Tulane Entrepreneurs' Association

Opportunities in Entrepreneurship - the SPRING Events

SPRING 2009

January 26th, 2009

Darryl Berger

Principal, The Berger Company Inc.

Time : 5.30 pm - 6.30 pm
Place: Graduate Business Building (Goldring/Woldenberg Hall 2) Room 2110

Mr. Berger will talk about real estate development in the Southeast and opportunities for young people.

Darryl D. Berger is the principal and owner of The Berger Company, Inc., which he founded in 1972. As an investor, developer, and financier of real estate, Mr. Berger has been at the forefront of major sophisticated real estate transactions of all types for nearly three decades. Mr. Berger is an honors graduate of Vanderbilt University and Tulane Law School, and serves on many boards for civic, charitable, educational and business institutions.

January 29th, 2009

Start-up School (Session 1)

Time : 5.30 pm - 9.00 pm

Place: Graduate Business Building (Goldring/Woldenberg Hall 2) Room 1111

Open to all students and the community, this event offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to practice pitching their ideas in front of fellow innovators and potential investors.  The event will also feature Chris Reade of Carrollton Technology Partners and Kyle Berner of Feelgoodz Flip Flops who will discuss the steps involved with building a business plan. 

February 1st, 2009

Registration OPENS for Tulane Business Plan Competition

Hosted in the B-School on the uptown campus, the Tulane Business Plan Competition gives young entrepreneurs an opportunity to present their business ideas to accomplished entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.  This being the 9th year of the competition, we are excited to announce the following improvements:

• $40,000 in cash prizes for finalists in traditional and social entrepreneurship
  

• Over 80 regional bankers, consultants and business leaders involved
  

• New town-hall meeting format
  

• 3 networking events including the formal Entrepreneurs' Gala held at the Westin Hotel in downtown New Orleans.
  

February 6th, 2009

"The Feast" Social Innovation Conference

Time : 9.00 am - 5.00 pm

Place: Contemporary Arts Center

Hosted by All Day Buffet (partner of TEA) at the Contemporary Art Center of New Orleans, the conference will feature distinguished speakers who will discuss the many opportunities for entrepreneurs to positively impact the local community. TEA will be there and we hope you join us!

February 7th, 2009

Start-up School (Session 2)

Time : 12.00 pm - 4.00 pm

Place: Graduate Business Building (Goldring/Woldenberg Hall 2) Room 1111

This event allows participants to share their executive summaries with experienced entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, receive feedback on their work, and network with some of New Orleans' most accomplished business professionals. Registration for this event will open January 30th and is limited.

February 8th, 2009 (NOON)

Last Day for $25 EARLY APPLICATION to Tulane Business Plan Competition (50 % Discount)

Thursday February 12th, 2009   *Date Changed!!!

Gary N. Solomon, Sr.

Crescent Bank and Trust, Semolinas, UniShippers

February 15th, 2009 (NOON)

Last Day for APPLICATION to Tulane Business Plan Competition

April 17h, 2009

Tulane Business Plan Competition

Time : 9.00 am - 3.00 pm

Please Join Us!

April 20th, 2009

Eric Marcoullier

CEO, Gnip Inc

Time : 5.30 pm - 6.30 pm
Place: Graduate Business Building (Goldring/Woldenberg Hall 2) Room 2110

Eric Marcoullier is CEO and co-founder of the online data services company Gnip, Inc.  Previously, Eric co-founded MyBlogLog, a distributed social network for bloggers that sold to Yahoo in 2007.  Eric's other ventures have included CEO and co-founder of training games provider Minerva Software and co-founder of IGN.com, which sold to Fox Interactive Media in 2005.  He advises several companies, including recent Automattic acquisition Intense Debate, as well as Future US, Zynga Games, Zemanta and Zentact and Megamesium, both of which he also co-founded.

Previous Events

FALL 2008

September 15, 2008

D'Juan Hernandez

President & CEO, Sun Energy Group

Mr. Hernandez discussed issues regarding alternative energy, climate change, and entrepreneurship.  His plasma gasification development in New Orleans East is a new exciting approach towards addressing one of our biggest global challenges. 

October 20, 2008

Christopher Skinner

Managing Partner, MakeBuzz LLC

Mr. Skinner discussed issues regarding  managing millions of dollars in media for some of the world's largest brands. He began his work with search algorithms in 1989, founding Ustium, one of the first companies to specialize in search engine optimization. With the advent of paid placement, he focused on methods to drive business metrics into the new search engine model and started MakeBuzz, which advises on $375 million dollars of online advertising.

Steve Curnutte

Author, Mortgage Cocktail

Mr. Curnutte is a mortgage practitioner who writes and speaks about the credit crisis. In the last 9 years he has started and sold two mortgage companies and originated almost a half a billion in loans.

In 2007, he started a newsletter to inform high-end clients of the forces moving within the credit markets. The newsletter turned into an economics column, which has been syndicated in The Wall Street Journal, SmartMoney.com, and MarketWatch.com. He has also appeared on the radio with Bloomberg and television with Fox News and Fox Business News. He is a weekly columnist for FastCompany.com and is currently serving as the President of InsBank Mortgage.

*UPDATE - Event Covered in the Times Picayune

November 3rd, 2008

"Evaluating and Investigating Good Business Opportunities"

John Elstrott

Whole Foods, Resource Environmental Solutions, Traditional Medicinals, PreSonus, and Sambazon

 

November 21st, 2008

"Entrepreneurial Exchange Workshop"

Andrea Chen
Co-Founder, SENO
Nadiyah Morris
Manager, Office of SocialEntrepreneurship for the Lt. Governor's office
Jackie Richard
Development Director, Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation 
Carol Bebelle
Founder, Ashe Cultural Arts Center 
Stephen Shelton
Executive Director, Louisiana CleanTech
John Elstrott
Executive Director, LRI & Lead Director Whole Foods Market
More info

 Panel Discussion
"The New New Orleans for Entrepreneurs: Opportunities for Entrepreneurship"

 

TEA invites you to a premier speaking event with some of New Orleans most respected civic and business leaders including:

Stephen Moret

Secretary of Louisiana Economic Development

John E Koerner III

Koerner Capital

Pres Kabacoff

CEO & Chairman, HRI Properties

Ashton Ryan, Jr.

CEO & Chairman, First NBC Bank

Crichton Brown

Managing Director, Advantage Capital Panelist will discuss the state of the region's economy and which industries are poised for growth. They will also advice to aspiring entrepreneurs and share lessons from their own experiences.

** TEA Speaking Event Covered in Times Picayune

 

November 25, 2008

"A guide to raising venture capital for Biotech ventures"

Dale Pfost, a successful biotech entrepreneur

Dr. Pfost most recently was chairman, president and CEO of Acuity Pharmaceuticals, an ophthalmics company that was a pioneer in developing drugs based on the gene silencing technology of RNA interference. He led Acuity from start-up through the completion of Phase II trials in less than four years, merging it into publicly traded OPKO Health, Inc. in 2007. Previously, Dr. Pfost was chairman, president and CEO of Orchid Biosciences, Inc., where he oversaw the company’s IPO and managed its successful repositioning as a leader in the genetic testing field. Earlier, Dr. Pfost served as president and CEO of glycobiology and proteomics firm Oxford GlycoSciences, Ltd., which was later acquired by Celltech plc.

Please click here to get "A Quick Guide to the Process of Raising Venture Capital"

Time: 4.00 - 5.00 pm

Place: JBJ Building, First Floor Conference Room, 111A

Tulane University Health Sciences Center

1430 Tulane Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70112

 

NOBING

Time: 5.30 - 7.30 pm

Place: Same as above