I’m writing this post after the tough process of making decisions for Launch Pad Ignition and communicating the good and bad news to the companies that applied.  It was a very competitive process and we had a lot of great applicants, which made the decisions hard.  This year we added an advisory board to Ignition made up of investors – 2 NOLA, 2 NY, 2 SV.  They provided very valuable guidance and feedback and ultimately we made the decisions.

While its fresh, I want to share some thoughts on why some companies did or didn’t get in, so you can be better prepared to apply next year or to another accelerator.

You need:

• Shovel-ready product development - even if you don’t have product yet, we need to have confidence you’re ready to hit the ground running.  If you’re not building or ready to build, you’re not ready.
• Hustle and drive - the best way to communicate how good you are is to show that you are building this company anyway, with or without Ignition.  We had a founder who went from talking about his idea at our info session in December to having a prototype built before he finished interviewing. It was clear he was building this company with or without us, and this communicated a lot about his drive.

Deal breakers:

• All founders not able to attend the whole program - last year we flexed on this a bit and learned why its so important for all founders to attend the entire program.  If you we’re able to commit to being in New Orleans for the whole program, we didn’t let you in.  The value of an accelerator is in being part of it, and if only one founder attends, it leads to companies not being calibrated.
• Uncommitted founders – founders who still are working full-time or have a second company were a deal-breaker.  You may be able to bootstrap a company or self-fund it this way, but its not an appropriate structure for an accelerator or attractive to investors.  You may see it as a safety net, but we need you all-in.
• Unable to communicate vision – several companies left us scratching our heads as to what they did or wanted to do, even after multiple interviews. You need to be able to communicate your vision succinctly.  Practice this with regular people. If they don’t understand it, simplify and refine.
• Kitchen sink approach – take your core value proposition and then layer on everything else you might possibly build. Not a good approach.  Refine your core value to its core functionality. You can build up later. But you must have something core that makes people want to use your product.

We’re excited to be announcing our class Feb 13.  Hopefully this feedback is helpful to applicants who didn’t get in and to those who will be applying next year.

I am excited today to announce Launch Pad Ignition, our new startup accelerator program.

This is the culmination of several years of planning and preparation, and we are particularly excited to be launching as a part of the TechStars Network, and by extension the Obama administration’s new Startup America Initiative.

Ignition has been a personal passion project. The conversation started a year ago, after I wrote my open letter to David Cohen (see, they really work).  Andrew Hyde has been a huge supporter and Taylor Davidson has been instrumental in helping us model this out and make it happen. Thank you to the fantastic mentors who have already committed to being onboard.  If you’re interested, please contact me. I’m excited to be working with my co-founders of Barre Tanguis, Will Donaldson, Peter Bodenheimer and Mark Graffagnini, this really is like a startup itself.

An exciting leap for the New Orleans startup ecosystem, Ignition creates a framework to help founders refine their product offering, invigorate their business plans, and raise funding to fuel their growth.  So, if you are a startup in New Orleans, or willing to move to New Orleans to accelerate the growth of your company, definitely check out the info and get your application in before March 18.

Learn more about Launch Pad Ignition, the TechStars Network, and Startup America.  See more detailed information in our press release. We are proud to be playing a role in accelerating entrepreneurship.  Startups, start your engines!

We’re doing a Five Minute Pitch on Wed at Launch Pad.  Here is the coaching guidance that I just sent out to the companied presenting.

• format – we are going to hold you to 5 min, so be sure to keep your pitch tight and focused.  this is plenty of time if you are rehearsed and gives you an opportunity to communicate about your company or project in a way that will keep the audiences attention and hopefully spark conversation with you afterwards.
• goal – what do you want to accomplish?  start there, think about that deeply.  are you trying to raise funding, attract users/customers, generate press? utilize this forum to accomplish something for your business. focus on achieving that goal and don’t worry if your pitch isn’t broad enough to be interesting to everyone.  that’s why we’re keeping them to 5 min. this is not an exercise, this is an opportunity to accomplish something for your business.
• ask – close (and maybe open too) with your ask.  be specific and be clear.  ie: 1) we’re looking to find new school customers, so if you know anyone in education, please refer me to them. 2) we’re currently raising a seed round of $500k and have $200k committed.  3) we are looking to generate awareness about our platform so please follow us @yourname and tweet about us 4) we’re looking for beta users to please sign up on www.yourwebsitename.com for an invite.
• practice – please, please, please give your pitch out loud, standing up.  if you don’t you will run too long.  You will have 100x improvement in your pitch by giving it several times, getting feedback, doing more of whats working, less of whats not.  ask for candid feedback.  treat this as the real-deal, not a practice.  you want to be proud of your pitch.
• show, don’t tell – if you have a product, show it, demo it if you can do it very quickly.  1-2 min videos are great, b/c you can prepare them in advance and they can be extremely professional. live demos are difficult to do, if you are going to do it, please have someone else to “drive”.  screenshots of your product are actually much better than a live demo.  remember, the audience doesn’t know your product nearly as well as you do, so showcase the “wow” factor, but don’t expect them to understand it and don’t try to do a deep dive about how it works.  focus on the sexy and sizzle.
• elevator pitch arc – there are lots of blog posts about what people want to hear in an elevator pitch.  this obviously varies depending on what your goal is.  but have a clear outlined format, don’t just talk. you’ll be judged by the audience as much on your professionalism and clarity in approach as you will on your product.  remember to touch on things like: problem, solution, market, team, traction, business model.
• deck –  i’d recommend keeping it to 5-8 slides, unless you are able to run your preso very tightly and succinctly.  don’t read whats on the slide, use the slide for backup and then give context, explanation or tell a story.  make sure that what you are saying connects with the slides but you are not reading bullet points, nothing is more dull.
• get excited! relax and have fun – the coaching advice here is to help you be prepared and confident. practicing beforehand will give you confidence and help you relax. make sure your excitement about your company comes through, excitement is contagious. this is a friendly audience, everyone is rooting for you. you will be great.

Here are some resources that I like:

• http://www.slideshare.net/UTR/how-to-pitch-a-vc-dave-mcclure
• http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html#axzz1ASoQA9sv
• http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/funding/the-social-entrepreneur-s-pitch/
• http://venturebeat.com/2010/05/24/five-minute-pitch-sliderocket/
• http://ryanacademy.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/techstars-show-how-to-pitch-with-passion-prt-1/
• http://www.quora.com/Elevator-Pitch-Descriptions?q=pitch

New Orleans is home to many exciting happenings in the world of Ruby on Rails this week as RubyConf comes to New Orleans for the first time.  We’re excited to be hosting events at Launch Pad and sponsoring events through Flatsourcing.  I wanted to take a minute to share everything that is going on this week.

• RoR Training Fundraiser – 11/10 9am-4pm – Jumpstart Lab is hosting an all-day training session at Launch Pad on Wed.  This class is an excellent TDD/Rails3 primer.  I’m personally looking forward to taking this class and challenging Anton to a code-off next time I’m in Kazan. All proceeds from the class are going to a Teach For America classroom. Sign up here.
• RubyConf – 11/11-13 – RubyConf will be held at the Hilton Riverside and features three days of fantastic content.
• RubyHappy Happy Hour – 11/11 5-7pm – Join us at the IP building for happy hour in the IP building and at Capdeville hosted by iSeatz, Audiosocket, Flatsourcing & Launch Pad. Sign up here.
• Ruby Bayou Meetup – 11/11 7pm – Following the happy hour, take part in New Orleans’ own Ruby Bayou monthly meeting at Launch Pad. Register now.

I’m excited to be supporting these through Flatsourcing & Launch Pad, and most of all, I’m excited to take the class on Wednesday and start rocking the rails myself

On this 5th anniversary of Katrina, there has been much reflection about New Orleans.  We have made many strides as a city, yet there remains much work to be done.  The city is broad and diverse and I wouldn’t for a minute pretend to know the challenges that so many have faced over the last five years.

One bright spot has been the emergent entrepreneurial community in New Orleans.   I been a New Orleanian equal parts pre & post storm now, and it amazes me how different the business climate is today.  There is a collaborative, bootstrapping, can-do spirit driving us and the last few years have been the most inspirational of my business career.  There is something truly special going on in New Orleans right now, and I am humbled that the people of Launch Pad, our community, is playing such an vital role in this resurgence.

There has been plenty of coverage this week about what is going on in New Orleans, and I wanted to share some of it with you here.  Thanks to everyone in New Orleans for being here and to everyone else for your love and support!

• The Daily Beast
• NBC Nightly News
• NPR – All Things Considered
• CNN

This post has been coming together for a while, and I’m excited that I am finally getting a chance to share the coming capital options for startups in NOLA.  My feeling for a while has been that the seed capital gap and lack of VC in general in Louisiana has been one of the biggest challenges facing startups.  The Receivables Exchange had to go raise its capital outside of Louisiana.

As far as local angel funding, here’s what I wrote to Ben Rosen after his visit to New Orleans last week during Launch Fest:

The next step is to develop a strong, active, angel community to fund these companies, and keep them in New Orleans, rather than needing to go to Austin, NY, Boulder or the Valley for capital & talent.

A big part of our mission at Launch Pad is getting the investment community familiar and comfortable with these types of investments, which may be non-traditional for the region where wealth has traditionally been generated through oil and gas and the port.

It appears that we are on the verge of a tidal shift in the availability of capital for startups locally (fingers crossed).  Here are some of the things that are happening now and on the horizon.

• Idea Village – open – an eight year old non-profit that provides grant funding & educational curriculum. The 2010 class has just completed, and the application process for 2011 will be open towards the end of this summer.
• Leap Frog Ventures – projected launch Q3 2010 – a non-profit evergreen fund that Leslie Jacobs, Rick Rees, and Ben Allen are putting together in conjunction with GNO Inc.  The fund is based on the JumpStart program in Cleveland OH. Projected to raise $5-8 million from public and private sources and make seed investments of $250,000 – $500,000.
• GNO, Inc Opportunity Fund – projected launch Q3 2010 – this is a fund that will package CDFI funds from local banks into an evergreen investment fund that will make low interest convertible debt loans to local startups.  I am unsure of projected raise, the average size of loans is likely to be around $250,000.
• South Coast Angels – open, currently accepting pitches – this is a local angel fund managed by Clayton White and Choose Taurman.  This is a member managed angel fund, so it is different than an angel network like the events we do at Launch Pad.  My understanding is that they have $2-3 million committed and they are currently seeking investment opportunities of $250,000 to $500,000. They are using AngelSoft software to manage the application process and you can find out about it here.
• National VC Activity – starting – one of the best opportunities I see is to build strong ties to the national VC community, particularly NY, Boston & Austin.  The Kraft Group investment in NakedPizza led to Steve Schlafman’s participation in Launch Fest.  In addition, David Safaii of Windspeed Ventures came to Launch Fest and is getting connected with the local community.  Nurturing and strengthening these ties is critical.
• Barrett Vernon Montgomery LLC – open - Disclosure: Investor in Launch Pad.  Currently managing two funds.  Funds under management: $30 million. General size of investments are seed investments of $100,000 to $300,000 with follow on capital of up to $3 million.
• Long Branch Ventures – open – Michelle Oaks has been an active angel investor in the New Orleans community over the last two years.  Long Branch invests in early stage companies with an investment criteria that includes the company be based in Orleans Parish.
• Trumpet Ventures – open – Spun off from Trumpet Group in 2009, Trumpet Ventures invests financially and also by providing services in exchange for equity.
• Launch Pad Angel Network – open – We host quarterly angel pitch events at Launch Pad at the IP.  We hosted the last one during Launch Fest where we had ten 5 minute pitches by entrepreneurs.  70% of the startups were invited to contact an investor following the pitches.  Range of capital has been early stage prototype to seed capital.
• Voodoo Ventures – open – Voodoo recently made an investment in Jackson Square Group.  I am open to other strategic investment opportunities.

I am particularly excited about the new funding sources coming online listed above.  While I still believe that we’d benefit greatly from a seed accelerator program, and Launch Pad has some things underway to launch one, I think the capital is going to be flowing locally in the next 6 months to a year looking for deals.  If you have a startup idea, now is the time to get your business plan, or better yet, prototype together.

If I’ve made any mistakes above, feel free to contact me.  If you are a source of capital, and would like to be listed, please add a comment, and I’ll add you to the list.  Here’s to solving the seed capital gap in New Orleans!

Lots to report, I’m gonna do it Marcoullier-style and keep it as concise as possible:

SXSW

• Net2NO <3 SXSW road trip rocked. See pics and wrapup. Thanks to all sponsors. Video coming soon.
• Our Outsourcing 2.0 Panel went great. Not as many fireworks as we expected, but good discussion. Thanks to Sandeep, Andrea and Matt for all their hard work and to a great audience (200+) for turning out. Read more on Twitter.
• Loved getting the VC dialogue going with Taylor Davidson. He ran a great panel that I missed and is a thought leader on where funding is going. I’m paying attention.
• Had a blast getting the post-panel jitters out with Mike Bonifer. It was a game changer for my afternoon.
• Learned a ton about co-working and building earning whuffie. Connected w/ co-working space catalysts in Tony in NY, Chris in Phoenix, & Matt in Houston.
• Loved connecting with the LA & SF tech scenes at the LA BBQ and their panel. Thanks to Gerard, Sloane (welcome to NOLA), Andrew & Paige.
• The NOLA party @ Lucky Lounge was hot. DJ Othertempo and Austin Knights Brass band killed and Larimer ran a tight show.

IDEACorps

• Idea Village just hosted six teams of MBA students working with local entrepreneurs on spring break.
• I was honored to be invited as a panelist and sat alongside some very invigorating folks.
• Had a great conversation with Robbie Vitrano about the need for a mentorship-driven seed capital fund. More to come.
• Congrats to Feelgoodz, Project 30-90, and Naked Pizza on all they accomplished.

Upcoming – WordCamp NOLA

• John Ramirez has been working night & day to put this conference together. He’s had quite a vision and is pulling it off.
• 11 days left and only 34 seats left to go. Get tickets now!
• We’ve lined up some great presenters and panelists, check out the lineup.
• Ben Huh from FAILblog and LOLcats will be here. Nuf said.

More Upcoming

• Tritico is getting the steam behind an upcoming BarCamp. Let’s make this happen.
• We’re going to do a pre- French Quarter Fest bloody mary geek breakfast with Eric Marcoullier when he is in town April 18th. Stay tuned.
• Tiffany Starnes is getting Social Media Club New Orleans off the ground. Interested? Hit her up.
• Shameless Plug – Launch Pad will be opening in May. Sign up now for 50% off first month.

That’s it from Voodoo HQ. Lots brewing. Come back for a fresh cup soon.

I’m thrilled to announce that Benjamin Reece’s company, Deltree will be moving into the LaunchPad @ Voodoo starting tomorrow!

Ben and Tung Bach Ly were over here at the offices yesterday, and they are already designing the editing studio environment and making themselves comfortable. They are going to be a fantastic addition to the creative, collaborative workspace we are building.

Deltree is rapidly becoming one of the preeminent film and creative studios in New Orleans. The runaway viral hit, 50 People 1 Question has generated buzz all over the internet and led to immediate expansion opportunities for Deltree including work for 504ward, Canary, Trumpet, Crush & Lovely, and a music video for Lucky Dog Audio.

In addition to moving into the LaunchPad @ Voodoo, I’m pleased to announce that Deltree submitted the winnning logo to the Launch Pad logo design content. We’ll be showcasing the logo as well as updates on the progress of the Launch Pad in an upcoming post.

In the meantime, on behalf of Voodoo Ventures, Tanguis Development, Zydego… Welcome, Deltree!

We opened the contest today to design the logo for Launch Pad over at Crowdspring. If you’re interested, we’d love to see what you’ve got. Design the winning logo and win $250.

Check out the details for the project and requirements. We can’t wait to see what you’ve got.