Tim Williamson

The Mission

The Idea Village is a 501(c) (3) economic development organization whose mission is to foster innovation and accelerate the growth of entrepreneurial ventures in the New Orleans region. The vision is that one day New Orleans will be a world-class entrepreneurial community. Since 2002 we have engaged a global network to provide strategy, talent and resources to the entrepreneurial community in New Orleans.

The Problem

Back in 1998, I moved back to New Orleans to start a technology company called InsideNewOrleans.com, and I met other like-minded people who were starting similar initiatives. We began talking, and collectively, we felt that a big problem in New Orleans was that there was an exodus of the best and brightest individuals who left and never came back. And secondly, we felt that this community did not foster innovation and entrepreneurship. It wasn't a vibrant entrepreneurial community relative to other cities around the country. The challenge, we felt, was how to retain and recruit talented people to start and grow their businesses here.

The Idea

We spent a year discussing this challenge and building a relationship amongst ourselves, which was critical. We decided that it really came down to going out and finding out whether there were other entrepreneurs in the community. The idea came out in the LOA bar, and one of the guys said, let's stop talking about it and see who is out there. So, we decided to do a business plan competition, and we came up with $10,000 for the best idea. There really was no agenda, other than the fact that we wanted to see if we could find other people like us, so we could have more of an engaging dialogue.

Two things happened: a lawyer, Sam Giberga, read about the business plan competition and wanted to donate $15,000 in legal services to the contest. Sam's donation led to other people donating over $125,000 in services. People donated accounting services and office space. House of Blues donated a party. We felt that we hit a spark, and apparently this was the first business plan competition in the city.

Then, there were 70 entrepreneurs who responded. Now, we weren't trying to "do" this--we had no website, we weren't anything formal. But then, we felt that there was this group of entrepreneurs out there who came out of the woodwork. So, there were all these entrepreneurs out there, but no one had inspired them to take a chance.

We found 5 finalists and selected a winner, who had, in our opinion, a huge idea that really could make an impact on New Orleans.

The problem was that they were trying to raise $10 million, and they weren't ready. Obviously, we wanted to support this company. We went to the city, and found that there were no resources to support them. As a group, we helped this entrepreneur with four things: their strategy, business plan, raising $50,000 in early-stage risk capital and connecting them with a broad network of people in the community.

After we finished, other entrepreneurs started coming to us. But there was no "us." We weren't even trying to be an organization. We realized that there was a hole or gap in this community: there was no entity for entrepreneurs. In 2000, we researched other cities (Cleveland, Austin, North Carolina, etc.), and we built a strategic plan around why New Orleans could be a world-class entrepreneurial community. Our case was made that we have the natural assets: a university system that produced 65,000 graduates a year, a very creative culture, and an incredible brand. What we did not have was a single focus, no entity, for driving innovation and entrepreneurship.

The Start-Up

Our plan was to create an independent 501(c)(3) organization that brought together the private sector, public sector, and universities in a way that focused on creating a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship while providing direct support to accelerate the growth of early-stage entrepreneurial ventures. If we could help address our challenges, New Orleans could become a vibrant entrepreneurial community.

Initially, we weren't looking to start a new organization. We researched other successful cities before writing the strategic plan. Our first step was to bring the plan to the city leadership, and that did not work out. We brought the plan to the Chamber [of Commerce], asked the head of the Chamber to endorse it, and he said he couldn't go out front and do it because, "what if this thing fails?"

And then, we realized, that was really the problem: we had a risk-averse culture that was not open to innovation and entrepreneurship, and that "what if it fails" mentality had to be a "what if it succeeds" culture.

So, we decided to do it ourselves. We set up our own 501(c)(3) and self-funded the organization the first year. Within a year and a half, we raised half a million dollars from the private sector. There were a few individuals who just believed in the concept of innovation, entrepreneurship, and talent. We went to the city in 2003, and they matched the funding. In 2004, Tulane University and UNO became strategic partners. By 2004 we had a public/private/ university collaboration to support entrepreneurship.

Our Impact and Accomplishments

* Supported over 230 entrepreneurs through grants, strategic assistance, and events; 90% remain open and 35% have expanded

* Retained over 1245 jobs and $105 million in revenue

* Improved targeted industries: green and sustainable, technology, retail, childcare, tourism, po-boy, art and music

* Developed plans for a linked network of innovative spaces that encourage cross collaboration and serve as catalysts for economic growth in each community.

* Launched the first physical affiliate in the Upper 9th Ward (The Idea Village @ N. Galvez), in partnership with Regions Bank, New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, Tulane University and Mercy Corps.

* Engaged over 220 students from 7 national universities.

* Partnered with leading universities: Stanford's Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan School of Management & Masters Urban Planning Program, Columbia University Masters Urban Planning Program, DePaul's Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, University of Pennsylvania Engineering School and Tulane University Business School and School of Social Work

Overcoming Challenges

Advocacy: We had to educate the community about why innovation and entrepreneurship are important. We had to figure out how to articulate why this was important. What made this difficult was that there was an inherent culture in the city that prohibited innovation and entrepreneurship. We decided that advocacy would have to be a big piece of changing the environment.

Funding: The foundation community didn't fund economic development and entrepreneurship at the time, so we had to create the category. We worked hard to raise the money. We sorted through the community to find a few key drivers who supported and believed in us. These were the people who crossed the social, political, and business world. We had a group of funders who did not give up. In many ways, they were the heroes.

Support and Contact