Zap's Wrap April 13th

hi friends,

I can finally share my latest investment!

Investment #26: subQdocs ⚡

Jason is one of those founders where, the more you learn about him, the more it makes sense.

I first met Jason through one of my other portcos, Offload, because he was an advisor. But I really got to know him on a founder trip to Bozeman, Montana last year. While I was very comfortably being lazy at the pool, Jason was up at the crack of dawn for a run up a mountain, then back at his laptop working, then somehow leading all of us up a second mountain that afternoon, and then back to work after that 😅😅

The hike was not easy. Jason quietly started coaching other founders up the trail. Encouraging them, pacing them, refusing to let anyone fall behind. Most of them would tell you he's the reason they made it to the top!

That's the thing about Jason. He just knows how to bring people with him.

I couldn't figure out where the energy was coming from. Then I found out he has five kids at home. Somehow that explained everything and nothing at the same time…

The company is subQdocs- an AI-native EHR built specifically for dermatologists.

They started with a notetaker: if you know what's being said in the room, you know what's going on in the practice. Smart thesis. They spent last year building it, learning the space, and getting close to their customers. Then in the fall, they made a decision- go bigger and build the full EMR.

In February they announced the new product. 55+ practices signed up to be early adopters. They're adding more every week.

They're hiring right now- someone to sell, someone to build, and a PM. If any of those are you, hmu.

Startup things I think are cool!

• The latest FOUNDERS ONLY episode is out. I sat down with Jimmy Speyer, founder of Glasshouse, the outbound sales platform for home services. Jimmy has spent 15 years as a startup GTM guy and has built a lot of teams. I genuinely can't pick favorites but this one is packed. If you're a founder trying to figure out sales, go listen to it. Also, Wefunder is hosting a dinner with Jimmy this Thursday to talk startup sales if you are a founder who needs to work on this!

• Lorenzo attended the Nashville Innovation Alliance Campaign Preview last week. They're putting together the story of innovation in Nashville and it sounds like something worth paying attention to.

• Met Ray, who is building Daisy Pay. The idea: instead of hiring creators to make content for you, you hire them to engage with your content- likes, comments, reposts- to drive virality organically. Really interesting angle. He's relatively new to Nashville and wants to build his team here as they scale.

• Met a few more pre-seed founders I'm hoping to write checks into soon. I've been waiting for this. Finally have my next deals to work on. 🎉

• Fintech startup Raise Financial is hiring an in-person Chief of Staff. Great role if you're looking.

• Judged the BGA High School student pitch competition on Friday. These kids were impressive!!!

• We finally made some Lighthouse SWAG!

A few things on my mind lately:

• 27 deals in and I keep thinking I should be getting sharper at pattern matching. Then I listened to the 20VC episode with Marc Andreessen and it kind of unraveled everything I thought I knew. Pattern matching matters, but my biggest job might actually be undoing my own biases, because most of them are irrelevant. The worst mistake I can make is thinking I know more than I do. The best thing I can do is find great people and back them. My best investment might be my very first one. VCs scoffed at it, they hated the industry. I almost listened. But it's working- really working- and it proved everyone wrong. If I had leaned on the pattern matching, I would have missed the whole thing. Always a balance.

• If you wait for founders to bring you their problems, you're missing 95% of the opportunity to help them. Founders almost never come to me with problems unprompted. The real work is going out to find their problems before they even know to surface them and acting before they have to ask.

• I still haven't nailed how to explain what The Lighthouse is. Easier to start with what we're not: not a coworking space, not an accelerator, not a traditional fund. We're pre-seed venture with a community backbone. We go in early with a small scout check, stay close, keep helping, and write a bigger check when the time is right. Still working on the one-liner…

Events

• The SPV Playbook, Wednesday April 22nd

  • ​SPVs allow investors to share access to deals, build track records, and back founders alongside other great investors. But most people only see the surface- not how they actually work behind the scenes. ​Join us for a conversation on how SPVs really work in practice.

• Zappy Hour, Wednesday, April 22nd

  • Drinks with founders & investors, cohosted with Wefunder!

• Legal Issues to Consider when Onboarding Customers, Friday May 1st

  • ​This session will discuss customer contracts, pilot and beta agreements, privacy considerations, and AI technology as it relates to early customers through growth.

• Proptech Demo Day, Wednesday May 6th

  • Come learn about startups building for real estate and construction!

• Engineers Meet Nashville Startups, Tuesday May 19th

Personal

I really struggled with being sick last week. Being sick is THE WORST THING EVER. Slowly getting back into things this week…

Mr Zap took me on a romantic 24 hour trip to one of my favorite places, Sojo Spa in New Jersey! We need a Korean spa in Nashville so badly!!! I’m either going to invest into one or one day have enough money I will build my own in town 😹😹 Seriously!!!

to the moon,

zap⚡