Some students come to Belmont with an operating business already in-hand. Other students will start-up a business while they are enrolled in our program. For these students, we created the Practicing Entrepreneur Program with a wide variety of resources and support systems.
- Student Business Hatchery
- Student Business Accelerator
- Entrepreneur-in-Residence
- The Belmont Business Plan Competition
- Clinics & Workshops
- The Entrepreneurship Village
- The Carl and Nan Adams Excellence in Entrepreneurship Grant
- The Moench Entrepreneurship Lecture Series
- Candace Nelson, Founder of Sprinkles Cupcakes and Pizzana, NYT Best Selling Author, and judge on 10 seasons of Food Network’s Cupcake Wars
- Craig Dubitsky, founder of hello Products, LLC and the entrepreneur behind Method brand, eos Brand, and The Kind Group
- Marc Randolph, co-founder and former CEO of Netflix, serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur, advisor and investor in numerous successful tech ventures
The Hatchery offers student entrepreneurs access to a co-working space with desks, printers, white boards, and conference table for meetings. Students involved in the Hatchery also have access to a variety of educational and networking opportunities tied directly to their personal entrepreneurial experiences through Practicing Entrepreneur Roundtables. Faculty and several local professionals provide support and advice for students hatching their business through the Hatchery.
The Accelerator is a semester-long program that consists of weekly meetings with 7-10 student businesses. After working through the Hatchery, student entrepreneurs may apply for the Accelerator. The dedicated office space in the Massey Business Center provides a private work room for the entrepreneurs to meet with mentors, business professionals, and Belmont’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence. These student entrepreneurs are supported throughout the year to help them accelerate their business growth and development.
Two EIRs are on staff to give one-on-one advising to student entrepreneurs and to help support our other programs for entrepreneurs. In addition, these seasoned entrepreneurs acts as a connector between our students and the larger Nashville community by bringing in speakers, setting up our students with mentors, and engaging our students through other events around Nashville.
Our undergraduate students may compete in an annual internal business plan competition sponsored by The Center for Entrepreneurship. The top three winners receive thousands of dollars in cash prizes, a prize package filled with business-building tools, and are eligible to compete at LaunchTN’s 36/86 Conference in Nashville during the summer. A panel of alumni entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and community partners provide feedback to the students competing, and the competition ends with networking between the students and local entrepreneurs.
Clinics and workshops are available to all students to support the development and growth of their business. We work with a variety of experts to provide legal guidance, focused workshops, and specialty clinics on a variety of topics such as marketing, customer discovery, SEO, and accounting.
Each year, we celebrate all student entrepreneurs through the Entrepreneurship Village. We showcase the innovation, creativity, and success of the student businesses by taking over the Belmont lawn in this all-day event. Any student or alumni may participate and will receive a tent and table to sell items, present demonstrations, and meet customers. Nearly 1,000 students, faculty and staff, and locals walk through the Village each year to learn more about the businesses our students are developing.
This grant is awarded to students seeking funding to help start their business. This program is designed to assist with small, business-related expenses students incur as they begin their entrepreneurial journey.
The Moench Entrepreneurship Lecture Series has been generously funded by gifts from the late Ernest J. Moench and his wife, Anna and allows us to bring leading entrepreneurs to our campus each year.
Examples of past speakers include: