Scene Magazine recently covered Launch Pad in its coverage of the SXSW festival and the Louisiana delegation that was orchestrated by Net2NO to promote digital media and highlight the technology scene happening in New Orleans.

You can check out the digital edition of Scene here. (Very cool)

The final aspect of the hugely comprehensive festival was the SXSW tech scene. “For the second year in a row, New Orleans showcased authenticity, passion & community that has been brewing in the tech scene in Louisiana.” said Chris Schultz of Net2NO and Launch Pad. “The panel about ‘The future of work’ focused on the trend of co-working and highlighted Launch Pad which we are expanding to Baton Rouge and Lafayette this year. And the panel ‘Seed Accelerators’ gave us the tools we need to fill the seed capital gap in Louisiana and start competing on the national startup scene.”

It’s great to see the highlights of the Dear New Orleans pictures that Robert Fogarty took based on the sponsorship of the trip provided by TribeCon.

When Tina Antolini and Al Letson stopped through NOLA to tape their NPR show last month, we were thrilled to be included in their itinerary, and we were excited about all of the great folks and organizations like Robert Fogarty’s Evacuteer they covered.  The show made it to air this week, and we were in there.

Give it a listen here.

You can hear Launch Pad at the 15:18 mark of the full show, or right at the start of segment B.

In a media turnabout, we featured them on an episode of LPTV on March 26th when they were here.  Watch it here.

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.•

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.

Everyone is buzzing around here after a great piece on Launch Pad being at the center of the New Orleans startup ecosystem last night on WWL.

I was thrilled that Scott Satchfield and WWL put together such a nice and relevant story about what is really going on here right now, and the energy around the NOLA startup scene. Lot’s of the members of Launch Pad who were around on Monday & Tuesday when WWL was filming made cameo’s in the piece.

We had a great StartSpark event at Launch Pad and appreciate the support that Microsoft is offering entreprenuers through the BizSpark program, of which Launch Pad is a network partner. The attention that Microsoft bringing to the local tech community by hosting its WPC conference here is a real tribute. Here’s a snippet from the story:

Last month, he introduced what he hopes will become a spark for entrepreneurs in the New Orleans tech industry. It’s called Launch Pad — and the name says it all. It’s an incubator, where Schultz will help companies clear hurdles standing in the way of most tech startups.

“We’re seeing a lot of activity, and sort of the entrepreneurial eco-system is coming together from all of the facets that you need to start a business,” Schultz said. “You know, from a capital standpoint, from a space standpoint.”

Entrepreneurs work in a shared space, where the exchanging of ideas and skills is encouraged.

Software developer Matthew Tritico said new companies seem to have the mutual goal of helping the New Orleans tech community become a major player both nationally and globally.

“That’s really what it’s all about,” he said. “It’s just getting different people from different backgrounds — designers, entrepreneurs, coders, all of us together to talk it out and see what we can do.”

Thanks to Tiffany Ingargiola, Scott Satchfield, GNO, Inc, Tiffany Starnes, Christian Thilmany from Microsoft, Matt Tritico, Neel Sus and the NOLA Ambassadors and most of all the incredible Launch Pad members for making this happen.

It’s been a good week for Launch Pad coverage. I wanted to share this article from the Baton Rouge Advocate before Jazz Fest today. Ben & I are going to be announcing something else shortly too.

Chris Schultz, a 34-year-old principal in Launch Pad, said he’s stoked by his $25,000 prize. He moved from Los Angeles after meeting his future wife at the 2002 Jazz Fest.

A serial entrepreneur who operates a Web strategy company, Voodoo Ventures, Schultz and partners Will Donaldson — a Tulane MBA student — and Barre Tanguis, a real estate developer — will be based at the Launch Pad’s offices.

There, they’ll rent desk space to technology and business professionals at monthly rates of $750 for a closed-door office, $450 for a desk in the open environment, and $275 for a shared “co-working desk.”

“Getting into office space is very expensive, especially with three-year leases,” Schultz said. “We’re going to work with startups and creative class knowledge workers who may be freelancers who otherwise would work from home and who might need office space.”

Launch Pad was featured on WWL radio with Garland Robinette yesterday, and I had a lot of fun being on the radio again yesterday. I tempted him during one of the breaks to talk Twitter and we got into it.

Check out Launch Pad discussions @ the 18:20 & 22:30 marks.

Will get’s props in a post on the City Business Blog by Greg Larose about the IP:

Will Donaldson typifies the spirit behind the IP. The Tulane MBA student is one of the partners in The Launch Pad, which will provide workspace and meeting facilities at the IP for fledgling entrepreneurs who aren’t ready to commit to a long-term office lease.

Congrats Will, great stuff.

Launch Pad had a great press day yesterday (and Barre had a great hair day). We were fortunate enough to be featured by the Times Picayune and City Business. We feel great about this, and look forward to continuing the positive exposure for all the members. We really are confident that this is going to be a tremendous story for the entreprenuerial community in New Orleans.

From the Times Picayune article “Former McGlinchey Stafford building becomes hub for entrepreneurial companies:”

“There will be a lot of interaction by virtue of being in the same building,” said Chris Schultz, whose is starting a company called Launch Pad that will provide low-cost office space to freelance writers, designers and others launching a new business who cannot afford to sign a long-term lease.”

And from City Business “504ward ready to pick Business Competition winner:”

The Idea Village is down to five finalists for its 504ward Business Competition, and the winner of $200,000 in products and services will be announced Saturday.

The contest is geared toward business ideas that will retain young professionals in New Orleans. The Idea Village launched the competition in September with a promotion and support team from Google. By a December submission deadline, the competition received more than 140 applications from 14 states. Panels of young professionals and members of the business community narrowed down the field to five finalists: Launch Pad, NOLA Social Sports, New Orleans Dance Institute, New Orleans Development Co., and Play NOLA.

As much as we like the attention, we are ready to shift the spotlight to our member companies. We’re in talks with our first founding members right now, including a VC-backed startup that is a very exciting business. Are you ready to take flight? Sign up here and let’s talk.