REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
LaunchTN Regional Entrepreneur Center (EC) Network Partner in the Northeast Tennessee region
SUMMARY
Launch Tennessee supports entrepreneurship and innovation throughout the state of Tennessee, with a vision to make Tennessee synonymous with high-growth startups. LaunchTN strategic priorities include:
1) connecting founders to entrepreneurship resources across the state
2) increasing the availability and accessibility of capital, and
3) supporting the commercialization of technologies and products.
The LaunchTN Regional EC Network Partners support Tennessee startups within specific economic regions. The ECs are instrumental to the continued growth of Tennessee’s economy, with a focus on supporting innovative companies that can grow locally, attracting investment capital, connecting founders to key resources such as mentors and customers, and furthering research and development.
AREAS OF SERVICE
Launch Tennessee is issuing a call for a partner who will serve the Northeast Tennessee region, defined as Hancock, Hawkins, Sullivan, Johnson, Carter, Washington, Unicoi, and Greene counties.
OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS
The selected Regional EC Network Partner for this region MUST have a brick and mortar location(s) in the applicable footprint and make all services available to entrepreneurs/startups across the identified service area. The selected partner must have outreach plans to reach founders within their region and inform them of available resources and services.
FY26 NETWORK PARTNERS: ENTREPRENEUR CENTERS
LaunchTN’s Regional EC Network Partners currently include the below (listed from West to East).
- Epicenter, Greater Memphis Region, epicentermemphis.org
- The Mill, Northwest Region, themillworkspace.com
- theCO, Southwest Region, attheco.com
- Nashville Entrepreneur Center, Northern Middle Region, ec.co
- NOVA Entrepreneur Center, Southern Middle Region, novaec.org
- The Biz Foundry, Upper Cumberland Region, thebizfoundry.org
- The Company Lab, Southeast Region, colab.co
- Knoxville Entrepreneur Center, East Region, knoxec.com
- Sync Space, Northeast Region, syncspace.org
FRONT DOOR SERVICES + additional early-stage company support
LaunchTN will leverage best practices from our current roster of Regional EC Network Partners to guide and inform desired activities and outcomes from a new Regional EC Network Partner, who will serve the Northeast region.
Core components of a successful regional entrepreneur center include:
- A centralized and well promoted brick and mortar location
- A community champion(s) (i.e. board chair or executive director), who is deeply engaged in the region and knowledgeable about entrepreneurship support
- A dedicated team of 2 or more full-time staff who can provide onsite services and leverage mentors, consultants, collaborators, etc. to create scalable resources for entrepreneurs across the entire service area
- An ability to bring together resources from both public and private sectors to create robust programmatic offerings
- Demonstrated knowledge of capital access resources (including equity and debt financing) and ability to support companies in pursuing funding
- NOTE: This includes acting as LaunchTN’s regional partner for the SSBCI funded InvestTN program, assisting startups in the InvestTN application process and working closely with LaunchTN to promote the program and its resources
- Able to develop curated opportunities for startups in your region to grow their networks, leading to outcomes such as commercialization, revenue generation, investment capital, and job growth
Proposals will compete for a limited pool of funding.Organizations may apply for up to $250,000/fiscal year as long as funding is available, or in accordance with a maximum funding amount provided by funding sources.
Proposals must be submitted via this application link no later than May 15. A decision will be announced in June 2026, for a contract beginning as early as July 1, 2026.
KEY EVALUATION CONSIDERATIONS
Key elements under consideration include:
- Regional ECs support LaunchTN strategic priorities, including commercializing technologies and products, access to capital for founders and innovators, and connecting entrepreneurs and mentors, with goals and tactics reflective of their own regions’ supply and demand conditions
- Regional ECs and LaunchTN together set realistically ambitious goals specific to the supply and demand of the respective region and reflecting the caliber of activity to be expected
- Regional ECs develop partnerships with one another and other entities (public and private sector) to create a strong, seamless network of resources for early-stage companies and early stage technologies
- Results of the work generated by this funding will be quantifiable and provided to LaunchTN on a quarterly basis, in part to support more funding for these programs
- LaunchTN is never a sole source of funding. Regional EC applicants MUST bring a level of alternative support to this work via cash and/or in-kind contributions
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
- Must be an eligible entity type, defined for these purposes as a nonprofit organization, 501(c)3 or (c)6 if the primary function of the (c)6 is economic development work, an institute of higher education, or a local government.
- A consortium housed by an eligible entity type may apply for this opportunity. However, one member of the consortium must serve as lead applicant, serve as primary fiduciary for the purposes of subawardee status, and meet the eligibility requirements as outlined. It is not necessary for all consortium members to be eligible entity types as long as the lead entity is.
- Proposals MUST cover the full footprint of designated counties, or work in a defined consortium to achieve this full coverage (in other words, you may not apply to just cover 1 or 2 counties within the footprint)
- Must agree to have program leadership participate in monthly Network Partner calls with LaunchTN and affiliates
- Must submit agreed upon metrics and budget progress on the required quarterly schedule.
- Must participate fully in key LaunchTN events including but not limited to the annual 3686 conference, trainings and other events, as required
- Maintain a minimum 1:1 cash and/or in-kind match to LaunchTN funding (i.e. a $250,000 request requires at least $250,000 in matching support.
GOALS & METRICS
Permissible costs include staff salaries and program expenses related to the scope of work defined in your proposal. Regional Entrepreneur Center (EC) Network costs may relate to the following:
- Serve as the regional front door to entrepreneurs and their companies: Provide physical space for entrepreneurs and their companies for meetings, events, and other related programming and activity
- Access to Capital: Provide education around grant opportunities and equity and debt financing options for companies, assistance navigating resources, assist companies navigating and connecting to capital related resources and investors or strategic partners
- Access to Connections: Facilitate mentorship, office hours, programming, coworking and other networking for cross-pollination of connections and collaboration.
- Access to Commercialization: Provide technical assistance and startup support for companies attempting to commercialize their technologies from lab to market. This may include: providing access to mentors including service providers and subject-matter experts; technical program delivery or incubator opportunities to help companies create a roadmap towards technology commercialization; engagement with university researchers (faculty, staff, and students) seeking to commercialize technologies; connecting researchers and startups seeking commercialization support with LaunchTN resources including SBIR/STTR support and the Tennessee Technology Advancement Consortium (TTAC)
Non permissible costs include expenses that do not directly support the delivery of Regional Entrepreneur Center services or the outcomes outlined in this proposal. These include, but are not limited to, debt repayment; contributions to reserves or endowments; political or lobbying activities; and general organizational expenses not clearly tied to programmatic work. Capital expenditures or major equipment purchases are not allowable unless clearly justified as essential to program delivery.
Please submit a proposal for work to be conducted from July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027.
The metrics outlined below are crucial to tracking the progress of our ecosystem and required by the funders of our Regional EC Network Partners. Please keep in mind that you will be required to track and report on these metrics quarterly.
Metrics from startups participating in the Regional EC Networks, including:
Connection
- Number of startups served
- Number of startups in your network
- Number of new jobs created from startups in your network
- Number of jobs retained from startups in your network
- Percentage of startups in your network that are revenue positive
- Number of mentor sessions completed
- Number of companies participating in office hours
- Number of companies brought to TN from out-of-state by the Network Partner
- Number of relocation prospects that reach out to Network Partner to explore moving to TN
- Number of events
- Number of event participants
- Counties represented by event participants
- Counties in which events take place
- Number of program graduates
- Number of program graduates who represent a SEDI demographic
- Counties represented by program graduates
- Number of startups launched out of programs
Capital
- Number of startups reaching capital funding occurrences (rounds, notes, SAFES, etc.)
- Capital raised by funding occurrences
- Number of capital funding occurrences whose CEO represents a SEDI demographic
- Counties represented by capital funding occurrences
- Number of inquiries responded to in relation to InvestTN Regional Seed Fund
Commercialization
- Number of companies referred/connected to LaunchTN commercialization offering or Industry Network program
Additional Metrics: Non-LaunchTN Funding
- Number of sponsors who made a financial donation
- Number of sponsors who made an in-kind donation
- Number of grants applied for/number of grants awarded
- Total revenue budget
Submissions come through this application and include narrative and budgetary components.
REVIEW CRITERIA
Applications will be reviewed internally by multiple members of the LaunchTN team and possible external reviewers. Applications will be reviewed on a scale of 1-7 in the following categories:
(1) existing framework for the support of early-stage companies
(2) references and letters of support provided
(3) ability to attract mentors and early-stage companies across the regional footprint
(4) overall budget, including support outside of LaunchTN, and the capacity to execute on said budget
(5) overall goals (meaning metrics + scope), and the achievability of those goals,
(6) timeline provided and the ability to execute on the timeline, and
(7) overall knowledge and experience of the leadership/applicant team
*Ineligible entity types will not be considered/scored
Site visits may be conducted and should be anticipated for finalist applicants. Site visits should consist of viewing of the brick and mortar location(s), meetings with community champions, meetings with existing/potential organizational leadership, etc.