Our annual NEXT Awards, co-hosted with the Entrepreneur Center, recognize the accomplishments of some of the most successful businesspeople driving our regional economy.

We checked in with three of last year's winners to find out how their businesses have changed since winning the NEXT Award. Excerpts from the answers appear below; for the full Q&A, click here. We announced finalists for the 2012 NEXT Awards earlier this month; the NEXT Awards dinner will be Thursday, Sept. 27.

Joseph Cashia, Vivere Health
(2011 NEXT winner, Startup - Health Care)

A year after winning a NEXT Award, what does your company or organization look like? Since winning the prestigious NEXT Award last year, Vivere Health has grown tremendously. The number of employees in our Franklin headquarters has doubled. We have opened an in-vitro fertilization (IVF) lab in Winter Park, FL, and are currently in the process of building an ambulatory surgery center (ASC). In addition, we broke ground in New Orleans, where we are building an ASC and IVF lab, due to be completed in December.

Where do you see your business a year from now? We are expecting to double our growth in a year from now.

Where do you see the Nashville entrepreneurial community a year from now? I believe the Nashville health care entrepreneurial community will continue to flourish. Between the Entrepreneur Center and the Nashville Health Care Council, the opportunity to meet and receive guidance from executives who have started their own successful companies is unmatched anywhere in the country.


Jake Jorgovan, Rabbit Hole Creative
(2011 NEXT winner, Youth Entrepreneur of the Year; 2011 NEXT winner, Growth - Digital Media)

If you have increased the number of staff over the last year, what contributed to your growth? A big part of our growth has resulted from shifting markets to only focusing on the touring industry, to focusing on also the corporate event and experiential advertising industries. When we realized our services could be used in other markets, we saw the opportunity for rapid growth.

What new projects are you working on now? We just finished up design for Telemundo's 2012 Upfront, Hyundai's Canadian Dealership Meeting, Bassnectar's 2012 VAVA Voom Tour Design and Fidelity Investments Executive Forum.

What do you think is the greatest strength of Nashville’s entrepreneurial ecosystem? Nashville is great in the fact that everyone is here to support each other in whatever ways they can. This is a small community and everyone wants to see each other succeed.


Tawn Albright, Rockhouse Partners
(2011 NEXT winner, Digital Media & Entertainment Startup of the Year)

A year after winning a NEXT Award, what does your company or organization look like? Our company continues to make progress and will grow revenue approximately 35 percent this year. A good part of our growth relates to our expansion into motor sports where we now work with seven leading NASCAR tracks, Formula 1 and the Motor Racing Network. Our joint venture agreement with eTix also continues to go well, leading to additional revenue growth in the mid-tier entertainment property space. We’re currently incubating a new business opportunity in the digital sponsorship space and have helped two entrepreneurs incubate new business opportunities this year. In short, our business has grown and scaled, allowing us to look at new opportunities that we can incubate both internally or externally.

What new projects are you working on now? We’re incubating a new business opportunity in the sponsorship space that complements our existing business and have helped two entrepreneurs launch new companies this year. One of the companies is in the music publishing space that leverages software as a service, and the other is a new music festival focused on preserving the ocean that can be grown on an international basis. We’re being contacted on a regular basis by entrepreneurs looking for guidance/partners. A good chunk of these conversations are at the local level, but we’re also talking to groups as far away as Hong Kong. We wonder at times if we should open a formal “venture” group given our backgrounds, but feel it’s best to continue letting this grow organically right now.

Where do you see the Nashville entrepreneurial community a year from now? We think the community will continue to evolve over the next year. Health care should continue to grow, as there’s a much stronger investment community behind it. We’re a little more reserved when it comes to non-health care digital plays, and, more specifically, where technology meets entertainment. It appears most of the Nashville investment community shies away from this space, mainly due to their level of expertise, which is just stronger in other industries. For the non-health care digital space to grow, we’re going to need (1) a larger developer community; and (2) investors with cash that really understand the space. Until then, growth should remain moderate when compared to the rest of the country.