At the heart of innovation lies a problem and entrepreneurs are the needed visionaries that see a better way to live, work, or play. At the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, commonly known as “the EC,” we help entrepreneurs develop and build upon their business with an organizational vision to make our Nashville community the best place to start and grow a business. To realize this vision, the Entrepreneur Center helps to foster connections and collaborations across the larger Nashville entrepreneurial ecosystem.
As the “front door” to entrepreneurship, we have a pulse on the city’s entrepreneurial past, present and future. We walk alongside entrepreneurs at any stage of development, from start-up to post-exit, and in all industries. It’s our mission to equip entrepreneurs with the critical resources they need to increase their likelihood of success. We do that through our programs, services, and connections in a growing network of partners and supporters, and by sharing the stories of founders and entrepreneurial growth that are positively impacting Nashville’s economy.
At the Nashville EC, we know what it takes to drive innovation and the value of learning from our past.
Established through Collaboration
The Nashville Entrepreneur Center was established from a 75-member group of business leaders in 2007 who came together to assess the city’s needs to achieve the growth vision. They created the concept of a center for entrepreneurship and three years later, our doors opened.
At the time, tech businesses were on the rise and needed access to customers, investors, stakeholder training, mentorship, affordable workspace, and a community to connect with others on the same path. The EC helps Nashville’s economy thrive by providing the means for communities to break the cycle of need by empowering founders and their businesses to create jobs, wealth, and economic growth for the city.
Many who choose to be an entrepreneur experience gaps in access to:
- Building a foundational business upon which to grow and scale
- Mentorship
- Assistance with evolving as the business grows
- Funding
Fueling the Present
Today, Nashville is home to more than 53,000 businesses with entrepreneurial companies making up 23% of the city’s economy. The EC’s suite of programs serves about 2,000 entrepreneurs annually. Our programs are designed to drive innovation for industry needs as well as to level the playing field through an intentional inclusive atmosphere that fosters opportunity for all founders, no matter who they are, what they look like or where they’re from.
As one of the earliest entrepreneur centers in the country, we’ve supported founders and their businesses through our programs and memberships. We connect entrepreneurs with a variety of resources from potential investors/customers, experts who have “been there, done that,” to a hands on curriculum on how to run a business. We also have a network of 300+ advisors in marketing, accounting, legal and human resources, and we offer workspace and events that bring our community together on a regular basis.
Setting our sights as the best place in America to start and grow a business, the Nashville EC has served more than 10,000 entrepreneurs. Of those, more than 800 of our high-touch program participants have raised above $319M in capital and generated more than $417M in revenue with successful exits of $100M+.
The Nashville EC helps increase entrepreneurs’ probability of success far beyond the 50% U.S. average rate of survival. In fact, 84% of those who have gone through our programs still employ people or have had successful exits. Today, we’re seeing the overall exit numbers culminate to an unprecedented boom with exits occurring at 14x growth in 2022 alone.
The EC is gaining critical mass in terms of our continued growth, the maturity of businesses we currently support, and the increasing attention on our one-of-a-kind Nashville community. This rise in momentum with founders across industries and sectors is incredibly exciting, and the series of recent exits validates our approach, programs, and expertise we’ve built since it was founded over a decade ago. If one is an entrepreneur in Nashville, the EC is an asset that can help them on their journey.
Driving Innovation Forward
Our CEO, Jane Allen, believes that our greatest differentiators are the experienced people, especially those entrepreneurs who have had successful exits, who freely invest their time and talents into helping the next generation of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is rooted in Nashville’s DNA and through our Circle Back podcast and Entrepreneurs’ Hall of Fame, we’ve become a platform for sharing the story of the Nashville entrepreneur.
Each year, an exceptional new class of lifetime achievers are inducted into the Entrepreneurs’ Hall of Fame and honored on stage at our annual NEXT Awards, an event where we recognize Middle Tennessee’s successful entrepreneurs who make a significant impact on the economy in Middle Tennessee.
The Hall of Fame honor celebrates Nashville’s most iconic entrepreneurs: those who demonstrate a remarkable aptitude for transforming vision into action. These exceptional founders not only shape individual lives, industries, and communities, but also help to foster the entrepreneurial spirit in Nashville, making an indelible mark on our city—past, present, and future. Inductees are included in the Circle Back podcast to inspire and educate the next generation of problem solvers–a generation that is driving innovation.
