One year, $80,000, zero equity taken
One year ago today, we announced the EC Impact Grants: non-dilutive cash for founders graduating our accelerators — TakeOff, InFlight, and Project Healthcare. The pitch was simple. Win a competition...
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Two Founders, a Governor, and a Janky Prototype at the McWhorter Circle Legacy Celebration
Mark Norton was stuck. He and his best friend had both quit good jobs — one at Apple, one practicing law — to build a diabetes management platform in Nashville....
The Entrepreneurs’ Hall of Fame Class of 2026: Three Founding Teams Who Built the Bank, the Buildings, and the Restaurants
It was October 1999. AmSouth had just acquired First American National, the $20B Nashville-headquartered bank where Rob McCabe was Vice Chairman and Terry Turner ran the General Bank. McCabe and...
A Room Full of Founders. A Finance Pro. No Invoice at the End.
Last week, a room full of Nashville entrepreneurs got an hour of professional-grade financial strategy for free. That’s not a promotional line. That’s just what happened. Chris Brown — EC...
The Demo That Changed the Diagnosis
Richard MacKinnon didn’t expect to walk out of The Room as Ian Nott’s next investor. What happens there doesn’t always stay there. The Room is invitation-only — reserved for Nashville...
How a Broken Toe Led to a Marketing Platform That Solves a Major Pain
Pamela Wilson had spent 2025 doing the work she loved: building marketing strategies for growing companies that needed to compete. The strategies were solid. The positioning was sharp. The problem...
55 Sundays and Counting
A new user emailed Justin Gray in March 2025 with a few questions about how Potluck worked. He wanted to try something: a dinner party every Sunday with the people...
Ron Samuels Started a Bank at 60. Here’s Why He Waited.
“They wouldn’t give me the money when I was 50.” When someone asks Ron Samuels why he waited until he was 60 years old to start a bank, that’s his...
Manuel Cuevas Has Been on Vacation for 85 Years
The fashion designer who dressed Elvis, Johnny Cash, and the King of Morocco — and says he’s never worked a day in his life Manuel Cuevas is sitting at his...