The Road to NOEW: Cameron Cantrelle’s backpack report

From March 20 – 27, New Orleans’ annual business festival, New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, returns. The week of programming, centered upon innovation and entrepreneurship, will culminate in crowd driven pitch contest The Big Idea. In partnership with The Idea Village and their blog, #IDEAinsider, NolaVie presents “The Road to NOEW,” a month-long series highlighting some of the entrepreneurs who will be showcased this year.

Though unilaterally innovative and driven, members of New Orleans’ entrepreneurial community are an eclectic bunch in their backgrounds, the premises of their ventures, their appearances. One unifying aesthetic among the city’s varied composition of entrepreneurs is the eponymous ’trep backpack.

With New Orleans-based entrepreneurs serving as celebrities in their own right during NOEW, we want to know: What exactly goes inside of their overstuffed backpacks?

NolaVie has asked some of the entrepreneurs participating in NOEW to reveal the contents of their backpacks and tell us a little bit about why these items are staples in their bags.

Today, Cameron Cantrelle, professional landscaper and the current co-founder and CEO of Plantbid — an online plant sourcing system that enables plant professionals, growers and nurseries to network and ultimately locate ideal sources of the plants they need — shares five staples you can find backpack at any given time.

1. My journal and 2 pens – I’m big on writing things down so I remember them later. I’m always making sure that my journal is available and that I have a back up pen, which saves me valuable time wasted when trying to remember comments that were given in a prior meeting.

2. My laptop – You never know when you’re going to be given the opportunity to pitch or show off your products. If you don’t have immediate access to your products, then you may be left with a lost opportunity.

3. (2) Different network hot-spots – As a tech company, I never rely on a client’s or investor’s internet connection. For that reason, I’m always armed with two different network provides hot-spots and always have a double fall back plan.

4. HDMI cable – I always plan on hardware failure and hope it never happens. The one time the customer’s cable fails will be the one time you forgot to bring your cable.

5. Ethernet cables (2) – It’s always better to have a hard-wire connection when showing off technology. A sluggish response rate leads to sluggish sales.