Pitch contests, workshops and speakers highlight New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, starting Sunday | Business

Building on the buzz of Louisiana’s nascent tech scene, New Orleans Entrepreneur Week saw its attendance spike by nearly 25 percent last year, helping showcase the industry’s local growth and the city’s ongoing efforts to bolster its business climate and diversify its tourism-based economy.

Now entering its ninth year, Entrepreneur Week’s full slate of seminars, workshops and social gatherings is set to kick off Sunday, drawing thousands of entrepreneurs, business executives, investors and business students to the city to participate in more than 100 events scheduled over six days.

The annual event, which touts itself as being “where culture and innovation connect,” is put together by the nonprofit Idea Village. After drawing more than 13,200 people last year, this year it will be held at a new campus anchored by the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in the Warehouse District.

“We have created NOEW to be a uniquely New Orleans festival experience designed to connect, educate and inspire our community,” said Emily Madero, Idea Village’s acting CEO.

Entrepreneur Week is free to attend. Registration and access to schedule updates, new events and special offers are at NOEW.org.

As usual, the lineup culminates with its marquee event, the Big Idea, a live-pitch competition that pits local startups against each other for a $25,000 grand prize.

Before then, promising and proven business tycoons with an idea and a dream have plenty of opportunities to compete for capital and network or receive advice from other entrepreneurs about getting started and growing a business to take it to the next level, and other stages in between.

Looking to hone a business pitch? Try watching others make theirs. Several live-pitch contests, some focusing on specific areas or backgrounds, are scheduled for the week. For example, at 11 a.m. Monday the NOLA Arts-Based Business Pitch targets entrepreneurs with an arts-based project for downtown New Orleans, dangling a prize package worth more than $35,000.

Keen on the suburbs? At 1:30 p.m. Monday, The JEDCO Challenge Powered by First NBC Bank will showcase five Jefferson Parish-based startups, which will have seven minutes to pitch their business to land $20,000 in direct capital and in-kind services.

Or, take a lesson from a few growth-stage and capital-ready companies. At 3 p.m. Friday, Jim Coulter, founding partner at global investment firm TPG, will host his own live-pitch showcase, with the winner receiving a $100,000 investment toward an upcoming next round of funding.

Then there’s Entrepreneur Week’s Big Idea, which features local companies with less than $500,000 in revenue and fewer than five full-time employees making their pitch live to a panel of celebrity judges, who will decide the $25,000 grand prize winner.

But first, the participants have to win over the crowd, which distributes $25 voting chips during the event to their favorite entrepreneur to help decide the top three that move onto the final round. Last year, more than 3,500 people attended the pitch contest, helping allocate $94,000 in cash and prizes.

All told, more than 100 events are slated for the week, including headline speaking slots from industry leaders such as Adrien Lanusse, vice president of global consumer insights at Netflix; Andy Goldberg, chief creative officer at GE; and chef John Besh.

In addition, a range of panel sessions will focus on many of the city’s targeted growth areas, including the digital, tech and biomedical sectors.

On Tuesday, the New Orleans BioInnovation Center will lead a session on next-generation health solutions being developed locally, including medical advances that look to extend lives, fight disease and change how doctors manage care. The hour-long discussion starts at 10 a.m.

In a culture-rich state like Louisiana, hosting and producing festivals is a big business that can become a rewarding — and lucrative — means to celebrating the local culture. At 1 p.m. Tuesday, “Fest for Success: The Business of Festivals and Events in New Orleans,” will look at the strategies and challenges behind some of the area’s biggest events, with industry experts offering ideas and best-practice solutions for breaking into the market.

Those eager to bolster a business with that key 18-to-34 age group can check out “Making the Most of Managing Millennials: Grow Your Biz Via The Fastest Growing Demographic,” which starts at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The session looks at data to help define what’s become the largest generation in U.S. history.

Ready to raise money for your fledgling business, but not sure how to get started, or worried about giving up too much in the process? At 10 a.m. Thursday, “Raise Capital on Your Own Terms: Fund Your Business Without Selling Your Soul,” will address questions like drawing up plans, targeting the right investors and understanding securities laws.