About us
StartPort and Startup Grind New Orleans are one effort with two parts: a founder community that meets every month, and a home for it in the French Quarter.
How it fits together
- The global networkStartup Grind
A founder community started in Silicon Valley in 2010, whose chapters have reached more than 5 million entrepreneurs across 125 countries.
startupgrind.com - The local chapterStartup Grind New Orleans
The on-ramp for the city’s earliest builders: monthly Beta in Progress sessions, Tribe Code, pitch events and chapter collaborations.
Chapter page and RSVPs - The home baseStartPort
Our concept for a glass-front founder hub in the French Quarter, where the chapter would work, meet and welcome visitors every day.
The StartPort concept
Mission and vision
We put New Orleans’ earliest builders to work next to people who’ve done it before. Bring what you’re building. Leave with help, and with someone you helped.
A New Orleans where any founder with a serious idea can find the people, mentors, and capital to build it here, without having to leave.
The on-ramp
New Orleans has accelerators, funds, and programs built for companies that are already moving. The stretch before that, from first idea to first customers, is where most founders stall and where they’re most alone. We’re the on-ramp: a steady, open place to build, find customers, and get help from people a step ahead, so founders arrive at the next stage ready.
Who we serve
At the center are early-stage founders building something that could scale. The door is open to everyone else too: first-time and aspiring founders, students, career-switchers, people with oddball ideas, startup employees, mentors, investors, and the simply curious.
What we believe
- Founders lead. Sponsors, universities and investors fuel the work. They don’t set the agenda.
- Take a 20-year view. A bench of co-organizers, not one champion.
- No gatekeeping. The density of connections is the whole point.
- Keep a steady rhythm. Something for everyone, from napkin idea to raising money. Hands-on beats spectator.
- Give before you get. Mentors ask how they can help. Nobody keeps score.
- We’re one node in the network. We partner and cross-promote. Nobody owns a startup community.
- Measure connections. Headcount is easy. The real signal is whether people are meeting, helping and hiring each other.
- Build on what’s here. We don’t copy Silicon Valley.
- Make honest failure normal. Everything is in beta.
Culture is the original technology.
Before code, people built systems for working together: music, storytelling, trade networks, rituals. New Orleans has exported more of those than almost any city on earth.
We think that is a startup advantage, not a footnote. A city that knows how to improvise, collaborate and welcome strangers already has what a founder community needs. We build on what is here instead of copying Silicon Valley.
What we do
Working sessions, pitch events, global connections and plenty of time to just hang out. See our social nights.
Beta in Progress
Our free monthly builder session on the second Thursday: a roundtable, a topic discussion and Tribe Code. 2027 dates
Pitch events
The New Orleans round of Startup Grind’s Global Pitch Week, plus feedback-first pitch nights where founders show usage data, not decks.
Global sessions
Live sessions with Startup Grind chapters from Chicago to Pune, Bangkok and South Korea, so New Orleans founders meet the world and the world meets them.
Team
Chapter Director of Startup Grind New Orleans. Building Louisiana tech companies since 1997, and the 2016 Louisianian of the Year for disaster response.
New Orleans native and PhD biochemist. Chief Science Officer at Mariposa Technology, and a Loyola adjunct teaching AI and Business.
Runs sponsor relationships, operations and the event calendar.
Leads sponsor outreach and sales.
Get involved
Come build with us, mentor a founder, or help us bring StartPort to the Quarter.
Questions about us
- What is StartPort?
- StartPort is a concept for a glass-front founder hub on Royal or Chartres Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans. It is being pitched to sponsors and partners, and it would be the home of Startup Grind New Orleans.
- How is StartPort related to Startup Grind New Orleans?
- They are one effort with two parts. Startup Grind New Orleans is the community and its programming. StartPort is the place where that community would work, meet and welcome visitors every day.
- What is Startup Grind?
- Startup Grind is a global founder community started in Silicon Valley in 2010 by Derek Andersen. Its chapters have reached more than 5 million entrepreneurs across 125 countries. Startup Grind New Orleans is the local chapter.
- Who leads Startup Grind New Orleans?
- Rob Gaudet is the Chapter Director. StartPort’s co-founder is Dr. James Guenther.
- How do I get involved?
- Come to Beta in Progress on the second Thursday of any month, join the community Discord, or email hello@startportnola.com to mentor, sponsor or suggest a board member.
- Does it cost anything?
- Beta in Progress is free and open to everyone. You don’t need a pitch or traction to come.
Social nights
The best introductions in New Orleans happen away from the stage. Alongside Beta in Progress, we host casual nights where founders, builders, mentors and the curious just hang out.
Trivia nights
Regular trivia at rotating spots across the city, starting at Fat Harry’s on St. Charles. Founders, builders and the curious, one team at a time.
Watch parties
Saints Sundays, college football Saturdays and early-morning soccer. Big games are better with a room full of people you want to know.
Game nights
Parcheesi, board games and cards. Low stakes, long tables and the kind of conversation a pitch night never gets to.
Pinball nights
Quarters, flippers and a little friendly competition at the city’s pinball spots.
Crawfish boils
Spring boils with the whole community. Bring a friend who’s thinking about starting something.
We’d love your feedback on these.
Tell us what you’d show up for and where. We’ll build the 2027 social calendar around your answers.