Apr 2, 4:30 – 5:30 PM (UTC)
The Nieux, 2040 Saint Charles Avenue, New Orleans, 70130
Rob built a GEO services company — 9,464 leads, a full back office, and a live product — in two weeks using an AI agent. Come find out how. Beta in Progress Speakeasy Lunch at The Nieux. Free to attend. Lunch $25 (and worth every penny).
(Attend for Free. Lunch is $25 — Optional, but Highly Encouraged.)
Every Other Thursday • 11:30 AM • The Nieux – New Orleans April 2 — From OpenClaw to InkThorn: What Happened After the Last Session
New Orleans has always been where ideas get cooked down into something real. Culture is the original technology — and this city has been proving that for three hundred years.
Beta in Progress is that same energy, applied to AI.
At the last session, we learned how Chelsea Hulin from Broussard installed OpenClaw 2 months ago and is now using it in several of her businesses. Since then, Rob Gaudet actually built something with it — a full GEO services business called InkThorn Crustacean (https://InkThorn.ai), running on OpenClaw and Claude, with 9,464 leads scraped, a team back-office, referral system, and live product. In two weeks. With no engineers.
This session is the real story of what that actually looked like — the agent setup, the Telegram HQ, the pivots, the failures, and what it means for anyone building right now.
This is not a panel. This is not a pitch. This is a conversation between everyone in the room.
You don't need a pitch. You don't need traction. You just need to be curious or using AI.
Read the full build story before you come: 👉 https://inkthorn.ai/story.html
(Takes about 5 minutes. You'll arrive with better questions and get more out of the conversation.)
Quick builder roundtable — everyone gets a moment:
2 Minutes: What tools are you using?
2 Minutes: What are you building?
2 Minutes: Open discussion
Then we go deep on the featured topic together.
After the discussion, we shift into Tribe Code — an open co-working session where builders stay, experiment, and help each other move ideas forward. Bring your laptop. Build something. Ask for help. Give some.
The lunch is provided by the hardworking team at The Nieux and it is genuinely excellent — far more than a $25 meal. RSVP for lunch when you register. It supports the people who make this experience possible and frankly it's one of the best deals in the New Orleans innovation scene.
Lunch: $25 | RSVP Required for Lunch | Lunch Not Required to Attend
April 2 — From OpenClaw to InkThorn: Building a Real Business with an AI Agent
April 16 — To Be Determined Based On What the Room Wants to Explore
And beyond — every other Thursday in New Orleans
The Nieux — 2040 St Charles Ave, New Orleans, LA 70130
The Nieux takes its name from the restaurant that once sat atop the Eiffel Tower — a gathering place built into one of the world's most iconic symbols of technological ambition. That tower became a global radio transmission platform. The Nieux carries that same spirit into the heart of New Orleans: a place where culture and technology transmit outward together.
Beta in Progress is part of the Sugar Stack Ecosystem — a New Orleans-born model for how innovation actually works. Like Louisiana's historic sugar refining process, ideas start raw and messy at the bottom of the stack, and the best ones crystallize into real ventures through continuous experimentation and community refinement.
This session is the grind layer doing exactly what it's supposed to do.
The Nieux – https://nieux.co Startup Grind New Orleans – https://www.startupgrind.com/new-orleans Trustlight AI Advisory Practice – https://trustlight.ai TextOS.ai – https://textos.ai Sugar Stack Ecosystem
Workshop / Hackathon (same as previous events)
Thursday, April 2, 2026 — 11:30 AM CDT (Enter as 4:30 PM UTC to match your previous events' pattern)
The Nieux, 2040 Saint Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70130
General Admission — Free
Lunch RSVP — $25
Thursday, April 2, 2026
4:30 PM – 5:30 PM (UTC)
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