This document outlines Sheldon Grizzle's experience starting businesses and helping to build the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Chattanooga, Tennessee between 2008-2014. It discusses how he co-founded CreateHere in 2008 to attract, retain, and help creative entrepreneurs grow their businesses. This led to programs that sparked creative enterprise, funded and co-located high-growth startups, and lowered barriers to entry. It also highlights the growth of investment in Chattanooga from less than $3 million annually in early stage funding in 2010 to over $15 million in 2014. Lessons learned include starting with creative entrepreneurs, prioritizing programs over space, investing in people not ideas, and growing a diverse entrepreneurial community.
5. SHELDON GRIZZLE*
• Born and raised in South Florida
• Father was an entrepreneur
• Studied psychology at Covenant College
• Started my first business at 25 in CHA
22. CreateHere's mission was to engage
Chattanoogans to express their ideas,
organize around common purposes, and take
action in order to make Chattanooga
the most dynamic, creative and
entrepreneurial city in the world.
23. CreateHere had three initial programs
focused on building the sustainability
of the creative community:
Attract Retain Grow
24. I began to focus on helping creative
entrepreneurs grow their craft into a
real business that could sustain their
livelihood.
Grow
25.
26. Spark creative
enterprise
This program is what created the initial
momentum that allowed us to begin
building the entrepreneurial ecosystem in
Chattanooga because now we a
community of entrepreneurs.
27. 2009
Inbound requests from aspiring high-growth
founders to help connect them to mentorship
and capital.