Launchpad Names Taylor McLemore Director of the Ignite Program

Launchpad Tech Ventures, the tech incubator, growth program, and pre-seed fund building the Southeast's next generation of founders, has announced that Taylor McLemore has joined the organization as venture partner and director of the Ignite Program. McLemore will lead Ignite, the growth-stage arm of Launchpad's four-stage pipeline that gives operating companies support and access to capital through the Ignite Fund.

McLemore brings a rare combination of operating, investing, and public-sector experience to the role. Previously, he has served as founder, CEO, COO of early-stage to growth-stage companies, as well as numerous boards, ranging from startups to chairing the board of a $60 billion financial organization. Not only did he found the Human Potential Summit, a gathering of executives, philanthropists, and innovators focused on the future of work, but his background includes serving as managing director at Techstars, where he built and led the Workforce Development Accelerator, and managing director of Able, a venture studio. He is also co-founder of Codeable, a coding school serving students across Latin America, and founded Patriot Boot Camp, a nonprofit that supported more than 1,000 veteran and military-spouse founders before its acquisition by Disabled American Veterans in 2021 (the first acquisition in DAV's 100-year history).

"Taylor has built companies, run accelerators, allocated capital, and sat on the kind of boards that ask hard questions about governance and risk, which is exactly the experience our Ignite-stage founders need once they've moved past the idea and into building a real company," said Alan Blakeborough, president of Launchpad. "He's led the kind of accelerator work we want to scale, and he's done it with the outcomes to prove it."

McLemore's appointment comes as Launchpad quickly expands its footprint across the Southeast, with active programs in Greenville, Columbia, and Myrtle Beach and a growing presence in New York, North Carolina, and through upcoming virtual programs nationally. The group is currently accepting applications for its fall cohort, to begin September 2026.