With Nashville finding its way in to headlines as one of the top tech towns, top places to move & the coolest city to live in the US, one should wonder if it lives up to the current hype - especially surrounding it's budding tech startup scene.

This branch is for anyone with a Nashville tech experience to tell us whether its a good place to launch, build & pioneer in the industry.

From my 7 months back in Nashville, here's what I've observed.

Pros: an unparalleled creative class; highly competitive cost of living; a cultural experience that's very good and getting better all the time; a (perhaps modest) group of entities and individuals (Entrepreneur Center, Jumpstart, FLO Thinkery, etc.) that are very focused on growing Nashville-native tech companies; heat and light in the form of the press coverage and related attention you've mentioned.

Cons: the "if it ain't healthcare, it doesn't matter" attitude; the "if it you aren't from here, you aren't of here" attitude; lack of smart money; lack of LAMP-stack tech talent (there's plenty of .Net talent); a sense or urgency and a willingness to disrupt from within.

Great thoughts Shawn. We're glad you're back!

I especially appreciate your recognition of an "unparalleled creative class." Obviously the city has strong music roots that have played well for the local creative class. Is there anyone you know of in the Music City currently developing tech for the struggling music industry?

Per Shawns mentions, here are the different efforts of our natives to fuel the tech startup scene in Nashville:
• Entrepreneurship Center: entrepreneurcenter.com
• Jumpstart Foundry Incubator: jumpstartfoundry.com
• Flo Thinkery: findyourflo.com

"it's better to be wrong than to be vague" Dyson was the quote in this box. but doesn't it sound like something i'd say?

2 weeks ago i attended the Product Management Bootcamp at Belmont and met great folks. i've always seen product managers as the heavy lifters of technology products. i found great thinkers there. product managers are required to know technology, marketing, customer research, project management, launch techniques, how to speak with developers, business managers, senior executives and more.

egos surround "strategy". product managers get it done. a hidden talent in Nashville.

"Egos surround strategy. Product managers get it done." Great quote Miller.

Who puts on the bootcamp and how many people attended? Did Belmont have anything to do with it beyond hosting?

not really sure. it showed up on twitter and i attended for free. will forward you the email i received. i'd say 75-100 people were there. it wasn't really what i'd call a bootcamp. i'd love to see a more traditional "how to" bootcamp. but i made a few interesting connections.

Recently a friend told me I'm a serial starter. Not mentioning any names but his initials are "Joel Widmer".

Oops.

Nashville is a playground for connectors like me. So many great people and opportunities. As relationally-oriented creative, I have been blessed to work with several talented people in this branch like Ty (da man!) and Chris Purifoy (iSM). Mark, Gavin and Kidd at FLO have been a joy to partner with. Same with Joel and Chris at Fluxe. Kudos to the guys at EC who helped me and JD incubate an initiative. Great resources all. BTW, I love Jeff at Belmont He's a solid man I respect personally and professionally.

I'm encouraged by the creative convergence taking place in my hometown. We have a lot more to do. Let's get to it!!

"Nashville is a playground for connectors."

There is a relational component and a generosity in sharing that seem to differentiate Nashville from the major tech hubs. I know my experience in Seattle was the typical cold core-protect mode-zero invitation culture. As much as I understand why the hubs operate that way, I do appreciate Nashville's ability to welcome new innovators.

interesting to hear the complete opposite of my experience in Nashville. i guess that cause i'm from the "cold core-protect mode-zero invitation culture" of seattle and microsoft. as you know, tyler, i've found nashville to be insular, unaccepting, and a little arrogant. as a connector myself, i'm sure it's not gender related, eh? we've already had many conversations regarding the middle aged female NY jew thing. a total culture shocker for some. if it weren't for Tyler, i'd have left months ago.

a new joke should start "a middle aged NY Jewish woman walks into a hip technology start up meeting..."

... and she asks, "How much chutzpah is needed to get a tech startup off the ground and keep it there?". Great to see you again, Miller... can you finish that joke ; ?

Thanks for the invitation, Mr. T. Building off of that quote, "It's better to be wrong than vague", I would like to say that "Clarity" eradicates vagueness on every level. Therefore, the first task of a great tech startup leader is to create and define clarity - clarity of mission, vision, and values; clarity of strategy, structure, and systems of operation; clarity of the brand, scope, partnerships, equity shares, and revenue steams; clarity for recruiting, teambuilding, orientating, training and development, rewards, and even exit strategies and succession planning.

... Normally, all of these matters are the last thing on the mind of a hip techie who is creating something innovative and world changing ... but these things are the second thing on the mind of VC's and Angel Investors. The first thing is "how much are they going to make off of this venture" - and of course, that all needs to be clarified as well.

Revisited: Is Nashville a good place to launch, build & pioneer in tech?

it always depends on a) your network b) your support system c) from where your funding comes. good, bad or otherwise, success is measure by each founder. Nashville may provide opportunity for the right people. and not for others. is that good? philosophically for me, it just is. i think there are other questions much more foundational and individual. can YOU (whomever you are) pioneer, build, launch and sustain your technology product in Nashville?

As the 2012 StartupBus conductor for New York, I chose Nashville as the 1st leg of our 3 day ride to Austin because I saw a tremendous opportunity to start building a bridge between two major hubs. I leveraged a personal contact to connect with the incredible organization that is the Entrepreneur Center & they showed us some of the fantastic resources available to founders in the city: people, programs & funding. We networked with business leaders, startup founders & university faculty in the evening, and each of our entrepreneur teams were given mentoring sessions in the morning at the EC with Vanderbilt professors & other master mentors. All of our "Buspreneurs" got all kinds of wisdom from our very knowledgable & gracious hosts.

Ty, Here's what I think - Nashville is an amazing city of creatives - not just music creatives, but in the world of fashion, art, and business as well. This Music City is a renaissance city, and I believe that world changing startups can and will spring forth from this city. There is also a lot of money in this city that could be used to fund these incredible startups. However, I think that what is lacking is this - no one seems to have really been able to adequately connect the creatives with the money people ... and those who have money here seem aversive to risk. So ... who will be the connection master?

Great question, Miller. To do so in Nashville, the creator and founder must also become the student and learn the culture of Nashville to be able to crack the code of the Nashville VC and Angel mindsets.

speaking purely from the year 2012, anthropologically, intellectually and emotionally we should (granted it's a should) be able to adapt more quickly in accepting people who are new to our cultures. for a culture to grow it needs to challenge itself to not expect packages to look, sense, sound or feel the same. to be quick and light on our feet as visionaries, it is up to us, where ever we are located to see and hear past another's presentation and grab the wealth. rather than expecting the wealth of an idea be presented in just the right way, or the idea owner to have just the right tools to crack the code. or else we lose by demanding code cracking skills. my 2 cents.

Well said Miller ... I agree for sure ... unfortunately, far too many are not culturally sensitive or progressively wise to understand.

As leaders in the community, especially interested in growing the tech community, then it's our responsibility to set that pace. Not just educate about business or tech, but about all levels of diversity. Just pushing it onto the person who is already overwhelmed with starting new business isn't the right path IMHO. It behooves us to do deep examination to create a friendly environment that makes people EXCITED to start something new here. Do we want Nash to get called a "great place if you already fit in"? Welcoming people to start new tech companies takes much more than being tech savvy. Nashville needs to grow up, expand and be the bigger city to welcome any personality, any belief system, any religion to draw top tech talent.

Wow, Mike, that's great to know - more people in the nation and in this city need to know about these resources in Nashville.

Back when I was a product manager at Microsoft, I had a team of guys, each from a different country. All had a different religious practice. It was my job to ensure that they each had the opportunity to succeed with their unique needs. Food, culture, days off, animals (i brought my dog to work), touch (women can't touch men even accidentally), preferred style of communication, learning, etc all had to be juggled with milestones, product requirements, and delivery. Leadership requires us to lay the groundwork for the Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, Iranian, Israeli, Iraqi, Afghani talent easily live among us to perform their jobs. Or be known for white & black male owned startups. See you all at JumpStart Foundary today.