Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville may likely never become friends on the football field. But as research institutions, the four universities have come together to build I-Corps South, the southern regional network of the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps program (NSF I-Corps), a national program created in 2011 to train researchers to evaluate the commercial potential of their scientific discoveries.

The I-Corps South program initially started at Georgia Tech, but with the awarding of a $3.45 million grant, three other universities are now part of the network that will introduce research labs, colleges, and universities throughout the Southeast to the NSF I-Corps evidence-based entrepreneurship methodology and courseware, with a potential to reach more than half a million graduate students, and many thousands of the nation’s research faculty.

With the announcement of this partnership also comes announcement of its first program, Atoms & Bits, a six-week program for teams of 2-4 persons interested in commercializing research. The kick-off starts on October 24, at Georgia Tech, that will lay the foundations for building a solid business.  Accepted teams also have the opportunity to be qualified for a national cohort, which carries a $50,000 stipend to pay startup expenses and a fast track into the SBIR program.  Applications are still being accepted until October 14.

Clearly, the benefits for the academic institutions and those who are part of them are obvious. But such programming that bring specific curriculum that are more readily available to this network of universities have larger implications. For state of Tennessee, they believe the potential of increasing commercialization outcomes in each of the participating states can only benefit the overall economy.

“We will be working with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and LaunchTN, our statewide public-private partnership focused on supporting the development of high-growth companies in Tennessee,” said Randy Boyd, commissioner of Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. “This type of entrepreneurial training will encourage and grow an innovation ecosystem in this region enhancing commercialization and economic well-being.”

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Innov865 Week is a week-long series of events, taking place September 19-23, 2016, to celebrate and showcase Knoxville as a great place for entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses. We have partnered with the Innov865 Alliance to bring you stories of innovation born in East Tennessee.

It’s hard to think about Knoxville without conjuring an image of the Sunsphere.

While some may simply see this structure as a relic of the city’s past, the reason for its existence in the first place is very much tied to what Knoxville has been and is about:  innovation.  Built by a local architectural firm, the Sunsphere was the theme structure for the 1982 World’s Fair, an event that was like attending the CES of that time. 11 million visitors were in Knoxville to see the numerous new products and artifacts at various countries’ pavilion spaces, but none caught more attention than this one homegrown product: a touchscreen developed by Elographics. This invention still makes several sites’ lists as one of the most significant inventions ever debuted at the World’s Fair.

But what may be even more impressive is that two years after the World’s Fair, Elographics was recognized by Inc. magazine as one of country’s 500 fastest growing companies. Scalability is a prized aspect of startups now, but East Tennessee has been practicing this for years.

Garnet Carter, a native of Sweetwater, Tennessee, became the first person to patent the game of mini-golf in 1927.  Known then as ‘Tom Thumb Golf,’ Carter scaled up his patented course and was able to built thousands of courses within a few years. (Carter also was instrumental in the opening of Rock City, and the ‘See Rock City’ signage.)

What we also see with these scalable inventions from East Tennessee is that their disruptions in the market have durability.  For instance, has a garbage truck come by your home recently to pick up trash? Thank Knoxvillian George Dempster for that invention.

In 1935, his company created the Dempster-Dumpster, the first large-scale waste container that could be mechanically emptied into a garbage truck.  In 1937, Knoxville became known as the first ‘Dumpster City’ by purchasing the country’s first dumpster truck and several dumpsters. As the early adopters of this invention, the city was able to cut its spending on garbage collection. And other cities soon followed.  

In a region that is holding its week-long celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship for the first time, the tradition itself of creating scalable, durable products has been part of Knoxville for generations. Institutions like Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee have had international recognition as well as global impact. But companies such as PYA have also had its startup beginnings in Knoxville. And with newer startups like Cirrus Insights, Avrio Analytics, ReviewBox, Children’s Media Studio and Audiohand calling Knoxville home, that structure in the skyline may be the most appropriate symbol of the culture of innovation that continues to define East Tennessee.

In the coming weeks, we are excited to bring you a little insight into this area as we hope you make plans to attend Innov865 Week in September.

Photo Credit: Mike Steinhoff (Flickr)

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As new students become acquainted with the campus of Mississippi State University, they are certain to be introduced to the new facilities, including the E-Center, a 2,000-square-foot innovation hub that celebrated its ribbon-cutting in April. While the structure may be new to practically everyone, Mississippi State’s commitment to entrepreneurship extends beyond those new glass walls.  In total, MSU states that over 12,000 square feet across the campus is dedicated just for the purpose of facilitating entrepreneurship.

The university’s dedication to entrepreneurial pursuits has also been part of campus culture before this latest ribbon cutting. MSU’s Entrepreneurship Week (eWeek) is coming up in its sixth year. The last eWeek brought together nearly 30 student-led startups and awarded over $30,000 in seed funding.

The Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach, better known as the E-Center, also plays part of a much larger set of programs and services that help all members of Mississippi State University, including staff members with a startup mindset. Students from all majors can pursue an entrepreneurship minor, and engineering students can enroll in the Jack Hatcher Certificate program, which helps them connect their technical knowledge with the business skills. Beyond the academic curriculum, any Bulldog can seek guidance from the E-Center.  

And in a way, it’s very much like a guidance center for the entrepreneur. With the MSU Startup Company Track, one can be introduced to a basic set of paths of bringing an idea to a viable product. The work obviously must be done by the entrepreneur, but the E-Center has specific services that can help move it forward. The E-Center currently supports about 100 active startups, so their staff has a great grasp of the needs of the young entrepreneur.

Outside the E-Center, MSU has its own makerspace, The Factory. For $40 a semester, any MSU member can have access to the maker equipment, from a 3-D printer to a welding set. There’s also a clothing laboratory, complete with 20 professional sewing and serger machines.

In addition to simply supporting the entrepreneurial path with encouragement and guidance, MSU actually boasts its own Angel & Mentor Network. Established in 2010, the group has been assisting MSU-affiliated companies with some funding guidance. This independent network is now in process of creating the MSU Angel Fund, with the mission to fund only startups originated by MSU students, staff, faculty and alumni.

Given the reality that most startups do fail, why does Mississippi State invest so much in entrepreneurship? The university states that while these startups may fail, the skills and knowledge acquired through the process in itself is the education that puts the students ahead of their peers in life. By having that opportunity in learning to fail, the students at Mississippi State may be getting the best start for life after college.

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While money may not be the root of all evil as one might suggest, the concept of currency and exchange of goods have roots in practically any society around the world.  Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that an accelerator program focused on disrupting such industry with global implications would attract an international cohort of companies, even in its inaugural run.

On August 3, the Clinton Presidential Center will host the VC FinTech Accelerator’s inaugural Global Investor Demo Day that will feature ten teams representing the depth and breath of the need for FinTech disruption, both in location and proposed solution. Powered by FIS, the 12-week program comes to a close as the companies present their businesses with an investor pitch to highlight traction to date for investors and the community.

“We are excited to showcase the significant traction these disruptive FinTech companies have made in our program,” said Lee Watson, president and CEO of The Venture Center. “The past 12 weeks have been intense, and these CEOs have made tremendous steps forward with going to market in the short time they’ve been at The Venture Center.”

The registration to the event has now closed, but the Venture Center has partnered with Arvest to bring a livestream of the event:

The featured teams are:

• Akouba: an online, end-to-end commercial loan platform that enables regulated financial institutions to lend money to small businesses simply, efficiently and profitably through an omni-channel experience.
• Bleu: a point-of-transaction network and universal payment gateway, powered by Bluetooth beacons, that enables all forms of payment and a mobile platform for customer loyalty and engagement.
• Dream Forward: a low-cost 401(k) retirement plan that uses new technology to boost the savings rate among middle- and low-income employees.
• Flutterwave: technology and infrastructure for seamlessly and securely processing payments, remittances and digital services across Africa.
• Fundseeder: a data and performance analytics platform for traders, designed to democratize and globalize the capital allocation process.
• Hexanika: an end-to-end solution for financial institutions to address data sourcing and reporting challenges for regulatory compliance.
• LumoXchange: a remittance marketplace to compare exchange rates in countries across the world and enable individuals to send online money using local FX rates at lower costs versus current providers.
• Mortgage Peer Network: a platform that enables analysis of a bank’s mortgage lending process by providing peer-based scoring and real-time customer feedback to improve processes and increase customer retention.
• Monotto: a personal finance solution that automates the process of saving and is built to increase the savings of millennials and grow with them as their needs change.
• PFITR: a BPVTM tool that provides bond market transparency and internal controls for the Bond Buyer, helping them to get better bond pricing and risk information. Koetting.

Demo Day in itself is a momentous occasion for any startup community, but the Venture Center and Little Rock have made a point to see a larger picture of what an entrepreneurial ecosystem could be for the ecosystem of the local economy and beyond.  Gov. Asa Hutchinson will be the keynote speaker for the afternoon, and in addition to investor pitches, the event will include economic development announcements, which will be revealed for the first time at the demo day. 

With their choice of venue and level of community involvement for this demo day, it’s encouraging to see Little Rock making a strategic move in making sure that FinTech as well as the entire entrepreneurial community has a positive relationship with the community-at-large moving forward.

Photo provided by the Venture Center

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When Kathryn Finney, a Yale-educated epidemiologist, joined one of the earliest and biggest incubators in New York City in 2007, she was met with extreme sexism and racism that also served as the trigger moment that led her to create an enterprise that actively addressed her and others’ experiences in pursuing opportunities in tech and entrepreneurship. Launched four years ago, digitalundivided (DID) is a social enterprise that fosters economic growth in communities by finding, training, and supporting women of color entrepreneurs.

Now, both Finney and DID have relocated to the South —Atlanta, to be exact— and are set to go big, literally.  The 6,000-square-foot BIG Innovation Center is projected to open in September, with its goal to encourage innovation in communities that have been excluded from the process.

And by process, Finney more specifically points to funding.  While Black and Latina women comprise the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in the U.S. (over 1.5 million businesses owned by Black women alone) and their businesses generating over $44 billion a year in revenue, they remain undercapitalized compared to other startups. “The proprietary research by #ProjectDiane discovered that Black women startup founders raise $36,000 on average, while the average (mostly white male-led) failed startup raises $1.3 million,” said Finney. “Statistically, zero venture deals from 2012–2014 were for Black Women startups (0.2%), and Black women Startups represent a mere 4% of the already few women-led startups.”

While most programming at the BIG Innovation Center is in the planning stages, one major new program that directly addresses the funding needs  is already set and actively taking applications until July 31 for its inaugural cohort in the 12-week BIG business accelerator program. “We’re looking for tech-enabled startups led by Black or Latina women founders, with business models that are highly scalable and investable,” says Finney, who noted that while they’ll accept startups at all stages, a pitch deck is a required part of the application.

In addition to the structured curriculum focused on developing sustainable businesses, mentorship by top leaders, opportunities to pitch directly to investors, and direct access to funding will be provided.

When asked why Atlanta, Finney said that they specifically chose Atlanta for the pilot run because “it’s really shaping up to be a major tech hub outside of Silicon Valley. It ranks second in America’s Most Tech-Friendly Cities.” The tech talent pipeline from the Atlanta University Center was another factor in selecting the location, as well as active support from the city officials. “We’ve also received outpouring support from the city, including the mayor of Atlanta, Mayor Kasim Reed.”

Cover photos credit: #WOCinTech

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Since 1975, the regional Small Business Development Center in America’s SBDC Network is one resource that many first-time entrepreneurs all across the country have utilized or at least considered making a stop. Harnessing its partnerships with private enterprise, government agencies, higher education institutions and local nonprofit economic development organizations, their mission for their 1000 or so centers for the last 36 years has been and still is to educate and strengthen small businesses.

David Oetken, center director at Louisville SBDC

Since 1982, Louisville Small Business Development Center has been serving their area as a part of the Kentucky Small Business Development Center network. And beyond the typical services one might think are offered at the SBDC, the team of four, under the leadership of David Oetken, has been innovative in creating programming and guidance fit for the needs of their area. This fall, this team’s efforts will be honored at the national conference with the 2016 Sutton Landry State Star for Kentucky, an award that recognizes outstanding performance and commitment in serving Kentucky’s small businesses.

Oetken, who has owned, operated, and sold several successful businesses prior to his work at the Louisville SBDC, talked with us about the programs that are especially popular, finding money to grow businesses, and what makes the Southeast special.

What are some of the actions that Louisville SBDC is taking that you believe contributed to the center’s success? Are there any specific programs that are particularly popular at your center?

The Louisville SBDC has also been recognized for our efforts in educating the public about our services. We are serving a real purpose when so much of the startup business discussion often is focused on unlikely scenarios that aren’t going to be available to most people. Not everyone is going to get a “Shark Tank,” opportunity, but with the right skills and access to capital, startups and scale-ups will flourish.

You serve several counties well outside of Louisville.  I’m thinking that the types of services you offer to the counties vary depending on what’s available for each area.  What are some of the challenges that come with that?
We serve nine counties around the Greater Louisville area, from a fairly large urban center to fast-growing white collar counties, to rural areas.  Louisville is a logistics hub, so we counsel on a number of opportunities in that area.  Inventory control is often crucial there, and we teach best practices.  In more rural areas, we have focused on building out main street businesses in smaller towns, helping with online ratings sites and a strong digital presence.

Coming back to food again, there are a lot of opportunities for rural areas to play a bigger part in the local food movement.  Often these areas are producers, but not necessarily strong marketers and processors.  We’ve helped conduct market research, business planning, and loan packaging for some game-changing new facilities that are having a big impact in rural economic development.

The one constant is solopreneurs in all areas. Financial modeling, business planning, and access to new financing are always a need.

Why should those of us just starting out in their entrepreneurial journey visit a SBDC? What are some of the services that you offer that not many are aware of?
There’s a lot of good ideas out there, but the execution is often poor.  It’s definitely new and unchartered territory for many people.  We offer the basic and advanced training on the real mechanics — the “blocking and tackling” of business.  It might not be the sexy topic right now, but it’s usually what divides the winners from the losers.

Our primary mission is to entrepreneurs find money to start or grow their business. The business plan is NOT DEAD. The Louisville SBDC works one-on-one with business to make the best possible presentation. Good loan packages for traditional banks & SBA loans are still valuable tools and besides self-financing, or borrowing from family & friends, business loans are the general means by which businesses are launched. Venture funds usually get all of the focus, however. We can help with non-traditional funding through various national sources.  Locally, KIVA crowdfunded loans have been great for entrepreneurs.

How are small businesses and guidance of them particularly important in the Southeast? Why are you passionate about this area?
Culture is different in the Southeast.  There’s a much more collegial environment that’s open – and friendly competition for the most part.  You don’t often see that in other regions of the country. There’s collegiality about the region.  You see employers assisting their own employees with building their own businesses.  That’s very special.

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If you watched any lifestyle, cooking or travel shows on television recently, chances are very likely that they are connected to Knoxville, Tennessee, where six global cable networks based there deliver content to over 100 million homes worldwide. But Jonathan Sexton isn’t sure that many in the country or in the South are aware of Knoxville’s economic reach or the tradition of innovation that’s in the mountains of East Tennessee.  

“Very few know that Knoxville is one of the top producers of television and media content in the country, a very vibrant creative community that is anchored by Scripps Networks, Regal Cinemas and dozens of nationally known production companies,“ says Sexton, who is Knoxville Entrepreneur Center’s entrepreneur-in-residence. “The region has rich technology assets like the ORNL Manufacturing Demonstration Facility and the UT-managed Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation. Knoxville’s vibrant downtown has restaurants, cool places to live, and a vibrant nightlife and cultural mix. Plus, the area has plenty of recreational opportunities – from mountains to lakes to biking.”

Many of these assets have been in the region for some time, but in the recent years, the desire to make sure that others know about the entrepreneurial opportunities that are around Knoxville – from technologies to talent – have turned into action, with the first-ever Startup Day in 2013, and its most recent Startup Day 2015 bringing together over 500 people. Sexton and the organizations that have been working hard to spotlight, celebrate and grow entrepreneurship in Knoxville have now formed a more cohesive unit, the Innov865 Alliance, a collaborative effort to put Knoxville on the map as a great place for entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses and increase access to capital.

The Innov865 Alliance includes the University of Tennessee, which generates inventions and graduates students, some of whom are aspiring entrepreneurs; Oak Ridge National Lab, which is also a generator of cutting edge inventions as well as a partner with UT’s Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation; Launch Tennessee and the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center which are focused on growing the entrepreneurial ecosystem; and PYA, a startup itself 32 years ago with a commitment to help others just as others helped it grow and prosper.

Building on the increasing success of Startup Day and pitch competition, 2016 will bring the inaugural Innov865 Week, on September 19-23. The calendar is quickly filling up, but they have already secured two events of note. “Having the Kauffman Foundation host an event during Innov865 Week and Paul Singh bring his ‘North America Tech Tour’ to town are huge,” says Sexton, a founding member of the Innov865 Alliance. “They underscore the vibrancy of the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. Singh’s visit promises to be an exciting opportunity for East Tennessee startups and entrepreneurs to meet and interact with an internationally recognized startup expert, and to show him why Knoxville is such a unique and dynamic place to start and grow a business.”

While these events are important components of the week, Sexton ultimately sees the events that include the local startups to be what captures the soul and spirit of the region, from the 4th annual Startup Day, Demo Day for The Works accelerator teams, to a series of micro events hosted by other organizations on topics ranging from analytics to cybersecurity. “Etsy is also going to be in town, as it has selected Knoxville as one of ten cities to be part of the inaugural Etsy Maker Cities program.”

And speaking of the fourth annual Startup Day, the pitch competition will take place on Sept. 22, and the application process to be considered as one of six startups competing for the $5,000 prize closes soon, on July 25. The pitch competition is open to anyone in East Tennessee with a scalable and investable business model. “This certainly tends to lean tech, but any sort of commerce, fashion, or product that represents a high-growth opportunity should sign up!,” says Sexton.  When asked if there’s a clear definition of what he considers as East Tennessee, Sexton replied, “If you consider [your startup] to be in East Tennessee, apply for the Startup Day 2016 pitch competition.”

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Sloss Fest, Birmingham’s two-day music & arts festival now in its second year, is coming up this weekend and expected to bring in over 25,000 people to the location that lends its name to the festival. Sloss Furnaces will be an event venue for those cacophonous two days, but it actually is a national historic landmark and museum to the company that existed for nearly 90 years, producing iron nearly since the beginning of Birmingham itself in 1871.

For a century, Birmingham thrived from its steel and iron production, earning the nickname ‘The Magic City.’ While manufacturing still exists in the city once called “Pittsburgh of the South,” they are also well aware of what it means to innovate and be another sort of hub for the Southeast.  

Maybe it’s only appropriate that the new tech event held in conjunction with Sloss Fest this year is called Sloss Tech. “We created Sloss Tech to give Birmingham a SXSW-type event over one weekend,” says Greg Wingo, member services manager at TechBirmingham, a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization that conceived of this festival. “Out of the gate, this inaugural event has one of the strongest line-ups possible compared to any similar event around the country.”

The tech event, occurring a day before the Sloss Fest activities, is indeed packed with a mix of sessions that bring in focus to the local while looking out to the larger ecosystem.  In a single day, they’ve managed to bring in three noted speakers: Gary Vaynerchuk, Robert Scoble and Andy Grignon. There are still a few tickets left for purchase, and all for a good cause.  All profits will go to further TechBirmingham’s mission of strengthening the local tech ecosystem. Perhaps their past as a major Southeast railroad hub gives them a better understanding that a hub becomes one only when there are others connected to it. 

What does Wingo want the attendees to take away from Sloss Tech? “We hope they will take away a better understanding of what’s happening in Birmingham from a tech standpoint, as well as a desire to help us continue to get the word out regionally and nationally about our desire to attract tech talent to this great city. We also want them to see that Birmingham is serious about growing the tech industry here and TechBirmingham is willing to step out and create a first class event like Sloss Tech to show where we are going as a community.”

Wingo also said that the event is a physical representation of the campaign that allows them to inform local and regional tech enthusiasts about the emergence and growth of Birmingham’s tech ecosystem. Though Sloss Tech will not be at Birmingham’s historic landmark, how thoughtful that the event’s name itself captures both the heritage and the future of The Magic City.

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The hardest part of owning a startup is always the beginning: the process of turning your idea into a company with a working business model and appropriate funding. Luckily, there is a multitude of accelerator programs in the South available to entrepreneurs who want to launch their startups quickly.

It’s common occurrence to meet someone in Nashville who is (or was) a musician.  But what is more common is to meet a person who works in the healthcare sector. According to a 2015 study by Nashville Healthcare Council, nearly 250,000 total jobs in Nashville existed within this industry. And if the previous numbers are any indication, the trend of job and economic growth as a result of the healthcare industry will continue in the Music City.

With 16 publicly traded companies, 400 healthcare groups and over 400 professional services firms that offer expertise in the industry all located within Nashville, really, it’s a brain trust of the healthcare industry all in one place. It is only appropriate that a founder of a healthcare startup just might want to come learn in the ‘healthcare capital of the United States.’ And the first step in getting closer to such opportunity is just an application away.

Project Healthcare at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center is in its final weeks of accepting applications for its inaugural accelerator cohort, with a deadline of July 15. The 14-week program, which begins in September, is open to early stage tech startups that cater to patients, payers, providers/practitioners and hospital systems. An immersive accelerator packed with an educational curriculum, meetings and mentors, the selected startups will receive $50,000 in funding in exchange for 7% equity and an additional 3% equity reserved for program advisors. Because the EC was selected as a VilCap community this year by Village Capital, additional funding opportunities are also available. 

While your 14 weeks will be intense, the Nashville Entrepreneur Center is a great place to be to get such experience.

One item of note: While the accelerator program is the capstone component of Project Healthcare, it is actually part of a year-round initiative at the EC that keeps the education and conversations around healthcare innovation going. It was announced recently that HCA is the title sponsor of the program. “HCA is pleased to support this important Entrepreneur Center initiative, and we encourage others to engage with Project Healthcare as a collaborative initiative to grow and support Nashville’s healthcare industry,” said Milton Johnson, HCA’s chairman and CEO, in a statement.

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It is just days away from the inaugural Bunker Builds Nashville Muster, a day packed with veteran entrepreneurs pitching their businesses, an Idea Lab and a marketplace to buy products from veteran-owned small businesses. A stop on the 12-city Bunker Builds America Tour, this Nashville event on Tuesday, June 28, has garnered support, including a $100,000 grant from JP Morgan Chase.

“Veterans are uniquely poised to be successful in the entrepreneurial world because of their training, discipline and ability to execute under pressure,” said Blake Hogan, Marine veteran and executive director of Bunker Labs Nashville. “This tour is a deliberate step in creating the next Greatest Generation, men and women who are leaving military careers to become job creators and community leaders.”

While Bunker Labs Nashville launched just four months ago, Hogan’s statement alludes to a commitment to service by these entrepreneurs that began well before Bunker Labs started. One such entrepreneur that will be part of the Muster is Mike Tacke, owner of Veterans Heavy Haul and an Army veteran of 14 years.

Tacke felt the calling to serve the country when 9/11 happened, during his senior year in high school. “As soon as I graduated, I enlisted as an infantryman and deployed with the 101st Airborne Division to Iraq from 2003-2004 and then again in 2005-2006,” recounted Tacke. In 2007, he attended Special Forces training and became a Green Beret. Upon completion of his Special Ops training, he was then deployed to Iraq again and then to Afghanistan.

To Tacke, the most important entrepreneurial skills that he acquired during his military service are his ability to plan and execute large projects. “I learned to define goals, identify key tasks, prioritize those tasks and then leverage the tools required to complete the project in a timely manner.” Also, one trait that military veterans tend to have, especially those in the Special Ops community, is a high tolerance for stress, notes Tacke.  “Entrepreneurs regularly juggle several tasks simultaneously in an uncertain environment. Not everyone can succeed in that environment, but military veterans tend to thrive in it.”

Tacke found out about Bunker Labs through a business networking event at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. Tacke’s new business, Veterans Heavy Haul, is a part of the inaugural accelerator program in Nashville, and aims to employ military veteran truck drivers and freight brokers to move over dimensional freight throughout the U.S. “We just opened in February of this year, and our goal is to one day earn a reputation in the heavy haul trucking industry as an outstanding provider of freight transportation services,” says Tacke.

The Bunker Labs business accelerator program has been a great resource for Tacke’s growing business. “The advisors at the EC have freely given their time to listen to challenges my business is working through and have offered great insights,” said Tacke.”Bunker Labs allows me to connect with other military veterans/ business owners. I leave the EC each week refreshed and ready to tackle the challenges ahead.”

Tacke is excited to attend the Muster on Tuesday and connect with more business owners in the Nashville community. “Through those connections, I hope to gain some insights on ways to improve my business plans and strategy.”

The Nashville Muster event is free, but registration is required.

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