Zap's Wrap August 25th

late post ⚡⚡⚡

Author

Haley Zapolski
August 25, 2026

hi friends,

🚨 Made investment #28 into a Nashville startup 🚨

Eric Schell building OneTap.

OneTap is a marketplace that connects multi-location restaurant operators with technicians for the repairs they desperately need. If you've never thought about what happens when the walk-in cooler goes down at a restaurant with twelve locations, the answer is: a lot of phone calls, a lot of waiting, and a lot of money bleeding out while they wait for a repair.

Eric knows this because he lived it. Before One Tap, he ran a house flipping business and a maintenance company, spending 10 years swinging a hammer. He watched firsthand how broken the whole process was- how many different people you had to chase down just to get one simple thing fixed. So he teamed up with his CTO, Christopher, and started building the technology to fix it. (plug that they met at a Lighthouse event!!).

Here's why I'm excited about this one:

  • Eric gets his hands dirty. Literally and figuratively, and I really like that about him. He's run a house flipping business and a home maintenance business. And when he's not working at The Lighthouse, he's fixing things at The Lighthouse. I am insanely grateful for it.

  • The business model is hard to build. Marketplaces almost always are, and this one especially, you're coordinating real people showing up at real buildings to do real work. Hard to build means hard to copy, and it means once you're in, you're sticky.

  • It's durable. In a world where everything is being rethought around AI, there's something reassuring about a business built on fixing actual things in actual restaurants. Somebody still has to show up with the wrench.

You can hear more of Eric's story on the Founders Only podcast- episode linked here.

I didn’t make a new angel investment all summer, so I was so happy to dust off my checkbook! Even though I did several SPVs over the summer, I consider my $5k checks scout checks and an essential part of the model. I invest first, I watch, I help them raise a venture round, and then I run an SPV to bring other folks in when the time is right!

I hosted a dinner at Sushi San with several of the later-stage founders I know in town. I'd been wanting to get this group in one room for a while, mostly because they're all building at a similar altitude and mostly don't overlap day to day.

From left to right:

Every one of these is a startup to watch in this town!! Grateful they all made the time.

3686 is September 14th–16th.

I'm putting together a few events during the conference!

  • The RHOdeo, Tuesday, Sept 15, 7:30–9pm @ Wild Beaver Saloon

    • Mechanical bull riding competition. Longest ride wins. Rho is covering the rides and there are drink tickets at the door.

  • Lighthouse Open House, Wednesday, Sept 16, 9–10:30am @ the Lighthouse

    • We almost never open the house up to the public, so this is your chance!! Coffee truck out front, come see the space and meet the people building in it. Thank you to Derrick (FBT), Andrea (Rho), and Tommy (Riverfront) for helping me make it happen.

  • Startup & Tech Job Fair, Wednesday, Sept 16, 11am–2pm @ Brooklyn Bowl

    • This is the one I'm most fired up about! First year LaunchTN is running this. 30 startups, 10 major tech companies, 300+ people. Open to all of Tennessee tech, you do not need a 3686 badge to come (but you def should attend the actual 3686 conference). If you're hiring, hmu! If you want to come as talent, you can now sign up here!

Upcoming Events - there are a lot of them!!!

  • Cofounder Connect, Wednesday, September 2nd @ 5:30pm

    • Come meet other coders and sellers! Whether you have an idea you are working on or just like the idea of teaming up with someone, you are welcome.

  • Nashville Tech Ops Community, Wednesday, September 9th @ 5:30pm

    • A meetup exclusively for folks who work in operations at tech companies. Any type of ops fits in though!

  • Founder Finance 201, Thursday, September 10th @ 12pm

    • We are going to be covering everything you need to know about your numbers to go raise $$$!!!! Plus lunch.

  • Nashville Customer Success Community, Thursday, September 10th @ 5:30pm

    • A meetup exclusively for folks who work in customer success.

Personal

I was in the country of Georgia (yes, the other side of the world) for a wedding this past weekend. Mr Zap’s best friend got married to a Georgian woman and he was in the wedding. Georgians know how to throw a really fun wedding!!!

I had food poisoning yesterday 😭😭😭 so am sending this out a day late

to the moon,

zap⚡