Nashville Entrepreneur Center (NEC) has announced details on its 2024 NEXT Awards finalists and Hall of Fame inductions, scheduled for Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Monday, Oct. 21.

Having long tracked this annual event, VNC finds that this year's program seems to afford a bit more expansive sense of the depth and variety of the Greater Nashville entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Sam Davidson

Asked about that idea, CEO Sam Davidson told VNC he thinks contributing factors include having the NEC's "largest nomination and application class, yet," which may reflect the "expanded reach and relevance and legacy" of the NEXT program.

NEC SVP Marketing & Communications Angel May added that removing reported revenue as a factor, and focusing on just two business stages -- Startup and Growth -- simplified the process, resulting in more entrepreneurs taking a shot.

The program honors businesses in Healthcare; Financial Services; Music, Sports, Gaming and Entertainment; Products and Services; Real Estate and Construction; and, Hospitality and Retail sectors.

In each NEXT Awards industry category, trios of finalists compete for Startup (in business less than five years) or Growth-stage (more than five years) consideration.

This year's NEXT Finalists:

Healthcare
Startup: Life Coordinated, Local Infusion, VantageHealth
Growth: Blessed Beginnings, Psych Hub, Thalamus

Financial Services
Startup: Hilum Capital, inRev, Raise Financial
Growth: Celero Commerce, Wealth Access, Wilmoth Financial

Music, Sports, Gaming and Entertainment
Startup: Absolutely Ridiculous, Affinity Entertainment, Tennessee Voice Over Studios
Growth: Orange Thread LIVE, Single, Soundstripe

Products and Services
Startup: Flora, HeroWear, Tiny Mighty Communications
Growth: Covert Results, Pivot Technology School, Redwood Literacy

Real Estate and Construction
Startup: Ojas Partners, Populace Community Strategy, Urban Campus and Core
Growth: Eshelman Construction, Grade A Construction, Sagemont Real Estate

Hospitality and Retail
Startup: Creative Soulz Printing, Killjoy, The Modern Dog Company
Growth: D'Andrews Bakery & Café, The Cordelle, The Nashville Black Market

In addition, the NEXT Awards will honor two innovative founders across all industries with the Startup Entrepreneur of 2024 Award (less than five years in business) and Growth Entrepreneur of 2024 Award (more than five years in business). Those nominees are:

Startup Entrepreneur of 2024

● Woody Baum, Local Infusion
● Jennifer Horne, Urban Campus and Core
● Paul Oakley, Tiny Mighty Communications

Growth Entrepreneur of 2024

● Kate Feriante, Redwood Literacy
● Angela Lee, Blessed Beginnings
● Rachelle Reigard, Grade A Construction

More on entrants by category:
HC | Financial | Music-Ent | ProdSvc | RE-Con | Hospitality | EOY

The Schermerhorn

Looking toward October, CEO Davidson said in a release today, "We're excited to bring the entrepreneurial community together for a night of recognition and celebration... This event honors the past and current innovators, risk-takers, and visionaries who shape our city and industry's future."

General-admission attendees will soon be able to purchase Box or Balcony tickets. VIP tickets are provided event Sponsors, and some sponsorships remain available.

The NEC's Eventbrite page is here. Here's the NEC's FAQ on this year's Awards process, tickets and more.

The Awards evening will also feature Entrepreneurs' Hall of Fame inductions previously announced here. Those honorees are Pat Emery, Michael Burcham, Turner Nashe, and, jointly, Pam Pfeffer and Phil Pfeffer.

The co-chairs of this year's NEC event are: Janet Miller, Colliers Nashville CEO; Wanda Lyle, UBS (retired); Mignon Francois, The Cupcake Collection Founder & CEO; and, the aforementioned Sam Davidson.

Asked about the process by which NEXT Awards nominees are selected, SVP May told VNC they are "keeping that confidential to protect the process."

In its 14 years of operations, 501(c)(3) NEC says it has helped more than 14,000 entrepreneurs of all varieties, and has assisted perhaps 1,000 NEC-member businesses that NEC believes have raised at least $319MM in capital, generated at least $417MM in revenue and realized at least $100MM in exits.

NEC has previously told VNC that it has no overall information on the notoriously hard-to-track and validate survival rates of businesses among the universe of early-stage enrollees in NEC programs, since inception. VNC