An evolving model · v2.1.0
The overview · an evolving model for EO Nashville's strategic council
A membership, not a waiting room.
Catalyst, as we know it, is the accelerator. The Collective is the community you apply to join after graduating from the Catalyst coursework. Catalyst Collective is an invitation-based, ongoing membership with continual access to an entrepreneurial community and the resources to help you, whatever your growth targets and strategy. It is the evolution of Bridge, not a rename.
How to read these pages
Three kinds of statements, kept apart
What Colton presented to the council on September 17 and wrote down afterward. It is the proposal on the table and the spine of every page.
Colton's read of the recording. Not minutes, not a vote. If a line is wrong, say so at the bottom of any page.
Input from one council member, under their name, in their words. A suggestion for the council to weigh. Not the concept, and not where the group landed, unless the council says so.
The concept
Three rooms, one community
Catalyst already exists. EO Nashville already exists. Today the room in the middle is Bridge: a forum, a mentor, and invitations to learning events for $1,750 a year, which the people in it describe as a holding pattern. The Collective is not Bridge with more bullets. It is the evolution of Bridge: an ongoing membership, by invitation, with tracks, programming and a community of its own.
Catalyst
Build it past a million.
Founders with $250,000+ in revenue. A 13-class curriculum, a cohort that meets like a forum, a mentor, and access to learning and social events. Tuition is $3,500.
Catalyst Collective
Run it well, or grow it, with people who match.
Graduates apply and are invited. Placed into a forum on one of two tracks, with mentorship, the ability to audit past Catalyst classes, monthly learning and social events of its own, and a working price near $3,000 a year. Possible future benefits: subsidized software to help you run your business, and discounted or subsidized consulting engagements.
EO Nashville
Lead at scale.
Businesses past $1 million with a founder whose hardest problems are rarely about the business anymore. Forum, retreats, a global network. Dues of $5,380 a year plus a $6,000 one-time initiation.
Above EO sits the legacy membership for members giving back, phase one of the strategic plan, already live with its first seven members.
What each room costs
Dollars a year, except Catalyst, which is tuition for the program. Hover a row.
How much of a class stays on
Share of each Catalyst graduating class that continues into the middle room.
The number is still open: Matt has asked for a clear membership goal. Change it in the model.
The concept, updated October 7
How you get in: apply, then the committee invites
The Collective is an application, not an automatic next step. Graduates of Catalyst may apply to become members of the Collective, and past alumni may apply at any point as well. Applicants are invited on the same kinds of factors EO weighs on an application, with Catalyst's revenue thresholds, tiered by industry, in place of EO's line.
- Step 1Finish CatalystGraduate the Catalyst coursework: thirteen classes, the cohort, the mentor.
- Step 2ApplyNew graduates apply when they finish. Past alumni can apply at any time; there is no expiration.
- Step 3Committee reviewThe Collective's own committee reviews the application, informed by the graduate's moderator and mentor.
- Step 4Invited and placedAn invitation, then a short intake places the new member on a track and into a forum of matched peers.
What the committee looks for
- The same kinds of factors as an EO application: founder or controlling owner, committed to the business, a fit with EO's culture and values.
- Catalyst's revenue thresholds, tiered by industry, in place of EO's single line. The tiers are set by the committee.
- Not in crisis firefighting mode: the business runs, even if it is small.
- Staff or a team of support, so everything does not rely on the owner: employees, 1099s, freelancers, agents, bots, a bookkeeper, whatever the mix is.
- Truly committed to the business.
- A learning mindset: a thirst for learning and the aptitude to apply it to stabilize and scale the business.
The invitation is a lever, not a wall: in a strong class it might be everybody. Applicants not invited yet are best suited to repeat Catalyst. Colton's proposal is a discounted repeat; today a repeat costs the full $3,500. See the third journey.
Explore
Everything in one place
The entrepreneur journeys
Grow into EO. Stay and run it well. Not invited yet. Side by side, step by step, so the differences are obvious.
Read the journeys Every number adjustableThe financial model
Forty Catalyst members a year, 25 graduates, 75% captured, $3,000 dues, a $75,000 dedicated resource, events priced line by line. Change anything and watch five years move.
Open the model Drafts to tear apartThe surveys
Alumni, graduating class, prospects, and the council's own review questions. Working forms, so you can test them; nothing goes out until the council says so.
See the surveys Already builtWhat exists today
The long-form working draft, the Three Tracks Kit (offering, fit finder, sample survey, video script, strategy memo), council perspectives, and the logo files.
Open the library Public, by nameFeedback log and changelog
Every comment anyone leaves, what happened to it, and every change to these pages by version. Tag a message #Calvin to request a change.
Read the logThe September 17 council, kept straight
What was presented, where the room leaned, what is open
Ninety minutes, sole topic, at Espaces Burton Hills. Three different things came out of that room and they are kept apart here on purpose. None of it is minutes and none of it was a vote. If a line is wrong, say so at the bottom of the page.
What Colton presented
- Not Bridge, and not Bridge renamed. EO Global already has a product called Bridge and it confuses everyone, and the point is bigger than the name. Working name: Catalyst Collective, an ongoing membership, by invitation. It is the evolution of Bridge, not a rename.
- A membership, not a waiting room, between Catalyst and EO, with programming of its own. It holds two kinds of members on purpose: those scaling toward EO, and those who are profitable, happy, and not chasing bigger.
- By invitation. A committee, informed by moderators and mentors, extends it. A learning mindset and culture fit are the gate. Updated by Colton on October 7: getting in is an application. Graduates apply, past alumni can apply at any time, and applicants are invited on EO-style factors with Catalyst's revenue thresholds tiered by industry.
- Placement into a track by a short intake, then a forum of matched peers, mentorship, and a monthly learning calendar with content for each track, led mostly by EO members who have real content to give. EO House is the room.
- Its own committee with a chair, plus a dedicated resource for logistics, events, invitations and volunteers. The financial model prices that person at $75,000.
- A working price of $2,500 to $3,000 a year, against $1,750 for Bridge today.
- Members graduate into EO when they qualify. "Once you qualify for EO, congratulations, you're now part of EO."
Colton's read of the recording
- The middle room as it stands today is not working, and it needs a name that is not Bridge.
- Lay the whole path out on day one of Catalyst, through the moderators, so the next room is never a surprise.
- Two forum tracks rather than three, with three content buckets on one learning calendar. Several members also saw the buckets as a useful filter for all EO programming.
- Build the programming from EO members and existing events first, rather than writing a new curriculum.
- It needs someone to run it, and it needs a financial model before anything else. Named in the room: a staff position and a committee of about six with a Collective chair; David Frazier for the math. No one was named to run it yet.
- Catalyst's expected loss this year ($10,000 to $12,000) is acceptable as a recruiting cost.
Not settled by anyone
- A separate membership, or simply continuing in Catalyst? Both were said in the room.
- Price, and initiation credit. $2,500 and $3,000 were both said. One member suggested a year of Collective dues could count toward EO initiation. Colton is torn ("full price or free").
- The number. Colton's slide said keep 50% of each graduating class; his target here is 75%. Matt has asked for a clear membership goal.
- The programming. Sameera's word was "hazy": re-bucketed EO events plus think tanks, or something built? Audit a few classes, or adopt an operating system like EOS or Petra?
- The revenue tiers by industry. Who sets them, and at what numbers.
- Applicants who are not invited. Repeat Catalyst? At a discount (Colton's proposal, not discussed in the room)? A lighter bootcamp?
- A carrot for EO. One member's caution: the Collective should never get so good that qualifying members stay in it instead of joining EO. A time limit was asked about; Colton's answer was graduating out on qualifying.
- Is the Bridge stigma real? Michael Burcham's theory, unverified. The alumni survey asks.
- Member commitment across committees and boards: seat-cost transparency and five-bullet expectation documents were floated. Colton is soliciting ideas.
"Had something been available, I would have continued."A Catalyst graduate on the council, on the year between graduating and qualifying for EO, when Bridge did not exist yet
Perspectives from council members
In their names, in their words
Input that individual members sent after the meeting. A perspective is a suggestion for the council to weigh on October 14. It is not the concept above, and it is not where the group landed.
EO Catalyst: Bridging the Gap to $1M
Emailed September 17 with #Calvin. A brainstorm she wrote before the meeting, drawing on about a dozen Catalyst participants she has mentored.
Graduates fall into three populations ($1M Ready, Growth Gap, Foundation Gap). A Stage 2 that is earned, not automatic. For the Growth Gap group, implementation and accountability instead of more curriculum: a Strategic Growth Plan, rotating advisors by function, implementation labs, and 90-day execution cycles.
Where it touches the concept: it overlaps on earning the next room and on diagnosing before placing. It is written for graduates heading toward $1M and EO, and does not address members who choose to stay small, which the concept does.
Project Elevate Nashville
Emailed September 17 with #Calvin. A working draft from February 2026 that Jay had discussed with Colton and Richard. Council material.
The whole journey as four tiers: Catalyst; Ascent Nashville as the middle membership (Catalyst graduates, revenue up to $2M, Ascent-only forums, all Nashville events, $1,750 a year with scholarships); EO Nashville with the revenue minimum raised to $2M in 2027 and current members grandfathered; and Summit for 15-year members.
Where it touches the concept: the same middle room, at a different price and with different event access, and tied to the threshold question, which Colton set aside for now.
Sent something and do not see it here? Email Colton with #Calvin, or use the box at the bottom of the page. Every perspective gets the same treatment: your name, your words, its own label.
Where this stands
The timeline, and what comes next
Hover or tap a stop to read it.
How feedback works here
From a comment to a change, in four steps
- ReceivedYou leave itEvery page ends with a box. Your name and what you think land in the public feedback log the same second.
- ProposedCalvin drafts itTick the change-request box or type #Calvin (an email to Colton with #Calvin works too) and Calvin, Colton's assistant, drafts the change.
- ApprovedColton decidesNothing changes without Colton's approval. A no says why, on the record.
- LiveIt shipsWith a line in the changelog crediting you.
Anything a council member sends is shown under their name as a perspective. It does not change the concept until Colton, and then the council, say it does. That goes for everyone's input, so nobody's suggestion, Colton's included, reads as the group's conclusion before the group has one.
Your turn
Share feedback with Colton
About this page, the concept, a number, the wording, anything. Every entry lands in the public feedback log with your name on it, so you can see it was received and what happened to it.