How will New Orleans Entrepreneur Week 2026 will be different from previous NOEWs?

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2:01Available now at fivehourenergy.com or on Amazon. Welcome back folks. We are joined by Sam McCabe with New Orleans entrepreneur week. Sam, welcome to the show. Yeah, thanks for having me. So Sam, big week coming up, y'all just announced your initial key note speakers. This event, the summit will take place March 12th through the 13th and just a few days we're starting at Loyola University. Yes, sir, yeah, absolutely. We're really excited about this year's event. So this year y'all have some things planned that are a little different than what was presented in 2025. So why don't we start there? Yeah, absolutely. So New Orleans entrepreneur week, events going on all over town all week. But then on Thursday and Friday, we meet at Loyola University for a two day summit. This year we have some programming that's planned to be a little more interactive, a little more bringing more people together

3:03to really highlight our community. We're really excited about this panel, this programming that we're doing called LiveFire, where we have a panel of seasoned entrepreneurs who are on stage to solve problems for new founders in real time as this really neat event to bring people together. So that's one of the things that I'm really most excited about for the two days at Loyola. Yeah. So if you would describe for our listening audience what people would find if they attended Noe. Yeah, absolutely. So Noe, New Orleans entrepreneur week, is for anybody who's interested in the future of business in New Orleans or wants to help build this business community here. That's students, that's founders, that's investors, that's young professionals. Somebody who's got an idea, somebody who's maybe started working on an idea, or maybe even somebody who's just interested in being a part of the future

4:07of what we can do here. We're the goal is to build a community around all of these founders and our city to raise people up and continue as a group and as a community. Because, you know, a rising tide lifts all those. If you know what I mean. Absolutely. And with the onset of the AI age, I know that one of your guest speakers, Jean McNeil will be talking about building the next generation. This has to be like incredibly exciting times, right? Because so much about this, you know, some known, but a lot unknown. Right, right. Yeah, we're really looking forward to John's keynote on Thursday morning. John was the former president at Tesla and he's got a new group that he is heading called DVX Ventures. He's done a whole lot with a bunch of different companies that have really pushed forward with AI and how to really kind of evolve this business model

5:10in the future of business. He's just also just a really interesting person. He was at Tesla, he was at Lyft, he was at Lulu Lemon, now he's at GM on their board and at with his own venture as well. So really pushing forward with what we can do with AI and how we can use that as a tool as we build the future of business. And there's also, you know, when we talk about the participation of Loyola, our university is really kind of stepping up and branching out in so many different ways, being different makers for our community and our economy. Talk to us about that. Sure, absolutely. So this is the second year that Loyola University has been involved with producing entrepreneur week. Last year we co-produced it with our friends at the idea village who had traditionally hosted it for the first 14 years of its existence. And so this year we're doing it on our own and have really tried to lean into the

6:12early stage founders is that wider variety of our startup and small business community, kind of like what we do with Loyola, you know, I'm a Loyola alum. I had a great education there and what that education taught me was to help the work with the entire person and to build a community, right? So that's our goal with entrepreneurship week this year is to highlight and raise up as many of these founders as we can in our community. This episode is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you aren't just listening right now. You're driving, cleaning, and even exercising. But what if you could be saving money by switching to Progressive? Drivers who save by switching save nearly $750 on average and auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts, multitask right now, quote today at progressive.com, Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates, national average 12 month savings of $744 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive

7:13between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary, discounts not available in all states and situations. Spring is here and the shopping list is long. Time to make a blows run. Buy three bags, get three free. If stay green, one cubic foot garden soy. Plus, right now, members can earn four times the points on an eligible purchase. Start spring off strong with these deals and more. Our best lineup is here at Loves. Balance is $325, while supplies last. Soil offer excludes a last-gen Hawaii. Loads you program subject to terms and conditions. Sealows.com slash terms for details. Subject to change, point booster subject to exclusions and more terms apply. One time we'll only offer. I'm done carrying around bulky drinks. And I'm definitely done cleaning melted candy out of my pockets. So yeah, I traded them both in for fruity rainbow five hour energy shots. These little guys are as pocket sized as any candy. But instead of a sugar crash, you get a zero sugar caffeine boost. Candy can't even compare at this point. Fruity rainbow five hour energy shots

8:15treat your taste buds to an explosion of fruity flavor with a tasty caffeine kick. That's right, caffeine just got a flavor upgrade. And it's not just one flavor. Five hour energy shots bring you tasty caffeine in 17 flavors, 17. So if you're craving that candy flavored chaos, but actually want energy that works, grab fruity rainbow five hour energy shots. Pocket sized zero sugar, big flavor. Available now at fivehourenergy.com or on Amazon. We're talking to Sam McCabe from the New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, but Sam, you guys have a great partner too with the Dean of Loyola University's College of Business with Dr. Bobby Savoy. I mean, he's lived in that world, right? He's walked the walk and talk to talk. That's absolutely right. Bobby is, he's just been such a great, I mean, like personally, just a mentor to me at Loyola, but also just as somebody to be a leader within this ecosystem and to be able to connect

9:16a lot of these dots. You know, the Dean at Loyola, but he also has a degree from UNO and a degree from LSU, and he's just so great at connecting a lot of these things. And that's like I said, that's the best part of the goal here with with Entrepreneur Week this year is to build everybody up and connect everyone as best as we can. Now, the SICO system that you refer to a couple of times, it's important to us because it plays a pivotal part in the diversification of our economy and the type of people that we have here and we bring here, right? Yeah, no, absolutely. As much as we can build up our community and our economic development here in New Orleans, you know, our entrepreneurship community is valuable as we're building that up. So, you know, as much as we can do to connect all of those dots, that's our goal. Now, Sam, I don't know if you all follow legislation in the state legislature every year,

10:17if you do, is there things that you all are interested in this year? You know, I mean, I would love to see more funding towards innovation. I know LED and the new Louisiana Innovation Office are really pushing to bring more tech and more jobs here as part of that growth that Louisiana is seeing. So, you know, as we're all working towards kind of growing all of these pieces of this community here in New Orleans and across the state, you know, as much as we can get to connect all these tech dots and to be able to share that out and highlight Louisiana as a hub for entrepreneurship and technology. That's a great place to be. So, if folks want to attend any of the programs that are being presented, where would they go? Yeah, I mean, you can check out the entire schedule at NOEW.org.

11:18Every single event this week is free. There's a couple of events today. The UNOs, the beach is hosting a really cool event about hospitality and tourism that starts at 12 noon. So, looking forward to that. But then, yeah, the schedule for the entire week as well as the two-day flagship summit on Thursday and Friday is all up on NOEW.org. And like I said, everything is totally free to attend. Free, open to the public. You'll hear from folks that you read about in all kinds of major journals and people write books about some of these folks as well. So, that's right, that's right. And you can have an opportunity to listen to them speak for free, go to www.noew.org. Sam, okay, thank you so much for joining us. Truly appreciate it and have a great week. Thanks, appreciate you all. We all have a good one too, thank you. We'll be right back folks, 5042601870. We'd love to hear from you on the talk of text line.

12:20We'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance too, with the name of your price tool from Progressive. It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates, price and coverage match limited by state law. Spring is here, and the shopping list is long. Time to make a lows run. Buy three bags, get three free. Stay green, one cubic foot garden soil. Plus, right now, members can earn four times the points on an eligible purchase. Start spring off strong with these deals and more. Our best lineup is here at Loves. Valet the 325, while supplies last. Soil offer excludes a last-gen Hawaii. Lowell T-Program subject to terms and conditions. Sealows.com slash terms for details.

13:21Subject to change. Point booster subject to exclusions and more terms apply. I'm done carrying around bulky drinks. And I'm definitely done cleaning melted candy out of my pockets. So yeah, I traded them both in for fruity rainbow five-hour energy shots. These little guys are as pocket-sized as any candy. But instead of a sugar crash, you get a zero sugar caffeine boost. Candy can't even compare at this point. Fruity rainbow five-hour energy shots treat your taste buds to an explosion of fruity flavor. With a tasty caffeine kick. That's right, caffeine just got a flavor upgrade. And it's not just one flavor. Five-hour energy shots bring you tasty caffeine and 17 flavors. 17. So if you're craving that candy flavored chaos. But actually want energy that works? Grab fruity rainbow five-hour energy shots. Pocket-sized, zero sugar, big flavor. Available now at fivehourenergy.com or on Amazon.

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