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Navigate 009: Be Bold w/ Pathway Women’s Business Center

One of the best parts of Nashville’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is the way organizations work together to connect individuals with the tools that will help them the most.

At the EC, we do this in part through our free Navigation Assessment, which recommends the best resources to help entrepreneurs get where they want to go.

One of the resources we often refer people to is Pathway Women’s Business Center, which provides mentoring, education and other tools to help entrepreneurs across Tennessee, especially women and minority business owners.

Navigate Podcast – Episode 8: Nashville’s Tech Community

If you’ve been paying attention to Nashville’s growth, you already know Middle Tennessee is no longer only about music.

But what many people may not know is that the region has one of the fastest growing technology sectors in the country.

How We Failed at a Startup – and what you can learn

Be Our Guest is a feature on the EC blog highlighting thought leadership from our community - advisors, entrepreneurs, members, and more.

Today’s post is by EC advisor Greg Born. Greg began his career as an Air Force Pilot, then held leadership roles in both Operations and Mergers and Acquisitions at businesses such as GE, Oracle, Comcast, as well as a in health and health-tech businesses – including Change Healthcare in Nashville. In all roles, his focus has been improving operational teams, connecting strategy and growth, and leading transformation. Helping it operate better. You can read his other entrepreneurship and leadership articles here.

Navigate Podcast – Episode 7: Humanizing Healthcare

While the healthcare industry's revenue is incredibly important to Nashville's economy, people are at the heart of the equation. In this episode of Navigate we hear several entrepreneurs, mentors and investors share their reasons why Nashville is the nation's healthcare capital.

Navigate Podcast – Episode 6: Funding Early Stage Startups

As a child, Phil Shmerling would scour the newspaper’s stock quotes with his father, investing only in companies he thought were the “coolest” at the time - baseball cards and Toys ‘R Us made the top of the list. While Phil’s financial expertise has greatly matured since then, listening to him describe Nashville’s entrepreneurial spirit, it’s clear his excitement for investing in people he believes in has only amplified with age.

Navigate Podcast – Episode 5: Underestimated Founders and Scaling Tech

Most budding entrepreneurs will look for any and every opportunity to help build their small businesses.

And thankfully there’s a ton of resources out there for startup companies looking to grow - ranging from government grants to pitch competitions with the promise of cash awards or investment funding. In fact, according to data compiled by online database PitchBook, in 2017 alone, venture capitalists gave away $85 billion to independent entrepreneurs.

Unfortunately for small business owners like Shani Dowell only 2.2% of all that money finds its way to female-founded enterprises. Dowell is the creator and CEO of Possip, a platform that simplifies feedback and communication between parents and schools.

Navigate Podcast – Episode 4: For Nashville’s Underestimated Entrepreneurs, There’s Support Around Every Corner

Will and Tiffany Acuff, co-founders of Corner to Corner, modeled their company’s mission after the same lesson - giving back to those around you. The self-described “scrappy” faith-based nonprofit began in 2011 out of their own home with a single purpose - to assist former offenders with finding meaningful employment - and has since grown to provide programming and outreach to multiple communities across Middle Tennessee.

Navigate Podcast – Episode 3: Mignon Francois Shares the Secret Ingredients in her Cupcake Collection

It’s the true story of sweet success, and if you were among the hundreds of hopeful entrepreneurs who joined us at the Entrepreneur Center a few weeks ago for the official launch party of our Navigate podcast, you could just about taste it in the air.

As she took to the stage, Mignon Francois, the woman behind the Cupcake Collection, one of Nashville’s most successful startups, we knew we were in for a real treat. “I don’t know, Clark,” she teased as she slipped a pair of headphones over her ears, then released the first of many wide smiles she would share with us that evening. “This is messing with my afro!”

Navigate Podcast – Episode 2: 5 Tips to Fostering the Right Mentor Relationship

At the height of the economic recession in 2009, Michael Brody-Waite quit his job at a Fortune 50 company to become an aspiring entrepreneur. Looking back now, he humbly admits, he had no idea what he was doing. “I know it says I’m CEO, but I had no idea how to be a CEO, how to [run] the business,” he revealed. “We were creating an industry that had never been done before without any investors or advisors.”