FOUNDER-CEO Sherry Stewart Deutschmann is launching her Nashville-born BrainTrust women's business programs into Charlotte, Austin and other markets.

She told Venture Nashville she expects to be doing business in a total 20 U.S. cities by 2030, with Denver, Atlanta and Tampa very much on her radar. 

Deutschmann also confirmed she aims to raise $7MM in equity capital to accelerate growth of BrainTrust, which operates under her Backbone LLC.

Participants in the BrainTrust round are likely to be family offices, and outside investors will routinely be afforded early looks at BrainTrust members' startups.

She said she prefers family offices as investors for several reasons, including the fact that female founders altogether attract only about 2% of each year's U.S. venture capital investments, despite the fact that a great deal of research shows investment in women-led firms often leads to higher returns on investment.

Three days ago Pitchbook published fresh data regarding female and male shares (sorted by founder-cofounder) of investment in the United States and in Europe. Related resources: Female Founders Fund | Founders Forum | VC Lab | EY | Harvard |

In-line with such findings, Deutschmann told VNC she also plans to establish under Backbone LLC "a fund for short-term low-interest loans for women." 

She said she's likely to pursue the credit fund roughly a year after BrainTrust receives and puts to work outside investment and is no longer dependent on the scale of her personal investment.

Deutschmann's comments come just ahead of two events:

‣ She'll appear Monday, Sept. 8 as an Angel investor on a panel during the invitation-only InvestTN Summit (SSBCI, Launch Tennessee), a day prior to the annual 3686 Festival.

‣ Her annual BrainTrust LIVE conference, scheduled Oct. 1 at Music City Center, with 450 attendees. Program includes a keynote speaker who plans to donate two $15K grants to women contributing to advancement of women. Registration.

WOMAN IMPACT

Deutschmann is widely recognized not only as a 2X business founder, but also as an advisor, Angel investor and staunch advocate for women who are driven to advance their businesses to $1MM annual revenue and beyond.

Her reputation was well-established by 2014, when The New York Times reported that her then-12-year-old company had $30MM annual revenue and no debt.

In 2016, Deutschmann was recognized as a Champion of Change in the "Living Wage" category through a program sponsored by then-President Barack Obama.

Also in 2016 -- after a long stretch of receiving weekly inquiries about her interest in capital or a sale -- she sold her $40MM-revenue LetterLogic Inc. to Boston-based PE Westview Capital, which combined it with Apex Revenue Technologies. 

In its early years, LetterLogic gained traction by handling by mailing patient statements and invoices for healthcare organizations. Her initial sale of majority interest was prompted mainly by the need to keep pace with the market's technologic advancement.

Her successful exit from LetterLogic demonstrates the impact that a tenacious Nashville entrepreneur can have, over time.

• In 2018, Apex sold to GTCR-backed Revspring, which remains headquartered in Nashville despite GTCR's 2024 exiting the business after a sale to Frazier Healthcare Partners (Seattle).
• Whereas at its sale in 2016 Letterlogic reported a workforce about 50 persons, consolidator Revspring now has more than 600 employees concentrated in seven cities and led by CEO Scott MacKenzie, and now based in nearby Antioch.

With Deutschmann at the helm of the company -- which she famously founded in her basement in 2002 by drawing on her 401k savings and resigning a six-figure job with a similar business -- LetterLogic was listed ten consecutive years among the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing businesses. 

EXPANSION

Deutschmann said BrainTrust now has 269 women members--60 of whom run Nashville-area businesses that each generate $1MM-plus revenue per year. 

She said local BrainTrust members currently generate an aggregate $250MM in revenue in their businesses, which employ an aggregate 1,600 employees.

Deutschmann provided a sample of Nashville-based BrainTrusters' startups: Laurel Orley's Daily Crunch, Amy Green's Mamaya Health, Deanna Meador's Couture Technologies and Sarah Worley's Biscuit Love. 

She projects a total 50 members will be onboard in the Charlotte market by Oct. 1 (30 of those have already joined).

Deutschmann said BrainTrust scouts cities demographically similar to Nashville, with factors including evidence of rapid growth of new women-owned businesses.

She said analyses by Wells Fargo, Ernst & Young, National Women's Business Council and others are helpful in profiling and prioritizing markets.

Prospective BrainTrust members are plentiful, because an estimated 900 new U.S. women-owned businesses start-up each day, most of them sole proprietorships.

In addition, Braintrust's virtual-only membership offering is ramping-up, and will soon allow participation by women located nearly anywhere.

ACTIVE ANGEL

For a decade or more, Deutschmann has been an Angel investor.

She told VNC that given that BrainTrust is her biggest personal investment to-date, she is currently not personally tracking other startup targets on a sustained basis.

However, she admits she remains opportunistic about examining truly compelling startups, citing the example of Nashville-based Giggs, a social-networking platform for the live-events industry, led by Nikki Sanz.

She said she has invested in 29 young businesses, 25 of which are still operating. She holds stakes in 8 businesses with founders who are active members in BrainTrust. 

Her investments are as small as $25K, but have thus far averaged $100K per company -- and she has invested in "4 or 5" for $500K each. 

In the years since BrainTrust's launch, she invested well north of $500K on development of the company's portal, which connects all BrainTrust members.

DETAILS

There is no charge to simply apply for consideration for any level of BrainTrust membership. However, from the outset, candidates must confirm they are working on a business (not a hobby) in which they work full-time.

Deutschmann said that while some BrainTrust members report multiple millions of dollars in annual recurring revenue, threshold criteria for membership include having booked at least $100K annual revenue or -- if the business is "pre-revenue" -- having raised more than $350K in Seed capital.

Accepted members initially participate in a membership "Vault" group of 5 to 8 members each, with group assignment base on members' business needs. Beyond that, there are several paths or modes of participation.

Asked about potential competitors, Deutschmann noted Chief and Vistage. 

Brief VNC research indicates other relevant entrants include Female Founder Collective Holdings, led by Rebecca Minkoff.

Morgan Stanley

BrainTrust's Co-Founder and President is Morgan Stanley, a former Petra business coach, who joined the business in 2022.

Josh Bowling is COO. The company's team currently totals 9 FTE (8 are women).

BrainTrust-Backbone's outside advisors include lawyers with Riggs Davie. Its accounting is with Meagan Chaffin's Luca Business Solutions. The company banks with PinnacleBank.

Some of BrainTrust's content marketing and public relations efforts are supported by Columbia, Mo.-based John Hall and the team of RELEVANCE.

A native of Banner Elk, N.C., Deutschmann, now 65, came to Nashville in 1987. Today, she is a grandmother, with a daughter active in residential real estate in Oregon.

The founder's story is detailed in her Inc. Original-published Lunch with Lucy (2020).

As she has often told audiences, she attributes the success of LetterLogic to the culture she and her team established, in which the needs of employees came before those of the customer or shareholder.

Her backstory was also superbly chronicled in 2015 by my colleague Jamie McGee, then of The Tennessean.

Sherry Stewart Deutschmann's husband of 17 years is Mark Deutschmann MBA, who is one of the Nashville region's most recognizable real-estate developers and redevelopers, as well as being an executive known for concern with community impact.

He is author of One Mile Radius. LinkedIn. VNC

.last edited 1719 6 September 2025