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, subject matter experts, and a cohort of founders building alongside you.
Join the EC and start with advisors now See what founders got out of it →
A TakeOff session at the EC. The cohort in the room is half the value.
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.
Not a fit? 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. Most accelerators take equity, often around six percent of your company. TakeOff costs $500 flat, and you keep everything you build.
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 complete go-to-market playbook, 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.
Subject matter experts on call
Entrepreneurs-in-residence plus the EC's 200+ advisor network. Book one-on-ones with experts matched to your exact challenge, all semester.
A cohort that gets it
25–30 founders at your stage. Founders tell us in every survey: the community is the most valuable part of the experience.
Then it all points at the capstone in December: Community Connection Day, with curated warm introductions to potential customers and partners, and Nashville Entrepreneur Day, where your booth puts what you built in front of the whole ecosystem.
The proof
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 2026The capstone
The program finishes with customers and a stage.
Community Connection Day: the right introductions
Not more people. The right people. You give a three-minute connection pitch, community connectors identify opportunities, and warm introductions follow: potential customers, strategic partners, and operator-level relationships, with 2–3 meaningful follow-up conversations.
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.
Ready for investors? Founders who are can opt into The Investor Rounds: curated 30-minute one-on-ones with vetted investors matched to your stage.
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
- GTM playbook assembly & customer panel
Included
- 200+ volunteer advisor network
- Subject matter experts + 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.