La. entrepreneurs to roll in the national Startup Bus competition

Twenty-five to 30 entrepreneurs from Louisiana will have a chance to participate in the national Startup Bus competition in early March. Elias Bizannes, entrepreneur and founder of the Startup Bus, was on hand to help make the announcement Thursday evening while in Baton Rouge for an event hosted by Baton Rouge Area Chamber’s Regional Innovation Organization. “This is huge,” says RIO Executive Director Terry Jones. Only 10 to 12 cities or states are given the opportunity to compete in Startup Bus, in which entrepreneurs come up with a startup business idea while riding to the South by Southwest festival in Austin, where pitches are judged. Last year, a handful of Baton Rouge entrepreneurs participated in the competition, but they had to ride on the Miami bus. No city in Louisiana had its own bus, nor did the state at large. Jones says applications are being taken now from entrepreneurs across Louisiana who want to get on the bus. You can apply by clicking here, and Jones advises also sending him an email here to let him know you’ve applied. “We need people to apply immediately,” he says, speculating that anyone who waits more than a week or two will probably miss out. Louisiana’s Startup Bus will make a statewide tour March 6-7, and then will travel to Austin for the March 9 competition. To get a sense of how excited the state’s entrepreneurs are about Startup Bus, check out a video, created by Louisiana entrepreneurs who rode on the Startup Bus last year, called “I Wanna Be on the Startup Bus”—with Baton Rouge’s Jared Loftus doing some very fine rapping—here. —Steve Sanoski