When folks think enough of me to promote their good ideas I have to do it. I received this information from Jessica White. She's the Director of 504ward, an initiative designed to retain the 23 to 35 year old demographic in New Orleans. Please check this out and visit Idea Village as well. If anyone wins money after seeing this on my blog please don't worry. I won't ask for a cut. Gifts are always appreciated.
504WARD IS CALLING FOR BUSINESS IDEAS THAT
RETAIN YOUNG TALENT IN NEW ORLEANS!
THE CURRENT VALUE OF THE PRIZE PACKAGE HAS WELL EXCEEDED $200,000
Through generous funding from local venture philanthropist Leslie Jacobs, we are seeding the competition with $100,000 in cash and the local business community has contributed over $100,000 in office space, legal, marketing, website optimization, web development, advertising, staffing, event production, communication planning, networking facilities and data center storage services. A team of Google employees also joined to help launch the competition.
A single winner will be selected out of five nationwide finalists in March 2009. Ventures in the finalist round who operate or intend to operate in the New Orleans region will also be eligible for professional support.
FIRST ROUND APPLICATIONS ARE DUE at 5:04pm CST on Thursday, December 4, 2008.
Ventures MUST:
• Be for-profit
• Demonstrate ability to retain 23-35 year-olds in New Orleans
• Have a high potential for long-term sustainability
Business Week just named New Orleans
"Among the Best Cities to Ride Out the Recession."
HAVE A GREAT IDEA?!?
Email us at businesscompetition@504ward.com to receive the short, informational application.
Interested applicants will be required to submit the following:
* Informational Application
* Executive Summary (Maximum of 3 pages)
* Action Plan, including timeline, of steps for Applicant Venture to become operational
* Appendix A, Describing Conflict of Interest and Disclosure of Relationships to 504ward and The Idea Village
* Optional: Resume for Applicant and Management Team, if applicable
* Optional: YouTube video pitch of Applicant Venture (Maximum of 54 seconds)
Executive Summary Guidelines - maximum of 3 pages typed in a minimum 10 point font, including the following:
* Venture/company summary
* Customer/market analysis
* Product or service description
* How the product or service retains the 23-35 year old demographic in New Orleans
* Competitive advantage
* Management team and/or advisors, including bios and/or resumes
* Budget and relevant financial highlights
* Current status of the business idea
Please visit 504ward.com for additional information or to donate resources to the entrepreneur(s).
2 comments:
now thats a psa
good look
and reminds me of the 504 boyz
Alas, I am not really in a position to create a business plan from scratch by next month. If, however, any of you reading this would like to bring on a NOLA expat (since '91) with tech skills (dated, to be sure), management experience (somewhat limited), and startup experience (so bad it was good; believe me, that guy taught me everything there is to know about how not to run a startup!), I'm your guy.
If I were to do one for myself, it might revolve around Internet media. The industry fits the target 23-35 demographic to a T, New Orleans is probably in the top five U.S. cities in terms of available local creative talent, and I read an article from the pre-K days that ranked us high, even then, in amount of Internet backbone available (more of which has likely gone silent since the Federal Flood).
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