Launch Pad - an open approach to mentorship and network

At Launch Pad, we are passionate about helping entrepreneurs develop as leaders and succeed and we’re proud to announce the continued growth of the mentorship-based programs at Launch Pad.  Next year, we will be integrating Launch Pad and Launch Pad Ignition in an expanded approach to work with the entrepreneurs of our community.

OPEN & INTEGRATED

We’re extending the curriculum, mentors, and network that we developed for the Launch Pad Ignition accelerator program to an open approach that focuses resources on all Launch Pad members, founders in our community, and companies launching in the region.  We’re exchanging the standardized slice of equity model for a more natural approach where we’ll be investing as angels in companies we love.  

MENTORSHIP

Access to our mentor network for Launch Pad Ignition will be more available than ever to all Launch Pad members and companies in the region.  Members will get free access to an expanded slate of mentor events and there will be a nominal fee for Skillshare classes for non-members.

We’re merging classes we already run at Launch Pad with Launch Pad Ignition’s lean startup curriculum, meaning more classes and community events like Hack night, meetup groups, and hackathons alongside mentor sessions that happen on a year-round basis.  

NETWORK

Core to our philosophy is the importance of connecting founders in New Orleans to the broad network we’ve built of investors, mentors, customers and partners around the world, specifically in New York and the Bay Area.  We will build upon our annual presence at important startup events like SXSW, and our pitch events in New York and at 500 Startups in Silicon Valley.

We’ll continue to expand upon our role in the ecosystem as the conduit to investment capital outside the region alongside educating and catalyzing angel investment locally.  

ALIGNMENT

We are focused on ecosystem alignment, not overlap.  The entrepreneurial season created by Idea Village and culminating at New Orleans Entrepreneur Week in March has emerged as a powerful institution.  We’re focusing on strengthening the post-season that provides a platform for the best companies to pitch to a national network of investors at Launch Fest, the Louisiana demo day, in May.

In the spirit of alignment, we no longer will run Launch Pad Ignition as an accelerator program, we’re encouraging founders to apply for the Idea Village IDEAxcelerator (apply by 8/27) for the formal mentorship and curriculum provided by an accelerator program.

We’re also already collaborating with 4.0 Schools in a continuation of the sector focus that has emerged in New Orleans and will continue to expand that effort.

LAUNCH FEST

For three years, we’ve hosted Launch Fest as an investor-focused event where Launch Pad Ignition companies pitch to local angels and national early-stage investors.  Going forward, we’re opening up the event to qualified companies raising investment capital that have local investment in a current round.  We’ll continue to expand our angel investor luncheon to build on our mission of educating and catalyzing the local angel community.  We’ll cement Launch Fest as the reason investors come to New Orleans during Jazz Fest and deals get done.

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We’re excited about this next phase for Launch Pad and the entrepreneurs of our community.   

- Chris, Peter, Barre, Will, Katy

Dan Parham (Neighborland)

Neighborland is a platform that started from an idea created by Candy Chang, who asked a very important question: why are there now services in my neighborhood and how do I find out where things are, what people thing? She created a project called “I wish this was” - stickers placed all over town where people wrote in what they wished something in a certain neighborhood was or could be. She then recorded the data. (Example - an old parking meter sticker said “I wish this was a bike rack.”)

• People responded to each other on the stickers, sharing ideas and trying to collaborate. She then posted online and included the location on Flickr.
• Dan then built the tool (Neighborland) to help people “create the neighborhoods they want to live in.”
• A complete, connected, and compact neighborhood is sustainable a neighborhood.
• Everyone can create ideas - people can add what they want in the city, in their neighborhoods, on the platform. The ideas are then aggregated to show how many people support it. It has discussion threads for further chat and information exchange right in the tool.
• You can see what people want in the city. Conversations happen everywhere. Having them on an open and transparent online platform is powerful. 
• Example: the St. Claude NIght Market - residents are self-organizing, pro typing, and connecting around one idea. The market is now a regular event. 
• Neighborland is about people connecting, sharing and understanding, and finding the resources to get something done. 
• Start with a fun and interesting question and conversation.
• Neighborland challenged the RTA to open their data. They did - and now developers can use the data to build tools for transportation to increase transparency.
• You have to understand politics if you want to get something done.

Andy Weissman (Union Square Ventures) and Andrew Yang (Venture for America)

Andrew asked Andy several questions about his experience at Union Square Ventures and working in the tech industry. Andy talked about the momentum and rebirth that is happening in New Orleans, which are both great ingredients for creativity and start ups.

• What are you seeing in terms of companies who are pitching now? What are the attributes that make you take notice and consider investing?

1. Every venture firm should have a different perspective and point of view/focus.
2. At Union Square Ventures, they have a wide view of why the internet is important - because it’s a network, it has the power to create transformational businesses and opportunities.
3. We are at a unique point, where we are seeing the early days of the informational economy. This is a major transformation from before, in what we now produce, including software, content, services, ideas, and applications. This is where the greatest growth will occur. The internet connects people, data, business, etc. As a network, it will destroy the incumbent and create new things in its place.
4. USV look for networks, market places and platforms for the exchange of information, ideas, etc. 

• Do you have advice for entrepreneurs in cities like New Orleans, which may be considered non traditional tech hubs, versus NYC or Silicon Valley?

1. There is no such thing as a non-traditional tech hub anymore. Anyone can build from anywhere now. VCs are only limited by how quickly they can meet with people. Union Square Ventures looks for large networks of engaged users.
2. They don’t care where they are. You just need a geographic density and creative group of people. That builds energy where an eco system can sustain itself, including investors, creatives, schools, developers, etc.

• What are the magic ingredients to a successful start up?

1. If your company doesn’t work out, it can become something else.
2. Just go for it. 1/3 of all investments will not work out. USV has a 67% failure rate. 
3. It’s important to find and create a service that will help people. 
4. Silicon Valley has taken the friction out of failure by enabling easy rebirth. It’s an ongoing process. Start again if you fail. Eventually some things may work out in a different iteration.
5. It’s ok to make mistakes - but not the same ones over and over again.
6. Be transparent - publish first and edit later.

• Do you have any advice for those who are trying to create a start up?

1. Just get into it - find a company you love and get involved.
2. New Orleans provides a great environment for this - people are open here and want to hear from you and talk to you. Reach out to them.
3. This may be true about the industry as a whole.
4. Twitter and someone’s online presence is a great way to check their references.
5. Use your networks to find people who are interested in the same things as you and reach out to them.
6. Keep going until someone says yes.

• Being an investor is hard; it includes:

1. Pattern recognition to identify trends in successful start ups.
2. Gut feelings and moving on those start ups that just feel right.
3. The ability to revisit ideas; sometimes VCs change their minds.

• (Audience question) How do you deal with increased competition in the Angel Rounds?

1. More transparency, more competition is good. There is nothing wrong with it - it makes the VCs have to work harder to get to invest, to understand what they can bring to a company. 
2. Money is a commodity. VCs are a good model for pushing capital to the start ups. VC customers are the entrepreneurs. 

Richard Mumby (Bonobos)

Richard is the head of marketing for Bonobos, a clothing company. He just moved to New Orleans and will be advising local start ups in the area. 

Start Up Observations and Things that Inform Success. 

• Identify and address a need in the market

1. Find friction in an industry and be disruptive where possible. Find the problem in the industry and set out to fix it. 
2. Fix the pain points in your own life. Where is there a lack of satisfaction?
3. Focus on a specific value proposition. In an effort to think broadly, think of all the benefits of your business and focus on the value of your company. The elevator pitch is VERY IMPORTANT.

• Target a very specific customer

1. Focus on a specific population first. Understand what their specific needs are and what you can do specifically to help them. 
2. Create an army of advocates and equip them with a referral tool to extend your brand reach over time. PR and referrals are the greatest way to grow a company.
3. Prove out economics with a favorable audience. This will help with attracting investors over time. 
4. Targeting audiences in advertising can help in figuring out who your customers are. 

• Utilize public relations

1. Distinguish launch from ongoing press. Create newsworthy activities over time. 
2. Actively manage your PR; consider a PR firm versus buying advertising. Maintain ongoing active conversations. Manage the PR firm like a direct report. 
3. Create stories. Make them creative. The company has to come up with these ideas just as much as the PR firm, who figures out how to use the event to push out to the media to create coverage. 
4. All Bonobos marketing channels have direct responses to the audience. It’s important to develop a true relationship with the customers. Facebook has a high volume of engagement. Nearly all marketing is web-driven. 

Paul Singh (500 Startups)

Moneyball and Startups: It’s not spray and pray. It’s a process.

Paul started the fund a few years ago, and has invested in 330 companies across 18 companies. A lot of failure, many big wins. 

Changes for early stage fundraising: 

• Smaller checks are being written. Funding is now driven by the fact that it’s cheaper than ever to start a business.
• It’s not uncommon to see a start up launch and get to a paid customer in one weekend. 
• Years ago, you needed more money to purchase infrastructure. You don’t need that anymore.
• Investors have to buy wins - they can’t just fund everything. 
• Tactics have changed over time. Channels have not changed. All you can look for is smart founders who have proven they can execute, give them money, and get out of the way. 
• Everything is increasingly going to referrals. Investors are looking for verticals that the referrals are in. Make sure the referrals are coming from the same verticals.
• BRAND MATTERS. BRAND IS EVERYTHING. Functional expertise matters.
• Costs are decreasing, launching happens faster. Diligence happens after the first check. VC makes money on the second check. You still need big money to scale.
• Loans and funding may be based on your social media presence.
• They do sentiment analysis on your company - what does the market think about what you are doing? 
• VCs are looking for signals online that funding might occur, that a company might die, based on what is being said online.
• The initial check is designed to give the VC greater access to more data about what the company is (or could) be doing.
• Founders need to understand that investing doesn’t work unless the investors make money. The bar in early stage VC is very low. 
• People are becoming less sensitive to pricing. 
• The average initial investment is anywhere between $10,000-$100,000. This is typically paid by the VC to get to the next stage with the company. You don’t want to put too much money to work at first.
• They love web infrastructure, companies that make it easier for other star tups to grow. They also love family tech, food, games, and child-focused verticals. 
• Make sure you check out Angel List (angel.co); it’s helping to level the playing field.
• Try and raise money outside of your region.
• VC is interested in multiples when looking for funding opportunities. 
• VCs are looking for the regional funders to provide the initial support. They are looking for this first before writing larger checks. They need to know that the region supports the start ups.

Launchfest - Noah Kagan (AppSumo.com)

From Ghetto to Classy

Noah has worked at several companies, including Intel, Facebook, Mint, and Gambit. The most precious resource is time. After today, he hopes that everyone will walk away with one actionable idea. 

How AppSumo Started - Start simple and build out from there!

They started with a landing page and began collecting emails. Noah treated business is a hypothesis - he wanted to test it out to see if the idea worked.  He thought that people would want to buy digital goods in bundles (daily deals for web geeks), and created AppSumo to see if it was true. They built AppSumo for $50 in one week. Paypal integration, and he built out the front end. He searched Google and used the code he found to build the landing page.

Here are some important points:

• The velocity to the first dollar - how do you get to prove your business is working?
• Focus on relationships - they are the most important aspect of starting a business.
• Start your work with those who you want to build a relationship with. That should be done first.
• Don’t build out at first - it’s more important to prove people want to use your business. 
• It’s not about being pretty - it’s about getting customers quickly. Over time, get classy. Make sure you pace yourself. Don’t spend a lot before you make it. 
• Do not a/b test if you are not at least at 100,000 visit a month. you haven’t proved your business is working yet. 
• Evolve from ghetto, using free products, to hiring, to paying more, to growing. Use Google website optimizer at first. Build out from there as you become more successful over time.
• Have a specific target and focus on achieving it. 
• Think about your business as a funnel - start at the type of the funnel. 
• The bar for amazing ideas and people is really low. How do you be memorable, and treat your customers well?
• Think about optimization - do you have a fast enough computer? What else do you need? Work the way down your funnel. 
• Optimize your landing page. Then go from there. 
• Test stuff out before building it out to see if it’s really wanted. Do something for a day, throw it out there, see if it works, and then build it out.
• It’s not that you can’t do big things, but the point is how do you do the core of the good idea quickly without distraction, and then go from there without wasting $$$?
• 86% of their efforts fail.
• Surround yourself with better people. They will help your business grow.
• If you do anything more than once, set up a system. Document things - make sure you know what to do if people leave. Don’t repeat things over and over and over.
• Generate and automate if possible.

Martin Roth: The "Minimum Viable Partner" Approach to Hiring a Developer →

martinroth:

This post is a response to “How to hire a programmer when you’re not a programmer” by Matt from 37Signals.

If starting a company is hard, starting a tech company without a technical co-founder is even harder. Such is the case with Giftmeo, my fledgling company that is taking over the…

Ready to startup? Come to Launch Fest

Launch Fest is a conference with a dual mission:

1) Inspire and prepare the next generation of founders (morning)

2) Get early-stage NOLA startups in front of angels & VC’s (afternoon)

Last year at Launch Fest, Barrett Conrad was sitting in the audience watching the speakers talk about lean startup strategies and listening to the pitches by the 2011 Launch Pad Ignition founders.  He had been the first tech lead on Jen Medberry’s startup, Kickboard, so he knew what it took to build a successful product.  He thought to himself “I should be up there next year.”

Inspired by Launch Fest he applied to Launch Pad Ignition last fall, and on May 3rd Barrett will be onstage pitching Red Ticket Games, his new social gaming startup with his first app, Expert Trivia in the app store.

What a difference a year makes.  

What will you be doing a year from now?  Come to Launch Fest May 3rd and get inspired to achieve what you’ve always dreamed of doing!

Practicing What You Preach, Iterating Our Accelerator →

A guest post by Launch Pad Ignition co-founder Peter Bodenheimer for the Global Accelerator Network.

Launch Pad begins fresh remix of Ignition →

From CityBusiness