Nick Palumbo, Executive Director of the Creative Coast
Nick Palumbo is Executive Director of The Creative Coast - Savannah's flagship startup nonprofit. He also serves as Alderman representing Savannah’s 4th District since 2020, where he spearheaded several innovative programs including the nation's first sustainable to-go cup program, Savannah's 311 mobile APP, and 100% Savannah - propelling the City of Savannah to become the largest municipal solar provider in Georgia. Nick is also a nationally recognized mobility advocate and helped secure over $10 million for Savannah’s multi-use path network Tide to Town. Palumbo brings a collaborative approach to catalyzing an innovation economy in Coastal Georgia and *loves* hearing big ideas from the community.
Nick opened by thanking us for being invited back to speak for a second time with Metro and announced that as of MARCH 20th, they will be going live with their new branding.
Their new focus is on these three main questions:
- Where are you?
- What do you do?
- Who do you serve?
Nick shared the background story of the organization and their support of small, startup businesses and how to help them grow into a community of makers & doers. He shared incredible success stories that warranted applause and goosebumps.
They are on a mission to connect, support, and develop entrepreneurs and innovators to positively impact the economy in our community. They are simply here to help- no strings attached, no expectations. They have 30 different resource partners. Their impact relies on educating, collaboration and innovation. They have a very high incubator attendance rate (91%) and the first month on the job in April 2024, he jumped right in with teaching pricing strategies (in a fun way!)
Innovation community investments provide the largest ROI on our local economy. Engaged innovative entrepreneurs are Coastal Georgia’s force multiplier. Nick shared a video promoting Launch Savannah which featured interviews with participants and their successes. Last year, they received 120 applications in their first year (when they were hoping for 10!) To build on that, they launched Spark Savannah in March 2025, with shared meeting space via SCAD (and access to their resources!) Nick encouraged us to share this information with anyone who might be up for an intensive 12 week course. Also, if you are interested in speaking at any of the courses, reach out to Nick.
How to engage:
- Geekend to GRIT (Jessie’s first speaking event outside of the Bananas!) started with the Creative Coast.
- Fast Pitch (free one on one consulting for all innovators to transform today’s dreams into tomorrow’s truth. Connects investors with
- Launch Savannah
- Tech Tuesday at Hop-a-Tompica
- C Spot- every second Thursday
Savannah, GA 31405
United States of America