Tennessee

Little Seed Farm

Location: Lebanon, Tennessee
Website: https://littleseedfarm.com/
18 employees

James and Eileen Ray wanted to be part of the sustainable small-farming movement. They left their corporate jobs in New York City in 2012, moving to an old dairy farm outside Nashville to found Little Seed Farm. “Regenerative farming was something we were both super passionate about,” says James. “We wanted to make a difference in the world.” After trying their hands at raising cows, pigs, and ducks, the couple found their calling: creating clean beauty products, including their signature natural deodorant cream and handcrafted goat’s milk soaps, rooted in the same values that brought them to the farm in the first place. Today, with a staff of 18 and a herd of 50 goats, they manage their brand by intentionally selling only in mom-and-pop shops (over 1,000 nationwide) and directly to over 500,000 online customers. “We’ve grown every year since we started,” says James, noting that annual growth generally exceeds 20 percent.

“Google Ads is really effective for reaching people at their point of decision-making,” says James, who averages a 5x return on ad spend. “We’ve always used Google Ads to drive awareness and convert at the end of the funnel. It puts us on a level playing field with bigger companies.” Performance Max campaigns manage ads across all their ad channels; James notes they perform especially well for new and seasonal products. They’ve also discovered Gemini as a tool for troubleshooting IT or equipment issues. “Gemini and AI Overviews are a nice way to quickly answer questions or research problems,” James says. “Instead of making a phone call, I can upload a picture, describe what’s happening, and it can help me fix it.” And they use Gemini to help research product safety or substitutes for ingredients they want to avoid. “Our approach has been to grow slowly and sustainably, so we can maintain our brand ethics,” James says. “Google's been a part of that.”

Firesight Studios

Location: Chattanooga, Tennessee
Website: https://firesightstudios.com/
60,000 app downloads in the Google Play store

The seeds for Firesight Studios were planted in 2016 when Justin Zimmerman and Julius Hubbard worked together as firefighters in Chattanooga. Both had side businesses and projects: Justin is a programmer and software developer and Julius is an artist. In 2024, the two friends launched Firesight Studios to help local companies with their digital needs. When Julius’ daughters began learning color theory, it sparked a new idea: Palette Splash, a mobile game where players blend colors to advance levels. With the support of their families, the duo worked long nights to get their game off the ground, using Google tools to design, develop, and launch Palette Splash in the Google Play store. To their surprise, the downloads rolled in right away–and are now at 60,000 and counting.

Google Play offered Firesight Studios a way to deploy and distribute the game without self-hosting. “The integration is so streamlined–and affordable,” Julius says. Adds Justin, “The security measures and analytics functions Google puts in place are very valuable. With our Google Ads marketing, it’s like a one-stop shop to get it out to the masses.” Gemini’s API ensures that gamers generate family-friendly player names, and Firebase is an important part of their development process. “It provides us with every cloud service available to tackle any task,” says Justin. That ranges from authentication and image storage solutions to tracking game performance. “Palette Splash was just the beginning,” Julius says. They have new games on tap and are sparking creativity and engagement with Level Lab, which allows users to design, share, and play custom levels within games. They’re also working closely with the local tech community and leaders. “It’s a whole new market, to be able to tell blue-collar guys that you can be a first responder and start your own software company, and Google will support it,” says Julius.

Trenton & Heath

Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Website: https://www.youtube.com/c/TrentonHeath
430K subscribers

When brothers Trenton and Heath Potter, along with their dad, Norm, turned their love for shoes into shoeshine pickup-and-delivery business Potter & Sons in 2010, YouTube helped them hone their skills. “We used YouTube to watch other shoe shiners and learn from their techniques,” Heath says. In 2014, the brothers bought and renovated a 30-year-old shoe repair shop in suburban Nashville they named Southern Polished. “Our dream was to bring back the lost art of the shoe cobbler,” Trenton says. “We wanted to create an upscale shoe repair shop that focused on selling only the highest-quality products and specialized in refurbishing fine, luxurious shoes.” Five years later, the brothers turned to YouTube once again to broaden their audience. “I thought, why don't we start a YouTube channel where we answer people's questions?’” Trenton says. “I knew that YouTube had a massive audience and allowed you to tell a story.”

Trenton and Heath launched the Trenton & Heath YouTube channel in May 2019. “That changed everything,” Trenton says. Soon viewers worldwide were placing online orders through the Potter & Sons mail-in shoe care service, which sells higher-end shoe and leather care products. “Prior to YouTube, our only customers were locals,” says Trenton. “Within our first four years on YouTube, we had grown to over 400,000 subscribers.” Revenue has grown an average of 15 to 20 percent each year, allowing the brothers to hire more employees and roll out a men's sandal brand, Southern Polished. Trenton attributes 85 to 90 percent of their annual revenue growth to their YouTube channel, which sends 200 to 300 viewers each day to the Potter & Sons and Southern Polished websites. “For us, it was all about finding something that made our business unique and sharing it with people,” Trenton says. “When we did that, people were very appreciative, and that helped our business grow.”

Alliance Training and Testing

Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Website: https://guardtrainingtn.com/
1,500 people trained in 2022

As a decorated Army infantryman, Angel Rodriguez found it was a natural progression to the security field once he returned to civilian life. He was running operations for a small security company when the owners, unhappy with the security guard training available in Nashville, suggested that he start training people himself. In 2012, he opened Alliance Training and Testing to license unarmed security guards, and he has since expanded the business to provide armed license courses and recertification. “It gives me the warm fuzzies whenever I meet someone and know that what I’m doing will help them get a job,” Angel says. The pandemic hit the industry hard, but Angel pivoted to offer the first online Unarmed Security License training course in Tennessee, working for eight months to change laws and gain approval. Business grew 138 percent in 2021, and in 2022 the company trained around 1,500 people. Angel has turned to his Google Business Profile to help that growth along.

“We created our Business Profile in 2012 when the company was formed,” Angel says, “and it’s equally important to me as my website.” In January 2023 alone, Alliance’s Business Profile was discovered nearly 3,000 times, with about 300 users clicking through to the website. “The products section, in particular, allows a frictionless way to offer my service directly to the customer right from the Business Profile page,” Angel explains. Also a Google Workspace user, Angel is particularly fond of Gmail for its ability to automate customer emails. This year, Alliance expects to double its business as it offers new courses based on new legislation, expands its online library, and starts to train students at client-hosted locations. “To quote Pinky and the Brain, we’re going to do the same thing we do every night,” Angel jokes: “Try to take over the world!”

SecondKeys

Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Website: https://www.secondkeys.com/
5 employees

Leaky faucets, broken washing machines, malfunctioning HVAC systems … Amber Hayes had dealt with them all as a contractor for Memphis-area property management companies. From the tenant’s perspective, these problems could not get fixed fast enough. But Amber observed an even bigger issue: Property managers lacked an efficient system to proactively maintain rental properties and track repairs; instead, they were constantly putting out fires. “I watched good staff and tenants leave properties because they were plagued by maintenance,” Amber recalls. But Amber was in a unique position to help. A coder since high school, she graduated from college with a computer science degree. “Unlike most property managers, I put on my programmer hat to try and find a platform that applies machine learning to residential real estate,” she explains. “It didn’t exist. So I BUILT it.” With support from the nonprofit Epicenter Memphis, Amber built a prototype and attracted enough investor funding to launch her tech startup, SecondKeys, in 2018 with co-founder Mars McClain, chief technology officer.

“SecondKeys provides property managers with an easy-to-use maintenance and repair platform that lets tenants and owners stay updated on what's going on at their property, from water leaks to broken appliances,” Amber notes. The system uses artificial intelligence (AI) to anticipate repairs, bridging the gap between property managers, tenants, and data. In 2020, Amber received a $50,000 award from the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund to help grow her business. She is also a Google Partner, managing Google Ads accounts for her customers and using Google Analytics. Throughout her career, she has helped win numerous awards for her company. Amber continues to innovate, dedicating her time to finding new solutions that promote a 21st century approach to the real estate industry.

Possip

Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Website: https://possip.com/
25 employees

As an educator and a parent, Shani Dowell knew that communication between schools and families had room to improve. In 2017 she founded Possip, an online platform that texts weekly prompts to families and staff to get feedback. Possip—a blend of “positive” and “gossip”—then organizes the feedback into actionable reports. Equitable access to information is central to Possip’s mission. Texts are sent in over 100 languages and are easy to read and answer. “There's such value in the diversity of voices,” Shani says, “so creating a tool that brings in all those voices is important.” As a participant in the 2020 Google for Startups Accelerator for Women Founders, Shani discovered digital products like Google Analytics, which Possip uses to interpret data and guide them as they tweak their website and ads. And they use Google Translate to engage non-English speakers. Possip has 25 employees serving around 300,000 families in 700 schools from Maine to Hawaii.

School shutdowns due to COVID-19 made the startup’s future uncertain. But it became clear that more schools than ever needed an efficient way to assess not just educational or tech needs, but also food, housing, and health issues affecting their students’ families. Possip experienced a 6x growth year-over-year (YoY) as more school districts joined the platform to listen and respond to their communities. To process the amount of data they’re receiving, Possip is adding Google Cloud AI to their digital toolbox. They’re also offering more information on their website and blog. “We think about gossip as bad,” says Shani, “but when you get that information to the right people, positive things can happen to improve a community.” With a 90-percent renewal rate, Possip has a lot of positive gossip to spread. And with a recent $100,000 non-dilutive cash investment from the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund, Possip can continue to focus on its long-term vision to be “the place where parents and educators go to strengthen experiences for kids,” adds Shani.

My Cup of Tea

Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Website: www.shopmycupoftea.com
14 employees

In 2014, Rick and Carey Moore launched My Cup of Tea, a Memphis local business dedicated to packaging and distributing tea from around the world. In an effort to give back to the community, the Moores exclusively hire local single mothers to manage and operate My Cup of Tea from the House Orange Mound Resource Center. The tea is then sold nationally online.

“All of our profit is reinvested into our amazing employees,” Carey said. Digital has played a key role in helping the company flourish in an under-resourced area, driving both community support and sales. “Part of the challenge is getting the community involved financially and finding people willing to work and volunteer with women who live in the neighborhood,” Rick explained.

In 2015, My Cup of Tea partnered with a web design and marketing agency to kick-start its online strategy. Together, they set up a Business Profile on Google and built a website to raise awareness. “Early on, we were setting goals for search engine optimization and social media,” said Kindra Svendson, the agency’s digital marketing manager. My Cup of Tea uses Google Ads to reach customers and Google Analytics to monitor traffic on its top landing pages. The business’ entire advertising budget is dedicated to digital, which accounts for more than 20% of its total sales. ”Year-over-year sales have improved about 74%,” Kindra said. “The majority of our site traffic is from new visitors, and 42% find the company through organic search. We’ve gotten thousands of visits just from our online presence.”

In just five years, My Cup of Tea has grown to serve more than 2,000 customers annually. “From a marketing standpoint, Google is one of the most powerful tools that we use,” Kindra said. “The mission of the organization isn’t going to change. But to keep growing, we need to stay on top of what’s changing in the digital space.” More importantly, My Cup of Tea has become a “mission within a mission” in Carey’s eyes. They’ve helped several employees launch their own side businesses. “We’re making a change in the community, but these women are the real inspiration,” Rick added. “They’re determined to improve their lives, their family’s lives, and the area they live in.”

Patricia Nash Designs

Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
Website: www.patricianashdesigns.com
35 employees

Sometimes a glimpse into the past is the best way to see the future. After years of designing handbags and accessories for other brands, Patricia Nash was looking for a change. She found a 50-year-old handbag in her mother’s closet and, inspired by its quality and workmanship, decided to launch a line of handbags under her own name in 2010. The company produces quality bags, all designed by Patricia, combining old-world craftsmanship with updated details for today’s customer. “We’ve grown exponentially and continue to be a very healthy business because of the quality and the detail in every product,” explains Jennifer Evans, Vice President of Operations.

Patricia Nash Designs sells wholesale to department stores and direct-to-consumer via their website. Google products help them to stay competitive and grow their online business. They use AdWords, Google’s advertising program, to market and sell their products directly to customers across the country. Google Analytics helps them make effective use of their digital advertising budget by measuring conversion rates and providing insights into their website traffic. They also share videos on their own YouTube channel to debut new product lines and to give customers a behind-the-scenes peek into the design and production processes.

Patricia Nash Designs is proud of being a woman-owned business and offers mentoring events to other businesswomen in the community. As Jennifer points out, “Patricia is not only a great designer, she’s also a great businesswoman.” They’re proud of maintaining a personal touch with their customers and community, and of having devoted followers nationwide. “A lot of people ask why Patricia Nash Designs is located in Tennessee while most of our competitors are in New York,” says Marketing Manager Suzanne Koontz. “That’s because our customers are located in Knoxville-sized cities all across the country. That’s our following.” The company has added women’s footwear and men’s accessories to their product line in the past couple of years. Looking ahead, they are planning to add new classifications soon and are focused on steadily increasing their online business.

ABLE (FASHIONABLE)

Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Website: www.livefashionable.com
40 employees in Nashville

While working in Ethiopia, Barrett and Rachel Ward saw firsthand how extreme poverty affects the lives of girls and women. Many endured the ravages of homelessness and addiction, often turning to prostitution to support themselves and their families. "It’s a pretty disturbing thing to see," Barrett says. Amid this poverty, the couple also saw beauty in the scarves and garments made by the local women. This inspired them to find a way to help women overcome adversity. "Charity and rehabilitation are critical for getting people on their feet, but there has to be opportunities for jobs after that," Barrett explains. FASHIONABLE was founded in 2010, partnering with manufacturing companies in Tennessee and around the world to help women earn a living wage and break the cycle of poverty.

FASHIONABLE’s e-commerce site sells clothing, handbags, jewelry, and shoes. It also serves as a resource to educate consumers about world poverty and the fashion industry. "We wanted to invest in the web as our primary source of growth," Barrett says. “About 75 percent of our marketing budget now goes to digital.” AdWords, Google's advertising program, brings fashion- and socially-conscious consumers to their website and flagship store. “We earn four dollars in revenue for every dollar we spend on AdWords,” he adds. Google Analytics equips the company with the customer insights to continually refine their marketing campaigns. G Suite tools Gmail, Docs, and Drive power their growing operation. "Everything from financial-data analysis to inventory management happens in G Suite." And YouTube enables them to bring their story to life. "We are fully invested in everything Google,” says Barrett. “It’s the driver of our online growth.”

Revenue for the company more than doubled in 2016. While impressive, how much they’ve sold is far less important to them than why they sell, “and that’s to create sustainable jobs for women who have overcome extraordinary circumstances,” says Barrett. Today, FASHIONABLE employs 39 women in Nashville and partners with manufacturers to employ over 300 women globally. With consumer interest in their mission and products on the rise, this figure will likely keep on growing. And through their program ACCOUNTABLE, the manufacturers they partner with will continue to be held to the highest standards of labor and environmental practices. “That’s what we’re fighting for,” Barrett says, “not just the number of women who work, but also the quality of jobs those women have.”