NEW ORLEANS – The Idea Village has introduced 22 local entrepreneurs from 15 new ventures that will participate in their 7th annual IDEAVILLAGEx program.
IDEAVILLAGEx is a suite of intensive accelerator programs focused on creating scalable and fundable businesses. This fall, the IDEAVILLAGEx accelerator programs include: IDEAx (industry-agnostic), DIGITAL MEDIAx (ventures in the digital media industry), and ENERGYx (ventures in the petroleum industry). Upon completion of the program in December, these entrepreneurs will be eligible to be nominated for CAPITALx, the accelerator starting in January focused on securing private capital during New Orleans Entrepreneur Week in March.
“This group of entrepreneurs has a positive attitude, great ideas, and are committed to starting in New Orleans,” said J. Miguez, IDEAx Entrepreneur-in-Residence. “I’m excited to be back for my second season and am looking forward to engaging them in the rhythm, rituals and relationships of the IDEAx program.”
“I'm blown away by the creativity, authenticity, and most importantly, PASSION behind the 2015 DIGITAL MEDIAx companies,” said Megan Hargroder, DIGITAL MEDIAx Entrepreneur-in-Residence. “There's a true life force within each of these new businesses that strives to innovate within the city of New Orleans and beyond. I’m honored to be a part of this team and can’t wait for everyone else to learn more about these talented, driven, amazing New Orleans entrepreneurs!”
Founded in 2000, The Idea Village is an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization committed to driving positive change in New Orleans through entrepreneurship.
The entrepreneurs include:
IDEAx:
• iSeeChange – Julia Kumari Drapkin
iSeeChange is a community-driven almanac to record, compare, and connect local observations to NASA satellite data. We are connecting communities to each other and their changing environment.
• Grok + Banter – Staacy Cannon & Keegan Brown
Grok + Banter is an ad-tech company in the Internet of Things and big data space. We have built a proprietary system that intuitively deciphers the offline world through connected devices, which enables us to measure the effectiveness of out of home advertising.
• Lend Stand – Aaron DeLong
Lend Stand is an online lender to businesses and nonprofits working in the public enterprise space. Lend Stand provides simple, convenient financing to small businesses working with federal, state, or local government agencies and to nonprofits working with development organizations.
• Freesource – John-Michael Alderson, Adam Mitchell, & Dustin Renaud
Freesource delivers a scalable, socially responsible marketing model that rethinks the way services are delivered. By offering an alternative to the traditional ad agency, we increase efficiencies for businesses, support and connect the creative community and offer a self-sustaining resource that helps startup non-profits grow and thrive.
• Juggle – Brendan Minard & Sonny Smith
Juggle is an essential tool for mobile companies and their ‘gig economy’ workforce to organize and optimize their daily activities while adjusting for changes on the fly.
• The Sweat Social – Rupa Mohan & Manoj Mohan
The Sweat Social provides fitness solutions for travelers visiting New Orleans who want to look their best, energize their trip, connect with the city and go home in shape, feeling great.
DIGITAL MEDIAx:
• Culturalyst – Sam Bowler
Culturalyst is a web platform that makes it easy to discover and directly support local culture.
• DreamStarter – Arielle Jordan & Kaitlin Kubisch
DreamStarter is a web platform that connects people to various self-help experts, in an array of categories, all in one place.
• Kudoboard – Aaron Rubens
Kudoboard is an online tool that enables users to mobilize a group and send appreciation to others.
• MySpiltMilk.com – Alex Rawls
Since 2013, MySpiltMilk.com has covered New Orleans’ musical and cultural life in an effort to better appreciate creativity at the nuts and bolts level.
• TOURED – Karynn Verrett
TOURED is a mobile application designed to revolutionize the way everyday people travel, by providing personalized, noteworthy travel content to individuals.
ENERGYx:
• OBOCS (On-board Oil Containment Systems) – Julie Kuchta & Michael Miller
OBOCS provides a unique system of oil spill containment wherein boom can be deployed immediately at the site of a spill without the need for external air blowers or support vessels. The boom is inflated as it comes off of the reel, resulting in decreased time, labor, and resources required for deployment in the event of a spill and it can be deflated as it returns to the reel when being used for training purposes.
• Louisiana Technical Instruments – Chad Deville
Louisiana Technical Instruments specializes in the emerging methane emissions reduction market. Our technology adapts to pre-existing controllers to drastically reduce methane bleed, thus improving the environment and helping pipelines achieve the new emissions standards moving forward.
• 3rd Dimension Media – Brett Gauthier & Zach Hughbanks
3rd Dimension Media specializes in technical 3D animations, interactive training, and sales/marketing Solutions. Their product is an essential way to capture your audience at trade shows, presentations, and in the training room.
• Data Specialties Group – John Tauriac
Data Specialties Group is a data monitoring, manufacturing, and service company that provides vertical surveillance solutions for creating safer operations in hazardous environments. They integrate condition based monitoring, electronic maintenance systems, and real time visualizations into Intelligent well monitoring.
