Zap's Wrap April 6th

hi friends,

It's been a really good week, like, genuinely good. Something is clicking across my portfolio right now and it's hard to explain, but when you're close to these companies, you just know when things are working.

A few updates from the week:

• Sent my first ever investor update of 6 portfolio companies to all the people who've backed my deals. It felt like a small, but meaningful step toward being official. (Only a dozen other things left to build!)

• 27 scout checks written and 6 SPVs closed so far. I don't know what my next deal will be yet, but I am so ready for it!!!

• The Lighthouse is currently under construction 🫠 Turns out when your founder community grows, you have to upgrade the space to fit everyone. Good problem to have.

I have a very important role to fill: WattData is hiring for a Data Platform Engineer! I have put all of the engineers on this team together and so I need to keep up my streak! Here are some high level details, but hmu if you need to know more.

Startup things I think are cool!

• Went to a happy hour with doctors that Joe from Send It hosted, and it's his birthday this week! Happy birthday Joe 🎉

• Hosted a CTO Board Game Night and had a couple of students stop by. This one was definitely a hit. Honestly, my special talent might be teaming up non-technical founders with technical co-founders!!!

• Hosted a Consumer Founders hang. Talked about how the job of a B2B CEO is to sell, the job of a B2C CEO is to market. Wanted to bring these folks together to talk about that and what everyone is building.

• Caught up with James, who is about to close a big deal with PepsiCo. So proud of him and the WVN team for pushing through that first hard stretch!

• Got a demo of what Harlan is building to make email way better. Stay tuned.

A few things on my mind lately:

• It is sooo easy to conflate being busy with being productive. I've been guarding my time more lately and sometimes catch myself thinking "am I actually getting enough done?" - because I'm not as spent at the end of the day and I'm not in back to back meetings anymore. But the reality is I'm getting more done, I'm just being strategic about it. This reset feels way different.

• I love having money. It's the best. I don't see myself as a big buyer of things, but I love spending on things that actually mean something. I love having money to build my dreams, to pay my friends to do great work, to keep making the Lighthouse nicer and nicer. I feel entrepreneur rich and entrepreneur broke at the same time!!!! lol the more I make, the more I just pour back into building.

• There's a gap in the Nashville startup ecosystem around navigation. Like, why is there not one place with ALL the events, orgs, and resources? I actually made one years ago that I used constantly, but I think it's time to build a new one. Adding it to the list!

• My entire life exists within a 2 mile radius. Honestly feel like that’s living the dream. I try to walk or bike to work every day. If something is outside that radius, it's probably just not meant for me lol.

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!

Personal

I'm officially a person who buys art. 🎉

Me and Mr Zap bought three pieces, all from local artists. It felt so good to splurge on something a real person actually made.

This one is my favorite by far. It just brings so much energy into our home.

to the moon,

zap⚡