As Out to Lunch prepares to go back to hosting live lunches, for inspiration we’re taking a look at some of our pre-Covid shows. Here’s an Out to Lunch Best of: Louisiana Silicon Bayou.

The term “Silicon Bayou” has been around for some time. It’s the promise of a new economy for Louisiana, sometimes thought of in New Orleans. Beyond the confines of the Crescent City, the Louisiana Silicon Bayou stretches well into Acadiana.

When you think about it, this area has always been the frontier when it comes to business, and that attitude was put on the map by oil speculators who came to be known as “wildcatters.”

Today we call that, “entrepreneur.” These are the risk takers. The folks hunting for the next big idea and hoping to strike gold. 

Christiaan’s lunch companions on this edition of Out to Lunch Acadiana both work in the world of startups — the new business frontier with a different kind of wildcat. 

Kyle Boudreaux, more often called Skip, got into the startup world early. By 25 he was the CEO of an innovative diaper company. He went on to work in the world of investment capital and he recently launched the first venture capital firm in the area, called Acadian Ventures. 

Bill Dalton has worked in digital marketing since the dot-boom. He launched Firefly Digital in the late 90s with his partner Mike Spears. The company was one of the first ad agencies in the area to build and design marketing campaigns for the web. People still called it the world wide web back then. Firefly Digital incubated the startup Smart Choice Technologies to a successful exit. Now re-branded as Firefly Marketing, Bill’s team provides full-service digital marketing for clients near and far. 

Out to Lunch Acadiana is recorded over lunch at The French Press in Lafayette. There are photos from this show by Gwen Aucoin and lots more info on our website https://link.chtbl.com/Vj_kXlwb