from the Louisiana State University School of Law, graduating as a member of the Order of the Coif. In law school, he was an associate on the Louisiana Law Review. Prior to that, he earned a B.A. in History from the University of Georgia.

Michael LeBourgeois – Principal - NGP Energy Technology Partners

We’ve been busy readying the 4th floor expansion of Launch Pad, and amid all the commotion we realized we forgot to do something very important… throw a grand opening party!

So, its finally time to do it, we’re throwing a party and YOU are invited.

One of our missions is to celebrate product launches and that’s exactly what we’ll be doing. We’ll be celebrating the launch of Schedulist, an app being launched by Launch Pad member Chris Laibe, and Jodia, an app being launched by Carrollton Technology Partners.

• Who: Carrolton Technology Partners, Schedulist, and Launch Pad
• What: Launch Party and Grand Opening of Launch Pad 4th Floor Expansion
  
• When: Wednesday, Oct 7th – 6:00-8:00 pm
• Where: Launch Pad – 643 Magazine St. New Orleans
• Cost: FREE – Open to the public – RSVP below

Schedulist is the world’s first workforce scheduling program designed specifically to improve workforce retention.  The healthcare system in the US alone spends $60 Billion per year in turnover of the nursing staff with other industries facing similar costs. Schedulist’s patented algorithm and unique interactive tools make the facility “sticky”, enabling business leaders to address potential issues before they result in the departure of a key employee.

Jodia, a creole word meaning ‘Today’ is a web-based client management tool.  Covering far more than just time and billing, Jodia is a comprehensive way for small businesses and freelancers to manage their client relationships.  Jodia keeps track of important client-related files, notes, projects and integrates with major packages like Quickbooks and Peachtree for accounting.  Jodia also prints out and mails invoices to your clients for you in addition to e-mail options.  Jodia is the first product release for Carrollton Technology Partners.

Launch Pad opens its expansion to the 4^th floor of the IP on October 1^st, 2009.  With 11 new offices, an expanded co-working space, and a new film studio in partnership with Deltree, Launch Pad is building on its success attracting entrepreneurs, freelancers, and creative professionals to its shared workspace with a strong community environment.  Launch Pad is now the largest tenant in the IP.

We’re launching a monthly speaker series where we’ll be featuring presentations and panels geared at entrepreneurs.  Please check out the Launch Pad calendar on left for our full fall schedule of events.  We’re excited to kick this off next week.

• Who: Dale R. Pfost
• What: “Arc of the Start” presentation for entrepreneurs regarding the process of raising venture capital.
• When: Thursday, Sept 24 @ 5:30 pm
• Where: Launch Pad – 643 Magazine St. New Orleans
• Cost: FREE – Open to the public – RSVP below
  

Dale is an experienced biotech entrepreneur who has served as the CEO of five start-up and high growth companies over the last 25 years.  During this time, he has raised $225 million in cash for these companies in 19 separate financing transactions. Of his five companies, two had IPOs and the other three were acquired in M&A transactions.  His most recent company was sold earlier this year.  Dale received a Ph. D. in physics from Brown University.  He was born and raised in Silicon Valley, and now resides in New Orleans with his wife and son, who attends Tulane University.

Thanks to Richard Montgomery for putting together this amazing opportunity for the New Orleans tech & entrepreneurial community.

We hope you’ll join us for this great presentation.  It is FREE and open to the public. Please RSVP below.

There is a ton of good stuff going on in New Orleans this week for the SIGGRAPH conference.

If you’re headed to the conference this week, Chris Reade and I are going to be speaking on the NOLA startup scene at 9:30 am on Tuesday & Thursday this week. Stop by the Louisiana Economic Development booth – #2900.

New Orleans is also rolling out the red carpet for SIGGRAPH attendees with a ton of great stuff going on.

• Monday: Ernst Cafe – 600 S. Peters – Free beer from 6-8 with SIGGRAPH badge. Sponsored by DDD.
• Tuesday:
  • LePhare – 523 Gravier – Free mojitos from 6-8 with SIGGRAPH badge. Sponsored by DDD.
  • Net2NO 1st Annual Netty Awards – Bridge Lounge – 1201 Magazine St. – Free beer & wine 6-8. Sponsored by New Orleans Tech.net and Hartwig Moss.
• Wednesday:
  • Republic – 828 S. Peters – Drink specials from 6-11. Sponsored by GNO, Inc & LITE & LED.  Check out the event flyers.
  • Tweetup @ Ernst Cafe – 600 S. Peters – Drink specials & live music 5pm.
• Thursday: LOA – 221 Camp Street. Free specialty cocktails from 6-8 with SIGGRAPH badge. Sponsored by DDD.

If I’ve missed anything, please let me know in the comments.  I’ll happily add to or edit this post.  It’s going to be a great week for SIGGRAPH.

Microsoft is going to be all over NOLA in a couple weeks for the 2009 Microsoft Worldwide Partners Conference. Launch Pad is pleased to participate in this exciting week by hosting a StartSpark meetup to introduce the local startups, entrepreneurs, & developers to the BizSpark program.

Launch Pad is an official Network Partner of the BizSpark program which means whether you’re at Launch Pad or not, we can help your startup become part of BizSpark.  What’s that mean? Well, good question:

• BizSpark is a program designed to help startups get off the ground through three pillars: software, support & visibility
• Startups in the BizSpark program get free development tools, platform technologies and production licenses

Learn more about the BizSpark program by downloading the datasheet here.

We’re going to introduce BizSpark to the entrepreneurs, startups & software developers, the folks who are doing stuff and supporting the tech community here in New Orleans:

• When: Tuesday, July 14 – 5-7pm
• Where: Launch Pad – 643 Magazine St. Suite 102 (map)
• What to expect: Barcamp style meetup, open discussion of program from Microsoft folks & local developers.
• Who: Representatives from Microsoft & the BizSpark program, developers, techies, conference attendees, all are welcome to join the conversation

This is a great program by Microsoft to place their tools in the hands of developers & startups.  Don’t miss this chance to learn about the program and show Microsoft what a strong community we have.

We can discuss: SilverLight 3, Nextweb, Expression Studio, VS2010 since they are being released July 10th.  Or what else would you like to hear about? Let’s start the convo right now, please comment and let us know what you would like to see covered in the event?

Please RSVP for this event below:

The Launch Pad launch party was so much fun.

Happy Jazz Fest! You’re invited to come kick off the weekend with us tonight! We’re (pre)celebrating the launch of the Launch Pad on June 1st.

Fifty People, One Question: Ultimate Edition from Chris Schultz on Vimeo.

Join us for a VIP backstage party tonight:

• VIP Backstage Party for Bonearama and Midnite Disturbers
• The Studio @ Colton Theater
• Thursday, April 30 – 9pm until late
• Free beer backstage in green room
• DJ OtherTempo spinning
• $20 tix for show + free VIP if you’re a Launch Pad guest

There are two ways to get in:

• Buy tix now (preferred) – http://launchpad.eventbrite.com/
• Buy tix @ door. You email cschultz@voodooventures.com to be on the list.

**IMPORTANT** There is no entry to the VIP backstage area unless you are on the list. So get on it.

We will have backstage access to the Backbeat Presents Bonearama and Midnite Disturbers show. Big Sam, Trombone Shorty, Stanton Moore, Ben Ellman. It’s gonna be sweet. They rocked it so hard during Mardi Gras that they took the party to the streets on Frenchman. Expect craziness, band dancing & playing in the crowd, music from Black Sabbath to whatever you can imagine.

Also, back in the VIP, we’ll have DJ OtherTempo, aka Elliott Adams spinning. He was amazing on our SXSW trip, and he’s going to be great for this. We’ll have private space back there w/ free beer for all of us.

Ticket price covers show admission. A portion of the proceeds from Backbeat Presents shows support The Backbeat Foundation. The VIP party is on us.

Get your tickets now – http://launchpad.eventbrite.com/

One of the things we’re most excited about with Launch Pad is the community we’re building and the events we’ll be putting together. We’re kicking things off with the Launch Pad Party during Jazz Fest next week. Come join us and meet other members of the Pad and pass a good time.

• VIP Backstage Party for Bonearama and Midnite Disturbers @ Colton Theater
• Thursday, April 30 – 9pm until late
• Free beer backstage in green room
• DJ OtherTempo spinning
• $20 tix for show + free VIP if you’re a Launch Pad guest
• Get your ticket’s now!

We will have backstage access to the Backbeat Presents Midnite Disturbers show. Big Sam, Trombone Shorty, Stanton Moore, Ben Ellman. It’s gonna be sweet. They rocked it so hard during Mardi Gras that they took the party to the streets on Frenchman. Expect craziness, band dancing & playing in the crowd, music from Black Sabbath to whatever you can imagine.

Also, back in the VIP, we’ll have DJ OtherTempo, aka Elliott Adams spinning. He was amazing on our SXSW trip, and he’s going to be great for this. We’ll have private space back there w/ free beer for all of us.

In order to get to this, please get your tickets now so we can make sure you’re on the VIP list. Happy Jazz Fest y’all, see ya next Thursday. Oh, and Launch Pad opens June 1st. Join the party on Facebook.