Seven hundred business leaders filled the Schermerhorn Symphony Center on October 20 for the 2025 NEXT Awards. Nineteen founders walked offstage with trophies. We pulled them backstage to ask what the recognition means and what advice they’d give other entrepreneurs.
Their answers reveal what actually drives successful founders: relationships over capital, joy over hustle, honest feedback over comfortable advice. Mayor Freddie O’Connell said it best during his remarks: “When you get this many founders and startup teams together in one room, the energy just keeps building.”
Here’s what winners said when the lights went down and the cameras kept rolling.
Special Awards
Darrell Freeman Award: Mignon Francois Francois, founder of The Cupcake Collection, received an award named for a mentor she called a friend. She spoke about what gets lost in the founder grind: joy. “Joy is the ingredient too often forgotten by entrepreneurs,” she said. The award meant more because her children and granddaughter watched from the audience.
David H. Furse Mentor Award: Chris Sloan Sloan, who co-leads Baker Donelson’s Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Team, received the inaugural Furse Award. He worked with David Furse for years, including co-mentoring entrepreneurs at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. Sloan said he learned from Furse that honest feedback matters more than comfortable feedback. “David believed mentors must be candid to truly help others grow,” Sloan said.
Startup Entrepreneur of 2025: Dr. Edmund Jackson, UnityAI Jackson’s company builds AI tools that solve actual problems, not tools that chase trends. “Each day is an act of faith fueled by the dedication of our team, clients, community, and investors,” he said. When asked who he’d call first with the news, he didn’t hesitate: his team.
Growth Entrepreneur of 2025: Penny Austermiller, Austermiller Roofing and Construction Austermiller runs a roofing and construction company, but she credits her recent growth to joining peer organizations like EO Nashville and BrainTrust. “It’s made me a better leader, a better person—it’s growth all around,” she said. Her advice to young founders: connect early. She spent years focused only on her company before realizing relationships accelerate growth.
Entrepreneurs’ Hall of Fame
The Nashville Entrepreneur Center inducted three new members into its Entrepreneurs’ Hall of Fame. The honor recognizes business leaders who built foundations that helped others build companies.
2025 Inductees:
- Rosetta Miller-Perry
- Manuel Cuevas
- Mark Deutschmann
Past inductees include Dolly Parton, Beth Chase, Scott Borchetta, and Becca Stevens.
Category Winners
Music, Sports, Gaming & Entertainment
Startup: Brandwood Global, Inc. Stephanie Weir built Brandwood Global over a decade, then moved the company from Los Angeles to Nashville. She called L.A. “the belly of the beast”—a place where innovation threatens entrenched systems. Nashville offered something different: space to build something new in a city that rewards collaboration over gatekeeping.
Growth: mtheory mtheory provides artist services and management support across Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. CEO Cameo Carlson leads a majority-women staff focused on data-driven strategy and equitable change in country and Americana music. The company’s Equal Access Development initiative reshapes how independent artists build sustainable careers.
Hospitality & Retail
Startup: visitour Debbie Garcia built visitour, a tech platform for event professionals. She moved from New York to Nashville and said the city’s hospitality softened her edge while teaching her the value of authentic relationships. “Being in this industry, in this city—it’s one of the greatest things I could ever have,” she said.
Growth: Rolled 4 Ever Ice Cream Bariangela Segovia and Maliyah Bass left corporate jobs after one food truck event proved their ice cream concept worked. They sold out their first night and made in one evening what took two weeks at their day jobs. “That was it,” they said. “Two-week notice coming.” Their advice: plan to win, but fail fast when something doesn’t work.
Real Estate & Construction
Startup: Your Pros Eric Schell runs Your Pros, a platform connecting property owners with contractors. After a decade in the industry, he learned one lesson: “You don’t need more money—you need more people.” Strong relationships beat strong capital.
Growth: Holladay Ventures Evan Holladay and his team at Holladay Ventures focus on affordable housing development. “This work is not for the faint of heart,” Holladay said. Success requires balancing community needs, city requirements, and partner expectations. The reward is creating lasting change for families and neighborhoods.
Healthcare
Startup: Agentis Longevity Agentis Longevity runs clinics focused on helping people live longer, healthier lives through advanced diagnostics and hormone optimization. CEO Jimmy St. Louis said the award validates their mission to advance health and wellness through innovation.
Growth: DYNTL DYNTL reinvents how large organizations deliver dental care to their employees and members. Founder Chaz Lusk comes from a family of dentists and focuses on clinical expertise and patient experience. The award recognizes their work making dental care more accessible.
Products & Services
Startup: Daily Crunch Laurel Orley and Kenzie Pfeiffer run Daily Crunch, a sprouted nut snack company. Orley said their success comes from hiring for cultural fit, not just skill fit. Pfeiffer started as a Vanderbilt MBA intern and now runs marketing and strategy. The company’s motto: “It’s just nuts!” Orley’s advice to her younger self: have more fun.
Growth: FortyAU FortyAU builds custom software, data platforms, and AI solutions for clients from startups to Fortune 500 companies. Founded in 2012, the Nashville company now has 175 employees across offices in Denver, Dallas, and Paraguay. The name references Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot—a reminder to maintain perspective and humility.
Financial Services
Startup: Upside Guaranty Upside Guaranty reduces risk in construction projects by managing how funds flow from owners to contractors. CEO Nolen Tuttle’s Franklin-based company holds project funds in dedicated accounts, reviews budgets monthly, and verifies work before releasing payments. Founded in 2024, Upside already operates across multiple states.
Growth: Continuum Planning Partners Andy Faught and Abby Spaulding started Continuum Planning Partners in 2016 to fix fragmented wealth advice. Their firm builds integrated financial plans that adapt as clients’ lives change. Nine advisors and 15 support staff now serve over 500 families.
Watch all backstage interviews.
Applications for the 2026 NEXT Awards open in March. Learn more at ec.co/next-awards.
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