10th Annual #3686Fest Recap

Today is my last official day at LaunchTN and I would be remiss to not recap this year's 3686 Festival in Nashville. It was a jam-packed week of near-perfect weather bringing together investors, founders, and ecosystem leaders from across Tennessee and the U.S.

This year's programming felt extra special and speakers from across the state and country brought the heat! From tactical panels on talent and product to thematic deep-dives into fintech, consumer, and music to name just a few, there was much to dive into. Thanks to everyone who drove in, flew in, and contributed.

The specific events I played some role in organizing, supporting, or simply had the privilege to attend included:

Speaker Reception at Soho House & Co

Each year, LaunchTN convenes 3686 speakers and sponsors for a pre-festival gathering at Soho House. We had a great turnout and it was especially fun to catch up with favorite people with refreshments and music before the big day.

Investors Ryan Nece (Next Legacy) & Jules Miller (Mindset Ventures)

3686 Speakers: Sarah Ruth Boyer Hendrix (Thyme Care) & Trey Shelton (Position)

3686 Mastermind: LaunchTN CEO Lindsey Cox

Opening panel @ 3686: 'Betting on Tennessee'

The next morning, I moderated the opening session 'Betting on Tennessee' with investors and long-time supporters of our local ecosystem.

I had too much fun moderating on one of my favorite topics - Tennessee's growing ecosystem. I was joined onstage by living legends Christopher Sugden (Edison Partners), Tania Jovanovic Grant (Claritas Capital), Rob McCabe ( Pinnacle Financial Partners ), and Sherry Deutschmann (BrainTrust).

Startup Pitch Competition hosted by #InvestTN

Our capital team produced this year's pitch competition, selecting 5 startups to take the stage. Shoutout to my colleague Khrystopher Hatch for producing and hosting this event.

Judges from across the U.S. voted for 1st place and runner-up winners of the Startup Pitch Competition.

This year's judges included Christina Sass (Dive In), Hunter Hillenmeyer (Company Ventures), Michael Li (NEA), and Ansley Carlisle (Mark Cuban Companies).

Nashville-based VetVerifi ?? took home 1st-place bragging rights, while Memphis-based SweetBio, Inc. was named runner-up.?Read the full press release here.

5th Annual 'Comfort Food + Conversation' co-hosted by Build In SE and LaunchTN, and sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Special thanks to Grace Huefner and Colleen Flynn from Build In SE for being my long-time partners in bringing together 42 women investors during 3686, and to Lindsey Cox for co-hosting each year! JPMorgan Chase & Co. has been a great sponsor these past two years - shoutout to Kate Wilburn LaSacco for making this possible.

2nd Annual LP/GP Breakfast: "The Land of Opportunity" at the historic Frist Art Museum

We brought back our closed-door conversation with leading institutional limited partners, family offices, general partners, and angel investors from across the U.S. Over 120 investors attended and packed out the beautiful auditorium at the Frist Art Museum.

Given the significant changes afoot in the venture capital industry, we dug into:

• LP Portfolio Diversification
• Institutionalizing Family Offices
• A New Era of Angel Investing

Thanks to our incredible speakers for flying in to speak at this event and bringing insights from different segments of our industry.

Opening session 'LP Portfolio Diversification' with Greggory Bordes (Front Porch Venture Partners) and Tracy B. (Kanbrick)

'Institutionalizing Family Offices' with Anna Mason (Ingeborg Investments)

'A New Era of Angel Investing' with Gale Wilkinson (VITALIZE)

#BuildTN Conversations: Lunch w/ Evan Goldberg & Winston Justice

I did not play a role in producing this event, other than simply getting to enjoy it as an attendee. My friend and collaborator Winston Justice from AllianceBernstein moderated a great fireside with Evan Goldberg , founder of NetSuite .

There were so many knowledge bombs dropped I took a very long set of notes in my phone. Here are a few highlights:

1. The 3 elements Evan focuses on as an entrepreneur: Vision. People. Financial management.
2. As a founder, have enough humility to accept people around you who are smarter than you. Go deep on your skills and surround yourself with people with deep skills in other areas. Learn from them.
3. "There's always an opportunity to ruin your culture. You can lose that pretty quick."
4. Don't make an acquisition unless it comes with great talent.

Also a special shoutout to our #InvestTN legal counsel Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough for sponsoring 1-on-1 meetings during 3686. Over 900 meetings were held between investors, founders, corporations, and executives! Our LaunchTN capital team (Khrys, Evan, Ziggy) did an excellent job making sure things ran smoothly from start to finish.

While I am stepping away from my day-to-day work at Launch Tennessee, 3686 will always be my favorite entrepreneurship-focused event in the Southeast. I look forward to attending and seeing you all there in 2024!

To follow LaunchTN's updates, visit and subscribe via: https://launchtn.org/