Louisiana

Thanks for all the shout outs on the “I wanna be on the StartupBus” video. The team that made it had a blast and the entrepreneurial communities across our state obviously love StartupBus.

The Silicon Bayou, also known as Louisiana, is a state as rich in entrepreneurs as we are in culture. From Mardi Gras and second lines, to mud bugs (that’s crawfish or crayfish for the outsiders) and beignets, Louisiana is unique and a breeding ground for all kinds of crazy ideas. Proof of the encouragement residents give to each other in their diverse endeavors can be found among the Who Dat Nation as they cheer on the Saints or in Death Valley at LSU as fans cheer on the tigers.

Laissez les bons temps rouler. Let the good times roll. While innovation stems from hard work, in Louisiana we embrace the attitude of work hard, play hard. Entrepreneurs and innovators take advantage of the culture of our great state and also the many business resources the state has been recognized for. From top to bottom the state is filled with nationally and internationally recognized research centers, universities, and outstanding individuals and businesses who are creating innovative solutions to real world problems. Bet you didn’t know we’re ranked #3 in the country in film production. Entertainment is BIG business here.

We’re also home to the best business incentives in the country including a digital media tax credit that gives companies back up to 35% of what they spend on development in Louisiana, that’s right—35%. Building a software product or video game? We want to talk to you real soon.

Oh yeah. Last year, Baton Rouge flew 5 entrepreneurs down to join the Miami StartupBus and Shreveport had two entrepreneurs on the Silicon Valley bus (their team won the pitch competition).

Your conductor for the trip will be Terry Jones, a Startup Bus veteran from the 2011 Miami StartupBus. Terry is a Baton Rouge resident who is all about startups. He’s Managing Director of RIO – Regional Innovation Organization. He’s sat on both sides of the fence, having been both an entrepreneur and VC. He’s funded technologies that are powering Formula 1 race cars, advancing health care, and was the first money in on a startup now approaching $150 million in revenue.

Louisiana StartupBus releases new music video

Mar 10

This video was produced while on the StartupBus this week. It’s a followup to our “I wanna be on the StartupBus” video we released in February.

clrme

Mar 10

Product walkthrough/demo: http:/staging.clrme.com

Get Your Reality Checked.

Where do you normally get honest feedback on you as a person? Feedback on how you perform in your personal, work, and love life? Most people rely on friends and family, but based on our research, there are still many things that people hold back on when it comes to giving honest feedback. So what’s the solution?

Introducing clear me: Get a fresh perspective on your life through private, anonymous feedback from the people you know. We make it simple and easy to give and anonymous private feedback from the people you know. Many people have habits that get on people’s nerves or areas where they can improve their life. We make it possible for people to discover this in a private manner.

Monamee

Mar 10

http://monamee.com

Monamee provides a mobile platform that uses avatars to influence user behavior.

Accountability and incentives built in to an avatar environment, such as in the Wii, have proven to influence behavior. A virtually untapped application for this is the healthcare industry, in which companies constantly look for ways to lower their overall costs by encouraging patients to maintain healthy lifestyles.

Shopcurl

Mar 10

Shopcurl has developed an incentivized Twitter based customer referral program to help brick and mortar businesses effortlessly gain new and loyal customers by using Klout influence scores to enhance their customer acquisition model and minimize costs.

Brick and mortar businesses will offer customers purchase incentives in return for mentioning the business on Twitter. This does not require the customer to download a mobile application, only to use their twitter client of choice. The customer will include a unique hashtag in their tweet that Shopcurl will track for the business. Shopcurl will then reply to the customer with a confirmation tweet that the customer will show to the business employee. The customer will receive their rewarded incentive at the time of purchase. The Shopcurl business model is based off of each individual customer’s Klout score and overall influence. Tweets sent out by more influential customers will result in a higher cost per tweet. Detailed analytics will show a number of metrics including the business’s average customer acquisition cost and the average influence reach of each customer.

Sift Pro

Mar 10

Our vision is to provide individuals responsible for the care of others with an easy way to stop high risk tweets BEFORE they hit the web.

Louisiana

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