We Build Great Founders that Grind

Sure, you can go to the coasts to startup, but at the intersection of Southern hospitality, a mighty river, historic innovation, and good old fashioned hustle sits Memphis, Tennessee.

This city transformed the way you shop for groceries, hotels, and car parts.  It was the stage of change for civil rights.  It altered transportation through air freight.  It even launched the music you listen to today.  This is a place for history making.

While you are changing history with your startup, you will find this city and our programs will change you.  We’ll transform you as a person and prepare you to join the giants that came before you in Memphis.

We build great founders in a city that knows about the grind and getting things done against all odds.

Why Seed Hatchery?

1) Founders First: We focus on building great founders.  Let’s face it: failure rates are high for startups.  If you go through an accelerator program and we only help you build a business, then our impact has not been fully realized.  We fully expect that our founders will be a serial entrepreneurs.  We focus on providing each founder the skills, coaching, and training needed to lead startups.
2) National Exposure from Day 1: Nibletz.com and EverywhereElse.co (the largest startup conference in the United States) are both in Memphis.  All of our companies get automatic admission, exposure, and access to the big players at the conference.  
3) Intense Focus: We only invest in six companies per program at a time.   This gives our founders plenty of face time with our leadership team as well as other experts that we bring in.  Over 150 people will be working on just 6 startups each cohort.  That is a lot of support.
4) Results: Companies that participate in our Memphis accelerator programs on average raise over $250,000 in capital.
5) Lifestyle: As the birthplace of Rock ‘n’ Roll, we don’t take things seriously all the time.  The culture of working hard and playing hard is alive and well.  You’ll have as much fun at the whiteboard as you will at the bar.  Our founders enjoy both the dynamic innovation programming as well as the cultural and music outlets.

Ready to Move to Memphis?

Seed Hatchery will equip you as a startup founder, and will do so in a city that knows about hard work and innovation. Just ask the dozens of founders who apply each year, most of which are from everywhere but Memphis. Our applicants know of the gravity of Memphis historically, and it provides a unique backdrop for starting up.  Memphis is one of the most recognized cities outside the United States – from Elvis to agricultural financial center to logistics powerhouse – Memphis is a significant city with global reach.  Once you set foot in the city and meet the people you too will understand the grit and grind nature that draws people here and keeps them.  Plus it doesn’t hurt that our entrepreneurial history is rich (FedEx, AutoZone, Holiday Inn, and PigglyWiggly were all founded here among others).

Don’t Take Our Word for It

“LaunchYourCity and Seed Hatchery provide venture development support well beyond accelerator stage that gives its startups a huge leg up.”
On our journey covering statups “everywhere else,” nibletz.com had the chance to see over 60 different cities and startup communities in action. When we made the decision to relocate our main headquarters, we looked at several cities and considered investment offers from four: Cincinnati, St. Louis, Oklahoma City, and Memphis.  It was the culture of entrepreneurism and creativity within the city and the large number of initiatives that LaunchYourCity has implemented in Memphis that ultimately resulted in our decision to relocate to Memphis.  While many startup communities are focused around their accelerator, LaunchYourCity and Seed Hatchery provide venture development support well beyond accelerator stage.  We have unlimited access to the brain trust, ideas, curriculum, resources, mentors and leaders within LaunchYourCity and across the community.  So after the Seed Hatchery cohort graduates, startups that relocate here will continue to have access to the same powerful network and resources that will enable growth.  That’s what makes the Memphis programs different.  That’s why we moved here.
- Kyle Sandler, relocated from Baltimore

“Relocating our company to Memphis was one of the best business decisions we have made.”
We relocated our company to Memphis because of the entrepreneurial environment LaunchYourCity created.  The experience and mentorship we received from the programs gave us the edge we needed to successfully raise millions of dollars for our series A round of VC funding. Memphis will thrive because the community is vested in everyone’s success and the companies that are here are vested in the community. Relocating our company to Memphis was one of the best business decisions we have made.  
- Ryan Ramkhelawan, relocated from Atlanta

“It is a city that built me as a great founder in ways I couldn’t find in California.”
Memphis is a landmark in the South and a perfect place to start up any business.  The city itself was a perfect mix of great culture, entrepreneurial spirit, rich history, and the best BBQ in the US.  Memphis has become a central hub for entrepreneurs like me in the southeast.  It is a city that built me as a great founder in ways I couldn’t find in California.  The entrepreneurial accelerator leadership in Memphis is second to none.  Moving to join the accelerator program was the best personal and business choice I have made in my life.
- David Traxler, relocated from Los Angeles

“Without the community and programs Memphis offered me, my future would be a dim glimmer in the distance.”
For years, I struggled to find ways to bring my progressive ideas for more innovative biomedical technologies to ailing patients. Without direction, I searched for opportunities to be both trained in building a scaleable business and immersed into a culture that would foster my drive to augment the current medical climate and market.  After years of searching, I was attracted to a city rich with entrepreneurial history – the budding community of Memphis afforded me the opportunity to finally quench my entrepreneurial thirst.  With the continuous entrepreneurial programming, network of mentors, and close-knit family of entrepreneurs, Memphis truly impressed me as a place I could found and grow my medical device company, BioNanovations Corporation.  Simply put, without the community and programs Memphis offered me, my future would be a dim glimmer in the distance – my ideas trapped in the realm of dreams
- Charleson S. Bell, relocated from Nashville

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