Now That's A Great Idea

A lot of us have dreamed about coming up with a great idea that
would address a need or demand in society while enriching us in
the process. But there’s a long and winding road between thinking
up the Next Big Thing and making it a reality.


On this edition of Out to Lunch Baton Rouge we meet a couple of
folks who know this journey well.


Clerc Bertrand is founder and owner of Workaru, an app that you
can kind of think of as an Airbnb for office space.


The Workaru app lets professionals find, compare, and book
on-demand workspaces. Workaru helps connect people looking for a
temporary workspace with businesses looking to monetize their
available space - maybe an empty office, a conference room
 or a shared work room. This is especially relevant in the
era of Covid, when a lot of employers are paying pricey leases
every month for a lot of large office space they no longer
need. 


Currently, Workaru has available space listed in four of
Louisiana’s five largest cities. Clerc is a native of small town
Louisiana, who, also has had something of an illustrious
professional track career and was a traveling representative for
Brooks running company before coming up with the Workaru app.


Bill Ellison is CEO of Innovation Catalyst, a nonprofit venture
capital fund based at the Research and Technology Park here in
Baton Rouge. The fund provides seed capital to Louisiana-based
high-growth tech companies.


Bill also heads up the Red Stick Angel Network, which is owned by
Innovation Catalyst and seeks to identify, vet, and then
aggregate it's members' investment capital to fund early-stage
companies in Baton Rouge and elsewhere in Louisiana.


Bill Ellison is a serial entrepreneur, attorney, and private
investor, who was in private practice for 20 years before
pivoting to the entrepreneurial world in 2000, when he became an
investor, General Counsel and Director of a HIT start-up company.
Bill has subsequently started, operated, and invested in several
start-up companies.


Normally Out to Lunch Baton Rouge is recorded over lunch at
Mansurs on the Boulevard and we'll be returning to our regular
lunch table next week. This week, conditions forced us onto Zoom.
You can see photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at our website,
itsbatonrouge.la where you can also check out more lunchtime
conversation about Baton Rouge startups. 


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