Nashville Technology Council

Music Council partners with Entrepreneur Center; Join Technology Council at 105 Broadway

Mayor Karl Dean and the Nashville Music Council have formalized an agreement with the newly launched Nashville Entrepreneur Center. This powerful partnership between the Music Council and the NEC will provide unprecedented direct support to local start-ups in digital media and entertainment —taking ideas in their infancy to robust reality.

The 50+ member strong Nashville Music Council, dedicated to cultivating and advancing the ever expanding local music community, together with Mayor Karl Dean have formalized an agreement to work in tandem with Nashville Entrepreneur Center to further nurture and support business ideas with the potential to impact the digital media & music entertainment sector.

To begin, the NEC will hold events for the Music Council. These programs will feature business plan presentations and will enable entrepreneurs to have executive level interaction and feedback. This initiative will have positive impact in both directions—providing productive feedback from industry veterans to the protégées and giving the Music Council access to potentially successful innovation within the industry.

Launched officially in the summer of 2010 with support from private and public funding, and led by Vanderbilt faculty member and accomplished business leader Michael Burcham, Nashville’s Entrepreneur Center is an incubator for ideas and business start-ups targeting four distinct areas for local growth: Healthcare, Technology, Social Enterprise and Digital Media & Entertainment. With over 8,000 square feet of physical space and a staff of successful industry leaders, NEC is the “front door” for new entrepreneurs helping them to navigate the available options and resources. Vetting
hundreds of local business plans at various stages of development, the NEC mentors and provides office space. To a select few, the NEC pairs entrepreneurs with those who can offer term sheets and funding.

Additionally the NEC will sponsor a formal mentoring program for the Music Council that will pair an industry leader with a start-up(s) venture. Each mentor will participate in a comprehensive training program and then will be paired with protégées who possess significant potential. ASCAP president Tim DuBois and former Chairman of Sony Music Nashville Joe Galante have been elected to kick-off the official mentor program Mayor Karl Dean applauds the partnership and adds perspective, “Cities seeking to grow and prosper in the 21st century have to support innovation and entrepreneurism in key industries. The music industry in particular is ripe for new ideas and new business models that will help shape its transition into the digital age. This partnership between the Music Council and the Nashville Entrepreneur Center will help ensure that the future leader and leading ideas of the music industry are being cultivated right here in Nashville.”

On behalf of the Music Council members MaryAnn McCready adds, “The music and entertainment industry is an entrepreneurial business. It makes complete sense for the Music Council to support its local entrepreneurs and the EC is a great vehicle for doing this.”

Michael Burcham, President of the Entrepreneur Center concurs, “We are delighted to announce this partnership with the Music Council. Nashville has a rich history of innovation and leadership in the Music Industry. We look forward to working with the Music Council to help nurture and grow the next generation of music entrepreneurs.”

We’re about to embark upon a new year, and that means many new technology products will be coming to market.  For those of you who missed Chip Hysler’s presentation on the do’s and don’ts of product launch, we now have his full presentation up on our SlideShare page as well as a video of his presentation available.  Valuable information since, according to Chip’s research, 75-90% of new to market, new products are failures!

Do you know the key elements of a successful product launch? Do you have your product launch checklist in line? Learn about these key factors and more from Chip’s insightful presentation!

This week kicks off Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) throughout the world.  GEW serves to inspire those with an entrepreneurial spirit to think and create differently- to not “take a job, but “make a job.”  Tennessee alone is hosting over 70 events, the most in the country, with several of those happening at our very own home at 105 Broadway.

Why does entrepreneurship matter?  From our perspective, when we support creatives with innovative ideas, we help build a strong technology community which is vital to our future and economy in Middle Tennessee.  We do this via our overall mission, and more specifically through supporting initiatives such as the creation of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center (NEC) and communities that target growth populations like T3 and Women in Technology of Tennessee.

The Nashville Technology Council (NTC) and NEC are hosting this month’s Women in Technology of Tennessee  (WiTT) meeting on Tuesday, November 16th at 105 Broadway.  WiTT is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating new possibilities for women to advance and succeed in technology careers. WiTT provides a forum to empower women in technology through education, outreach, mentoring, and networking.  This month’s meeting will feature Dr. Robbie Melton, who is the Associate Vice-Chancellor for Educational Technology at the Tennessee Board of Regents. Her topic will be an overview of iPad technology and the current leading educational and business related applications. Also speaking will be Michael Burcham, CEO of the NEC and J. Tod Fetherling, President and CEO of the NTC.

If you are interested in attending, you may register here. Click here to see the list of all GEW events being hosted this week at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.

Last week was an eventful week for the Tech Council.  We announced our newest board members and held our  first board meeting of our new year. Not only was it the first board meeting, but it was our very first to be held in our new office space.

We’re proud to announce to you all that we’ve moved in with the Nashville Entrepreneur Center at 105 Broadway.  The Nashville Chamber of Commerce and the Nashville Technology Council were both instrumental in getting the NEC off the ground, and we are very happy to be continuing this close relationship.  This cohabitation is symbolic of Nashville making its mark as a leading city for technology based start-ups.  The Tech Council will continue working closely with affiliate organizations such as the Nashville Chamber of Commerce and the Nashville Health Care Council on events and projects key to helping the Nashville technology community succeed and grow.

Please take note of our new address, phone and fax numbers:

Nashville Technology Council

105 Broadway, Suite 200

Nashville, TN  37201

Main Line: 615-873-1284

Fax: 615-250-8793

The Nashville Tech Story (October 1, 2009)

The Nashville Startup Weekend crew hosted a pitch camp last night. The pitch camp listened to more than 20 different pitches and helped the budding entrepreneurs hone their pitch skills.  In addition, the audience gathered at Owen Graduate School at Vanderbilt, was able to get more information about the weekend.

For $40, participants get to work within teams to start a business over the weekend, which includes food and drinks over the weekend.

Joe Kustelski, the product manager for the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, not only provided feedback as a guest panelist, but pitched his own ideas as well.  Chris Ennis joined the pitch session via Skype.  The whole event was viewable live on UStream.com.

Nashville Startup Weekend is October 9-11, 2009, with Pitching beginning at 5:30 pm.  Everyone will have one minute to pitch their ideas.  Then the participants will select the top 8-10 ideas and begin forming companies and working immediately.  On Sunday afternoon, the companies will pitch their company to participants and selected capital players.

Register Now!

Technology Nashville Wrap Up!

The Nashville Council (NTC) held the 9th Annual Technology Nashville Conference. Technology Nashville addresses new tech innovations, entrepreneurship, technology sector employment, and most importantly, the State of Information Technology in our region.

The first keynote speaker was Kent Freeman, Chief Technology Officer, at Ingram Digital.  Freeman shared with the audience how Ingram Digital has innovated over the years, and is using their knowledge to help clients adjust to the digital age. During his address Freeman posed the question: “Is Print Dead?”  He answered the question by saying “we are continuing to see more books, journals, magazines, and newspapers go digital, but does not believe print is dying; it is just merely shifting to new forms in a digital world.”

In addition, the conference featured panels with topics ranging from: how to get stimulus money to the discussion of widgets, twitter, new technology and entrepreneurship.

“Leadership under our governor the state of business have a unique opportunity to help modernize the infrastructure, enhance energy independence, expand education opportunities, increase access to medical care, provide tax relief, and protect those in need.” Said Jamie Etheridge, Deputy CIO, State of Tennessee.

Miriam Paramore, Sr. Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Emdeon, said “It is important to bring together people to have a better understanding of the stimulus and what it is being used for.  Also this conference is a great opportunity to help answer those questions.”

Richard Taylor, Ciber reported that “Nashville has a healthcare industry that presents major opportunities by providing technology solutions to improve health care using the economic stimulus funds.”

Bayard Saunders reported “Only about 20-30% of the audience was using Analytics in a meaningful way today and expects that number will continue to increase in Nashville.”

Nicholas Holland, founder of centre{source} said “Entrepreneurship is alive and well in Nashville’s technology community and the NTC is one way to connect to the community.”

Clint Smith, Co-Founder of Emma and afternoon keynote speaker, provided entertainment to finish off the conference.  Clint was true to the Emma brand and style in his remarks and candor.  He provided the audience with 8 tips to help them grow their business by thinking of the brand first.

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