By Mike Mayer, Class of 2012
One chapter in New Orleans ongoing rags to riches story is the newly burgeoning startup renaissance. From under30ceo.com to NOLA.com to Forbes, NOLA is gaining momentum as the place to be for entrepreneurs:
- #1 city for young entrepreneurs in America by under30ceo.com
- #1 on list of Americas Biggest Brain Magnets for people under 25 with college degrees by Forbes
- New Orleans leads the USA by 30% in number of startups per capita (Federal Reserve Bank)
The narrative is accurate and exciting but is often lost on those not familiar with this scene. My goal is to put a face to New Orleans startup name.
Since August, Ive been on the front lines of the hottest tech startup in New Orleans, Federated Sample, which builds technology to automate and simplify market research. I didnt join FED because I was passionate about market research, but because it successfully disrupts an industry plagued by reluctance to change and inefficiency. On my first day, CEO Patrick Comer told me Its not about if we are going to explode, its about when. Three months later, I witnessed two of the top five market research firms transition all of their surveys onto our platform, Fulcrum. Patrick came out of his office after the last major win of 2012 and rejoiced, We still have a long way to go, but were growing fast and weve made a market.
High growth is one of the most important metrics to gauge a startups early success. Without growth, an organization is an idea trying to gain traction. With growth, it is a young business hopeful of taking off. With high growth, it is a successful startup. Federated Sample is high growth.
Below is a graph of the number of interviews on Fulcrum since the companys founding:
(Interviews are defined as people who take surveys on the Fulcrum platform)
As the slope of the growth curve steepens, so does FEDs ability to drive NOLAs economic comeback. How? Because more FED revenue and growth mean:
- Job growth
- Attracts new talent (brain gain = spending citizens)
- Retains talent
- Increased attention from investors (entrepreneurs follow capital!)
- More opportunities & resources to engage with community issues
- Increased tax revenue for the city
So, when reading stories about New Orleans rebirth, think to FEDs rising success and cheer us on. Because when we win, NOLA wins. Who DAT? FED DAT!
Mike Mayer graduated from UPenn Wharton in 2012 with a degree in Finance and currently works as an Executive Analyst at Federated Sample in New Orleans. He also co-founded a non-profit organization called “StartUp Effect” which teaches entrepreneurship in middle schools in New Orleans and Detroit.