Entrepreneur calls for more cooperation between B.R. and N.O.

In an open letter to “anyone in Louisiana who is interested in ‘entrepreneurship’,” Giftmeo co-founder Martin Roth says those leading the entrepreneurial charge in Baton Rouge and New Orleans need to work more cooperatively if Louisiana is to make a mark on the national stage. “We will never be able to compete on a national level if we remain tied up in an argument that is impossible to win,” he says. “New Orleans will never be Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge will never be New Orleans, and it’s OK. Each city has so many great things to offer, and they could gain so much by working together.” An example of the current inefficiencies, Roth says, can be found in the recent push each city has made on Twitter and Facebook to get the national Startup Bus to include a local team. In short, the cities that get to participate are those that get the most “shares” and “likes” via the social networks. Separately, the cities each have a little more than 300 votes and are in fourth and fifth place, he says. Together, they’d be in third place. Last year, Startup Bus—which wraps up at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin—passed through Baton Rouge, but not New Orleans. “You have two growing entrepreneurial ecosystems that sit just 80 miles from each other, and they aren’t communicating,” Roth says. “Meanwhile, two Shreveport-based entrepreneurs, Ken and Keith Hanson from Twin Engine Labs, rode the Silicon Valley Startup Bus to SXSW.” Read the full letter at the Silicon Bayou News website here.