Sam Davidson, CEO, Nashville Entrepreneur Center

Sam Davidson, CEO of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, sat down with Invest: to discuss changes in its program offerings to entrepreneurs, the mentorships that are available to participating founders, and Nashville’s unique value proposition for those who are looking to start a business. “Nashville is 25% more entrepreneurial than your average American city, which provides a huge opportunity,” Davidson said.

Reflecting on the past year, what changes impacted the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, and how have they influenced the city’s entrepreneurial ecosystem?

We spent a lot of time last year aligning our programs and offerings to entrepreneurs. That started with a better product offering to help meet founders where they are. In 2023, we had seven different product offerings that did not build upon one another and did not make a whole lot of sense. It has been about a year since we launched our new membership tiers. The membership starts at $49 and allows members access to 150 volunteer mentors, access to one another, access to the weekly events that we host, and access to an online library with vendor discounts that provide them with resources to grow their businesses. As of today, we have 275 members and that is continuing to grow. 

The second thing that we have aligned is our five accelerated programs. These are 12-week intensive programs that allow entrepreneurs to get in focused learning on a variety of relevant topics. During those twelve weeks, they have additional access to meet with a mentor every other week to connect on a deeper level. 

At the beginning of this year, we kicked off a three-year strategic plan with the goal of helping 1,000 entrepreneurs start and grow a business by the year 2027.

How is the organization’s mentorship program advancing? 

Our mentor network continues to grow. We have industry specific mentors, subject matter expert advisers, and the class of champions mentors. We are always recruiting and looking for experts who are willing to give their time to help entrepreneurs overcome their obstacles, as well as capitalize on opportunities. By 2027, we want to recruit more and be able to utilize 300 mentors annually, which is what we feel like we need to best serve our members and keep up with the demand of our programs.

What is your overview of Nashville’s economic landscape? 

Entrepreneurs start businesses for one of two reasons: necessity or opportunity. In a city like Nashville that does pretty well on a macroeconomic level, a lot of people are starting businesses because of opportunity. Nashville is at a unique point where it has had such a long period of success as a city economically, and I anticipate that continuing. As a city, we need to make sure that we remain affordable. That includes housing, transportation, food, and parking, among others, because for entrepreneurs, every penny matters. If we become too expensive, we are in danger of losing some of these startups to our peer cities. We are absolutely headed in the right direction on public, private, and government levels and we are committed to keeping it affordable.

Nashville has seen major demographic and economic shifts in recent years. How are these changes influencing the support and resources local entrepreneurs need?

People often talk about access to capital, but I would argue that the capital is there if you are ready for it. Investors are not dumb and if they see an opportunity, they will write the check. Usually when people are struggling to find capital, it is because their ideas aren’t good enough. Our goal is to help people make their investment opportunities as interesting as possible to investors. We just launched a lecture course series to help entrepreneurs learn how to learn how to pitch and get the check. It is hard and you are going to be asked a lot of questions. It becomes a lot easier when you have a great idea. You don’t need as much capital now to start a business as you did in the past, largely due to advancements in technology. You can launch and build things for far less than ever before. Capital is challenging, but not if you have a great idea or do not try to raise more than you need.

What key trends in innovation and entrepreneurship are emerging from Nashville, and how are they shaping the future of business in the region?

Healthcare is always going to make sense in Nashville, as well as music, entertainment, tourism, hospitality, advanced manufacturing, and logistics. We do not limit the industries that we are working in by any means. One of the unique things about Nashville is that you can start a wildly successful, huge healthcare facility or a great small business. We support businesses of all sizes.

What impactful partnerships has the EC forged with universities, corporations, or government institutions?

We have a great working relationship with all of our local institutions. We have developed partnerships through the local chambers of commerce as well as our corporate partnerships. Our McWhorter Circle is made up of our most committed individual donors who want to see us succeed in the long term. Those gifts really allow us to support and pour into entrepreneurs to meet them where they are and take them where they want to go. 

Could you highlight a recent success story from the EC’s network that also reflects broader trends in Nashville’s entrepreneurial landscape?

We had one founder that is growing a company in the healthcare space that is leveraging AI in the workforce development and continuing education space. He needed help raising capital so he joined the EC because he knew that that is something that we could help him do. He was in the middle of working on his pitch deck and finances with some of our mentors. We then started to match him with potential investors and he ended up linking up with one of our donors who owns a healthcare business. He got both an investment and contract through this individual. Those kinds of opportunities are what we want to highlight. 

What are your key goals and priorities for the next two to three years?

We are really focused on our three-year vision to work with 1,000 entrepreneurs meaningfully. Our opportunity is much bigger than that but this is an aggressive goal. Nashville is 25% more entrepreneurial than your average American city, which provides a huge opportunity. Gen Z is going to be more entrepreneurial than prior generations and we want to be that resource as they start to come into the workforce. To me, the next couple of years look really exciting because if you pair these stats with everything else that is going to take place in Nashville, like the new football stadium opening and Vanderbilt continuing to grow, there is so much room for opportunity and growth.