An evolving model · v2.1.0
The entrepreneur journeys
Three paths through the same front door.
Catalyst Collective is an ongoing membership, by invitation. Every Catalyst graduate ends up on one of these three paths. The first two are the Collective's two tracks. The third is what happens when an application is not accepted yet. Read them side by side; the differences are the point.
The map
One trunk, three branches
Grow into EO
Invited, placed in a growth forum, and graduates into EO Nashville on qualifying.
Collective EO Journey 2 · Stabilizing & Optimizing trackStay, and run it well
Invited, placed with owners who are not chasing bigger, and stays as long as it is worth it.
Collective stay Journey 3 · not invited yetRepeat Catalyst
The committee says "not yet," the graduate repeats Catalyst and applies again.
Catalyst again applySide by side
Step by step, six stops each
Grow into EO
For the founder scaling toward the EO qualifying line on purpose. The Collective's Growth & Scaling track.
- Enter through EO NashvilleA Catalyst info session, then the application: founder or controlling owner, $250,000+ in revenue, approved to participate. Tuition $3,500.
- CatalystThirteen classes, a cohort that meets like a forum, a mentor, and access to learning and social events. The business gets stronger and the owner gets known by a moderator and a mentor.
- Graduate, apply, get invitedThe graduate applies to the Collective. Its committee, informed by the moderator and mentor, reviews the application and extends an invitation. A 20-minute placement intake puts the new member on the Growth & Scaling track.
- Join a forum in the trackA moderated forum of businesses the same size on the same trajectory, not mixed with owners optimizing for stability, with mentorship from EO members who have scaled through this exact range.
- Attend the events that fitThe monthly learning calendar filtered to growth topics: scaling operations without breaking them, hiring and managing the first layer of leadership, pricing and margin for a growing company, raising outside capital if it makes sense. Plus social hours with the whole Collective.
- Cross the line, join EOOnce the business qualifies, the member graduates into EO Nashville. Colton's words: "Once you qualify for EO, congratulations, you're now part of EO."
Stay, and run it well
For the owner with a business that already affords the life they want, not chasing bigger. The Collective's Stabilizing & Optimizing track.
- Enter through EO NashvilleSame door, same application, same $3,500 Catalyst tuition.
- CatalystSame thirteen classes and cohort. Along the way it becomes clear this owner is building a profitable business that is theirs on purpose, and is fine with $750,000 or a million if it means no boss, flexibility, and time with family.
- Graduate, apply, get invitedSame application, same committee, same intake. Placed on the Stabilizing & Optimizing track. "Do you love what you're doing and not having a boss? We have a community for you."
- Stay in the CollectiveA forum of like-minded owners, social hours with the whole Collective, and the events they choose. Not a consolation lane: staying is the success case.
- Content built for stabilizingMargin and pricing discipline at a fixed size, systems that buy back the owner's time, entity and tax structure for a lifestyle business, delegating without adding headcount, work-life balance and automation. Growth content is there too, whenever they want it.
- Stay as long as it is worth itNo forced exit and no "not EO yet" stigma. If the business grows past the line anyway, the EO invitation is waiting.
Not invited (yet)
For the graduate whose business is still in firefighting mode, or who is not yet truly committed to it.
- Enter through EO NashvilleSame door, same application, same tuition.
- CatalystThe class shows what the moderator and mentor can see: everything still relies on the owner, there is no staff or support team, viability is still in question, or the owner is not truly committed to the business.
- Applied, not invited yetThe committee says "not yet," plainly and with the reasons, in a way that does not burn the relationship. Sameera's rule for the room: do it in a way that we are not burning bridges.
- Best next step: repeat CatalystThe graduate is encouraged to go back through Catalyst. Colton's proposal is a discounted rate for repeaters; today a repeat costs the full $3,500 and no class can be audited. A lighter "anti-firefighting" bootcamp was floated as an alternative and is not designed.
- A second lookA second graduation and a second application, decided by the committee with a moderator who has now seen the business twice. Alumni can apply again at any time.
- Either an invitation, or an honest answerYes moves the graduate into Journey 1 or 2. No means the program did its job: the owner concludes, on purpose and on a timeline, whether this business, or entrepreneurship, is the path.
Who gets in
Apply, then the committee invites
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. The full criteria are on the overview.
- Who decides. The Collective's own committee (Colton's suggestion in the room: about six people and a Collective chair, reporting into the chapter the way Catalyst's chair does today) reviews applications after each class graduates, and whenever an alum applies. The committee is informed by the graduate's moderator and mentor, the people who watched the business for six months.
- Placement, not self-selection. A roughly 20-minute intake, a short survey, and a conversation with the moderator or mentor decide the track. Members can still say which room they want ("I just don't want any more hair on fire Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays"), and the intake listens.
- The lever. Invite-only is what keeps the room good. If a class is strong, the invitation might go to everybody. If it is not, the committee has a way to say "not yet" without changing the program.
- Told on day one. A council member's ask, and the room agreed: lay the whole path out when someone starts Catalyst, through the moderators, so nobody learns about the next room by accident. "You didn't know it."
The reasoning
Why three paths and not one program
Mixing a member who is still firefighting with one scaling toward five million degrades the experience for both, in a forum or in a class. It is the same friction EO forums already feel. The September 9 draft carried three tracks inside the membership; the council on September 17 leaned to two forum tracks and three content buckets, with firefighting handled by repeating Catalyst rather than by a Collective track. That is the version on this page. If the council wants the third track back inside the Collective, say so at the bottom of the page.
"It's a membership, not a waiting room. You finished Catalyst. You're building a business that's profitable, and yours on purpose."Colton, presenting the concept on September 17
Perspectives from council members
How their ideas line up with the journeys
The three journeys above are the concept as Colton described it. What follows is input from individual members, under their names. Each is a suggestion for the council to weigh, not part of the journeys unless the council adopts it.
How Brittany would sort graduates
From her document, EO Catalyst: Bridging the Gap to $1M.
- A, $1M Ready: already approaching the threshold; remove the last barriers and accelerate into EO.
- B, Growth Gap: about $500K to $900K with traction but limited scalability; her ideal participant for an earned Stage 2.
- C, Foundation Gap: below about $500K or showing limited growth; continued foundational development with a chance to reassess.
Her suggestion for the Growth Gap group: implementation over curriculum. A 12 to 18 month Strategic Growth Plan, rotating advisors by function, implementation labs, and 90-day Diagnose, Prioritize, Implement, Measure, Adjust cycles.
How it lines up with this page: her A and B resemble Journey 1, and her C resembles Journey 3. Her document does not include a path like Journey 2, the owner who chooses to stay small. The council has not weighed in on either point.
Jay's middle room: Ascent Nashville
From his February 2026 working draft, Project Elevate Nashville.
- Requires Catalyst (or another EO accelerator) graduation, with revenue up to $2M.
- Forums made up of Ascent members only, at similar growth stages, with tenured EO members helping moderate and mentor.
- Access to all Nashville events. $1,750 a year, up to 50% scholarships.
How it lines up with this page: the same middle room and the same matched-forum idea. It differs on price and on event access (the concept gives the Collective monthly learning and social events of its own), and it sits inside a larger plan to raise EO's revenue minimum, which Colton set aside for now.
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.