NEW ORLEANS – Louisiana’s wave of multibillion-dollar mega-projects is expected to bring thousands of jobs and new industries to the state. Venture capitalist John Roberts believes another impact could emerge: a new generation of Louisiana entrepreneurs.
“When I look at the giant projects landing in Louisiana right now, I do not just see construction cranes and payroll,” said Roberts, managing partner of Boot64 Ventures. “I see the founders they are going to create.”
Roberts says the longer-term impact could extend beyond employment, wages and tax revenue as engineers, managers, operators and other workers gain experience inside major companies and eventually leave to start businesses of their own.
“That is the part almost no one is talking about,” Roberts said. “The deeper, longer story is what happens three, five and seven years out, when some of the sharpest people those projects attract decide they would rather build something of their own.”
Louisiana’s major investments span industries ranging from AI and data centers to LNG, advanced manufacturing and maritime technology. In the New Orleans region, Japan-based UBE Corp. is developing a $500 million EV battery materials facility in Jefferson Parish, while Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG complex represents another major regional investment. In Ascension Parish, Hyundai Steel has announced a $5.8 billion steel mill and CF Industries and its partners are pursuing a multibillion-dollar low-carbon ammonia facility.
Elsewhere, Meta is developing its more than $50 billion Hyperion AI data center campus in Richland Parish, while Amazon has announced approximately $12 billion in data center investments in Caddo and Bossier parishes.
“This is not one big bet,” Roberts said. “It is a cluster, across energy, computing, advanced manufacturing, maritime defense, materials science and space. Someone spends a few years inside a big operation, sees a problem the parent is too large or too busy to fix, recruits a couple of talented coworkers, and walks out to solve it. The founders carry domain expertise, real knowledge, real networks and real standards out the door with them.”
He points to Fairchild Semiconductor whose employees went on to establish Silicon Valley technology companies as an example of what can happen when a major employer creates a concentration of skilled workers.
“The pattern was not the California weather,” Roberts said. “It was one serious employer, attracting ambitious people, producing founders for a generation.”
He said emerging founders could span “data center power and cooling, industrial software, efficiency around grid and water, battery and materials supply chains, defense and maritime autonomy. Not generic startups, but companies aimed at problems they lived and want to solve.”
Preparing for the Founder Boom
Roberts believes many of those future founders could ultimately choose New Orleans to launch their companies.
“I expect many of these future founders to locate in New Orleans,” Roberts said. “Metro New Orleans has more to offer founders beyond the food, culture and festivals. It has a real concentration of startup programming and mentors along with a good talent pool from which to hire.”
Roberts also pointed to the region’s infrastructure as an advantage.
“It also has a world-class port for shipping and an international airport,” he said. “Founders from across the state will be setting up shop here whenever possible.”
The question, Roberts said, is whether Louisiana will be ready for them.
“The ingredients that were missing here are arriving at the same time as those world-class projects and operators: VCs, large angel networks, LED’s focus on innovation, local governments aligned with commercial opportunity, real capital forming across the state, and AI that lets a domain expert build a first product almost alone,” he said.
“Put those together and you do not get one or two nice exits. You get an ecosystem around each project.”
For investors, Roberts said the job is to establish relationships with potential founders and be ready when they decide to make the jump.
“Boot64 wants to be the first call, the local partner they’ve been talking to for a while and who knows their industry,” he said. “What Louisiana investors need to provide is the check that comes with an introduction and mentoring instead of a lecture.”
That opportunity aligns with Boot64’s investment strategy of backing entrepreneurs who bring firsthand experience in industries such as energy, manufacturing, logistics and infrastructure.
“Three years ago, when we started Boot64, the thesis was that domain-expert founders in physical-world industries were undervalued in the Gulf South,” he said. “What is happening now is the supply side of that thesis showing up all at once.”
Whether Louisiana’s megaproject boom ultimately produces a wave of startups will take time to determine, but Roberts believes the state has an opportunity it has rarely had before.
“Louisiana spent a long time exporting its talent,” he said. “For the first time in my life, the giants are bringing world-class talent here, and a good number of them are going to stay and build.”
“That is going to transform this state again,” Roberts added. “I cannot wait to fund it.”
