GNO, Inc. Sunday Night Highlight – The Big Brainy! 🤓

This week New Orleans hosted a series of world-class events dedicated to ideas, innovation, and thought-leadership.

New Orleans Book Festival – Mardi Gras for the Mind! 📚

Hosted by Tulane University, the New Orleans Book Festival welcomed more than 250 authors, journalists, and cultural voices for four days of conversations spanning literature, history, politics, and culture. In just five years, the festival has become one of the nation’s most prominent literary gatherings. Speakers included:

• Filmmaker Ken Burns, historian Annette Gordon-Reed, and writers Walter Isaacson and Clint Smith on America’s 250 birthday, and how the nation’s founding ideals continue to evolve
• Novelist Salman Rushdie on the aftermath of his 2022 attack and his many inspirations for a collection of short stories he wrote after the incident
• Historian author Jon Meacham on American leadership and the lessons of presidential history
• Author and political leader Stacey Abrams on the craft of fiction as a lens for understanding the human stakes behind algorithms and institutions
• Journalist and author Michael Lewis on how perception, imagination, and attention shape each of our unique lived experiences

New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW) – 15 Years of Ideas & Action 💡
Produced by the Loyola University New Orleans Center for Entrepreneurship, New Orleans Entrepreneur Week convened founders, investors, and business leaders from across the region, with programming that reflected both the diversity and momentum of the local startup ecosystem. Highlights included:

• New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno in conversation with political commentator Tim Miller on the future of entrepreneurship in New Orleans
• Jon McNeill, former president of Tesla and COO of Lyft, on scaling high-growth companies
• Nicola Corzine, CEO of the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, and Robert Hines of JP Morgan Chase, on a panel with GNO, Inc. and Idea Village, to discuss how alignment across the ecosystem is driving the city’s startup momentum
• Brett Hurt, founder of Bazaarvoice and data.world, and New Orleans technology entrepreneur Matt Wisdom, on how founders can overcome capital and resource constraints
• Becker Hall, founder of Hogs for the Cause, on building a mission-driven organization that has raised more than $15 million for families battling pediatric brain cancer

 3rd Coast Venture Summit – Connecting Top Founders with Visionary Capital 💰
Running alongside NOEW, Idea Village led the 3rd Coast Venture Summit, which convened founders from across the Gulf South and investors from around the country.  Programming included:

• Intralox president Killian Lapeyre on embedding artificial intelligence into industrial operations
• Ochsner Health innovation leader Jason Hill on applying AI within healthcare systems
• NASA technology transfer officer Aaron Head on opportunities in the emerging space economy
• Nasdaq Private Market executive Diego Valer Fort on liquidity strategies and startup exits
• Venture investors and founders discussing how Gulf South startups are attracting national capital and building companies in industries like energy, logistics and maritime

But wait, there’s more: 💫
As part of the week, GNO, Inc. hosted two events to strengthen the region’s talent and startup pipeline. The WorkNOLA Talent Den x Work in Tech connected over 200 job seekers, technologists, and employers from across the local tech ecosystem, while the Startup Noir NOLA Summit brought together founders, investors, and ecosystem leaders including:

• Dalton Honoré, founder of Dreamland Koffucha, Arielle Hobdy of Bea’s Bayou and Alana Scott of Kinkz Hair Products on scaling Black-led consumer brands nationally from New Orleans
• Camelback Ventures fellows and New Orleans founders on building strong local entrepreneurial ecosystems and national networks
• Xavier University and regional innovation leaders discussing how HBCUs can serve as engines of Black innovation
• CodeGig CEO Kellen Francis and Nexus Louisiana CEO Tony Zanders on turning pilot programs into long-term corporate contracts
• Venture investors examining where capital is moving next in emerging startup markets like the Gulf South

Learn more about NOEW here: https://www.noew.org/
Learn more about 3CVS here: https://3rdcoastventuresummit.com/
Learn more about the New Orleans Book Festival here: https://bookfest.tulane.edu/
Learn more about Startup Noir NOLA Summit here: https://startupnoirnola.com/