Launch Tennessee preps ambitious plans for 2016

It’s hard to think about New Year’s plans of any kind in a sweltering Tennessee August, but good business requires planning ahead. That’s a lesson preached to everyone who engages with Launch Tennessee’s entrepreneur network, and so it’s why we’re looking at how to capitalize on a remarkably productive 2015 with an even more robust 2016, which for us began on July 1 with the start of a new fiscal year.

Below are some of the major focus areas we’re concentrating on and the goals associated with them.

36|86. Our annual event was the place to be in Tennessee in June. Our Southern Series, a three-city tour to ramp up excitement about the conference and also snag some top-tier entrepreneurial talent, was a huge success. The main event in Nashville in June built on that excitement, and we have received great feedback from participants and panelists alike. The goal now? Create even more buzz, even earlier, around the June 2016 36|86 conference, and draw in even more startups, successful entrepreneurs, world-class panelists and investors (we had 86 different investment firms in 2015 and will be shooting for 100 next summer). Stay tuned for more details.

Capital formation. Speaking of investors, we have built a robust investor network across the state, region and country. We now have more than eleven different angel groups/clubs within the state and a vast network with venture investors across the country. Our ongoing goal is to ensure no gaps in the funding continuum, and we’re developing the network to make sure that happens. We are also looking to finish investing the third tranche of our INCITE Co-Investment Fund, which now includes a portfolio of nearly 30 Tennessee companies employing over 700 people.

Innovation and commercialization. It is becoming more and more apparent that entrepreneurialism in the Volunteer State has no set boundaries, and the same holds true with innovation. We want to approach innovation and commercialization from a holistic perspective that is more integrated within our existing entrepreneurship programs. Tennessee’s research institutions and corporations are already focused on similar key industries that are found in our entrepreneurial community and accelerator programs. LaunchTN plans to unite these communities by providing specific programming and events, such as the Venture Match series and sector specific mentor networks.

The Venture Match events are intended to provide a forum for innovators, investors and industry experts to connect and identify potential market opportunities on a variety of sectors ranging from advanced manufacturing to medical device. The recently-launched Life Science Tennessee Statewide Mentor Network connects early-stage companies with industry experts who can provide business guidance and support. By building a more unified front, all communities — whether they be researchers, corporations or entrepreneurs — have the needed resources to get more ideas and inventions to market.

Entrepreneur network. Launch Tennessee continues to oversee the state’s network of entrepreneurial centers. The centers located in the larger metropolitan areas regularly run 13-week accelerator cohort programs, focused on a specific sector strength of that region.

For example, the Nashville Entrepreneur Center is home to two accelerator cohort programs, Jumpstart Foundry and Project Music, both of which spur innovation within the industries of healthcare and music, two core business sectors in this city. They also recently announced their plans to launch 1440, an accelerator program focused on the publishing industry.

Many of the entrepreneur centers are also running smaller business building programs, such as PreFlight (developed out of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center), Co.Starters, Code Academy, 100 Girls of Code and Code Catalyst. These are all programs created within Tennessee’s entrepreneur centers that are being licensed throughout the state, delivering entrepreneurship to every corner of Tennessee, in addition to many other parts of the country.

There’ll be plenty more to talk about in the coming months as we nail down specifics in each of these areas. We’ll be announcing some other new initiatives as well. And it’s all designed to keep Launch Tennessee as nimble as the start-up businesses and talented entrepreneurs we work with every day. By doing so, we can continue the work of making Tennessee the place to conceive, design, build, grow and locate a business.

Charlie Brock is CEO of Launch Tennessee ( www.launchtn.org), a public-private partnership focused on supporting the development of high-growth companies in Tennessee with the ultimate goal of making Tennessee the No. 1 place in the Southeast for entrepreneurs to start and grow a company.