Why there aren’t 20 Nashville startups that you need to know Addictive Technology

When I joined TNW, a bit over a year ago, I was tasked with finding the best local startups and putting a post together about them. Its not uncommon. Weve done the same thing with New York, Los Angeles, London and many other locations where TNW writers hang their proverbial hats. Not only would it give us some credibility that weve actually been in the trenches (at least somewhat) to find out whats going on in our cities, it would enable us to shed some light on interesting things that are being done.

The problem is, over a year later, I still havent gotten my piece done. Not for lack of effort, mind you. Ive met some great startups here in Nashville and I continue to dig up more. But if I had to write a post today, it would be titled The four Nashville startups you need to know. In the time that Ive spent here, Ive heard some big dreams and ideas, but Ive only met four startups (and Ive written about 3 of them already) that are ready to let the world know about them.

The Problem at Hand

One could (somewhat rightly) argue that the reason that I havent had ones who are ready for the world to know about them yet is that things move a bit slower here in the South. Much like what I experienced in Omaha, Nebraska, we here in Tennessee take careful, calculated steps rather than placing so much risk on the line.

There are a couple of reasons for this, and both of those reasons serve to add to the greater problem. First off, theres the matter of funding.

Its been said that VCs will travel anywhere, but that doesnt always seem to be the case. Local funding (of anything higher than Angel level) in Nashville typically comes either from people who have made their money in healthcare (Nashvilles Wikipedia entry sheds some light as to precisely how much healthcare happens here) or it comes from people who have made money in the music industry.

Getting VC-level investment from the outside has been difficult, according to many of the people with whom Ive spoken. The left coast wants consumer facing, the right coast wants huge B2B dollars and those of us here in the flyover stateswell, were just left wanting.

So that goes back to the risk aversion. When you limit your pool of potential investors by not being in The Valley or The Alley, you string along your in-hand dollars as long as you possibly can. You dont necessarily shoot for the moon, simply because you know where you live and you know that finding moon-landing investors is exponentially more difficult.

The other problem, as it was quite simply stated by the CEO of Help Scout, is that there is a wealth of opportunity in the Nashville technology scene for people who want to work on other peoples projects. That is to say that there isnt nearly as much for those who want to do their own.

I hadnt been able to nail down this fact myself, but after hearing it from someone else, it makes perfect sense. There is an extraordinary sense of collaboration in Nashville, but unlike Boulder, its people helping each other without having their own projects as well.

The Solutions

What were doing now is reminiscent of the Valley when it first became the Valley, says Jumpstart Foundry Managing Director Christopher Ferf McIntyre. There are lots of shared ideas, a lot of things coming together at the same time.

McIntyre brings up a number of good points, and he is part of the solution rather than simply being one to escalate the problem. Jumpstart Foundry has been around Nashville for a few years, helping entrepreneurs and budding businesses find their feet, but the Foundrys recent network affiliation with TechStars means that Nashville finally has its first international accelerator.

In fact, from the overall description, Jumpstart Foundry is simply TechStars with a different name. Its a 14-week, mentor-driven accelerator where the groups of accepted startups are given $15,000 to help form their business and acquire customers. Then, on Demo Day, they will have the opportunity to pitch to 4-500 people plus an audience of VCs.

Nashville does have its drawing points, however. There is a strong university presence, sending in a stream of engineers, graphic designers and the like. There are also some fundamental changes that are happening in Nashville. The cost of services are going down.

But McIntyre also points to the universal changes that were seeing Amazon, Twilio and other APIs are allowing people to build more and to do so without spending so much of their capital.

People in Nashville are just now starting to see these opportunities. You dont need to raise hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars that you might need to raise in the Valley. We have young, college kids who are willing to do things that theyre more passionate about. Theyre starting to understand that you dont have to work for someone else your whole life.

This younger population also lends itself to Nashvilles benefit. The city as a whole is young. With a median age of only 34 years, its population is even younger than San Francisco. While the population might be somewhat risk-averse, these younger people (especially in tight financial times) are willing to take risky moves in order to find long-term success.

McIntyre says that he sees Nashville as moving from a community of resource to a community of entrepreneurs. In his approximation, Nashvilles technology sector has 10 to 20 MBAs who are hanging out to help people. At any given time there are 5 to 15 companies who are offering the same, and the Angel community is developing quickly.

Whats Nashville doing right? Read on for the resources and the future.

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