Your product works. Now build the business around it.
TakeOff is a 12-week accelerator for founders with a working product and early customers — MVP to about $100K. You'll turn early traction into a real go-to-market engine, with 200+ advisors, a matched mentor, and a cohort of founders building alongside you.
Join the EC — start with advisors now See what founders got out of it →
Nashville Entrepreneur Day — where every TakeOff cohort closes.
EC accelerator programs across TakeOff, InFlight, and Project Healthcare
Is this you?
Built for the founder between launch and liftoff.
You have a working product and your first customers. What you don't have yet is a repeatable way to find, win, and keep more of them — and a room of people who've done it before.
You'll fit if
You're roughly MVP to $100K in revenue, you've proven somebody will pay, and your next stage depends on nailing your ideal customer, your offer, and your go-to-market — not on more building.
You won't — and here's where to go instead
Still validating the problem? Start with PreFlight. Past $100K and drowning in operations? You want InFlight. Selling into health systems? Project Healthcare is your room.
The four questions everyone asks
Answered up front, not in a footer FAQ.
Do you take equity?
No. $500 is a fixed cost. Six percent is a cost that grows every time you win.
Is it in person?
Yes — Monday afternoons, 1–4 PM, at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. The cohort in the room is half the value.
How much time does it take?
About 5 hours a week: the Monday session plus optional Friday webinars and advisor meetings you schedule around your business.
What do I walk out with?
A sharpened ideal customer profile, a tested offer, a full investor-ready pitch — and the advisor relationships that outlast the 12 weeks.
How it actually works
Work on the business, with people who've built one.
Weekly working sessions
Every Monday you work through one piece of the machine — ideal customer, offer, brand, go-to-market — with advisor time built into every session.
Dedicated mentorship
A matched mentor plus entrepreneurs-in-residence and a 200+ advisor network you can book one-on-one, all semester.
A cohort that gets it
25–30 founders at your stage. Founders tell us in every survey: the community is the thing they didn't know they were buying.
Then it all points at three days in December: Customer Connection Day (curated warm introductions to potential customers and partners), The Investor Rounds (curated 30-minute one-on-ones with vetted investors), and Nashville Entrepreneur Day — your booth, your pitch, the whole ecosystem in one room.
The receipts
Hear it from the founders.
From program exit and midpoint surveys, in their own words.
"$100K committed from LaunchTN during the program."
"The people. Literally just being with other entrepreneurs and having access to experts and mentors through the EC. The info we're getting is great but the people are the real value."
"The most valuable part was my mentor and the access she provided to her network — having someone actively make introductions and help guide those conversations."
"It's really been about the connections — meeting others who can offer advice or make introductions has been super valuable."
"I came here with a pretty good idea what I needed to do. I just needed structure, organization, and most of all, connections. This has helped."
"Without a doubt, the EC community and cohort. Early on we were told how isolating the founder journey can be. What's made all the difference is going through it together."
"The connections. 1000%."
Zachary Cunningham — 5th Haven, Spring 2026How it ends
The program finishes with customers, investors, and a stage.
The Investor Rounds — curated investor meetings
Submit your deck; investors review and select companies; you get curated 30-minute one-on-ones with investors matched to your stage and vertical. The goal isn't a check in one meeting — it's earning the next conversation.
Impact Grants at Nashville Entrepreneur Day
Non-dilutive cash awards — $8,000, $6,000, $4,000, and $2,000 — judged by the EC program team, board members, and community partners. Ten finalists pitch on stage; every founder hosts an expo booth where investors, customers, and partners come to you.
The program
Twelve weeks. One go-to-market engine.
Curriculum
- Ideal customer profile & minimum viable segment
- Brand & differentiation
- Build — then test — your offer
- Go-to-market & minimum viable test
- Sales funnel, nurture & AI tools
- Full pitch assembly & customer panel
Included
- 200+ volunteer advisor network
- Matched mentor + entrepreneurs-in-residence
- The Investor Rounds & Impact Grant eligibility
- Expo booth at Nashville Entrepreneur Day
- EC membership, workspace & alumni community
Schedule
Fall & Spring cohorts
Mondays 1–4 PM at the EC · 12 weeks · closes with Customer Connection Day, The Investor Rounds, and Nashville Entrepreneur Day
Cost
$500
or $125 × 4 months · No equity
Two ways in
Applications are closed — the advisors aren't.
Start now as a member
Join the Nashville Entrepreneur Center today and get access to the 200+ advisor network, workspace, and founder community immediately — and be first in line when the next cohort opens.
Join the EC nowNot sure which program fits?
Take the two-minute quiz and we'll point you to the right EC program for your stage — PreFlight, TakeOff, InFlight, or Project Healthcare.
Take the 2-minute quizTakeOff is a program of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.