Competition Signals a Healthy Market

One of the most consistent questions we get is about competition. With Jumpstart’s move to healthcare everyone seems to be focused on our competition with Healthbox.  As the EC has grown and demonstrated the market need, several new co-working concepts have sprung up.  Every time a new one is announced, there is a buzz about the competitive threat to the EC’s business model. These are logical questions, and of course, Americans love a good competition. However, for both JSF and the EC, we view competition differently.  

The best way to describe our view of competition is to tell you what we teach the participants in our educational programs: If no one else is competing for your market, you might not have one.

The fact that, after taking a year off, Healthbox has returned to Nashville in some capacity is good news for Jumpstart and for Nashville’s Healthcare Innovation opportunity. We both must believe that the market is ready to innovate and also ready to partner in that innovation. We will both do better work for the startups and corporations we serve because the other exists.

The fact that the EC launched a co-working concept that has now spawned 18 other different but somewhat competitive concepts proves that Nashville is a great market for co-working facilities.

Jumpstart and the Nashville Entrepreneur Center live what we teach.  Competition is healthy, and it pushes us to continuously improve and deliver better value to the market.  We believe Nashville’s Healthcare Innovation and co-working markets are great opportunities for all involved (both us and our competitors).  Furthermore, we strongly believe Nashville is headed in a direction where innovation of all kinds can flourish. This will naturally create competition, but it will also expand the market opportunity for everyone.

In order for Nashville to continue its growth and reach its full potential, the entrepreneurs and creatives who drive that innovation need all of the support, investment, and inspiration they can get. It’s why we partner with one another. It’s why we sponsor and promote events like Hack Tennessee, NTC Tech Talks, and Startup Weekend. It’s also why we will be attending all three major entrepreneurial events this summer:  GrowCo, 36|86, and Pandoland.

The headlines have been lit up about the split between LaunchTN and Pando. Obviously, both the EC and Jumpstart are deeply involved with LaunchTN, but our friend and JSF co-founder, Vic, is on Pando’s board, so we are also involved with Pando.  Although no one has discussed it in the press, GrowCo is a bigger conference than both 36|86 and Pandoland combined.  We are genuinely excited about what all three events bring to the table this summer, and maybe more so because they are somewhat competing. If anyone thinks that all of these events aren’t going to step their game up to prove they are the better event, you’re missing the point. And the winner in this competition is Nashville.

GrowCo brings together ambitious company builders and growth-minded entrepreneurs from around the country to an annual gathering. The conference traditionally changes cities each year to showcase different regions of the US. GrowCo was so successful last year in Nashville that for the first time ever, they are returning the the same city two years in a row.

The fact that Pandoland will be back after this split from LaunchTN is a huge sign to us that Nashville is indeed a healthy market. We believe it is also a sign of our growing diversity, that our ecosystem can support three events of this magnitude in the same window. We truly want them all to be successful; we can use them all and more. SF and NYC are way ahead of us in events of this caliber.

Take a look at the lineups for these three events. Outstanding. And we believe GrowCo and Pandoland certainly are bringing crowds to Nashville that we would not otherwise attract (yet).  We understand that Pandoland ($699) and Growco ($895) are not cheap, but when you consider the fact that attending a conference of this quality anywhere else would cost the same, plus travel, we can justify the cost.

Even still, we have discussed the price with both the GrowCo and Pandoland teams.   We are pleased to report that both groups have agreed to give discounts to the EC/JSF community.  If you use our promotion codes, you will be able to get a great discount and join us.

The GrowCo promotion code (ECN15) will get you in for a price of $595 and the Pandoland promotion code (JSPANDO) will get you in for $599.  We are excited to be able to offer these deals to our community and hope you take advantage of the opportunity to meet the crowd that GrowCo & Pandoland assemble in Nashville once a year.  It’s helpful for the strength, diversity, and evolution of our ecosystem.

We will be at all three of these events for sure, and we are happy they are all competing in Nashville. It is a sign that our market is emerging to nationwide prominence. We hope to see you supporting our community this summer.