Zap's Wrap Dec 30th

hi friends,

For my last working week of the year, I had dinner with several founders.

One was with a founder who was trying to raise a round of capital before year end and fell short. That means their cash runway is limited and they must make difficult decisions to persist.

The other dinner was with a founder who had just finished their last day as CEO because the board wanted someone else to take the spot. They had to help find their replacement and take on a new role.

Truth is, these experiences are not anomalies, they are the reality of what it takes to build something from nothing. Only a few folks get to witness the courage it takes to persist when the road narrows and I am incredibly grateful that I get to watch and learn.

One thing I believe- it is not money that makes startups successful, nor is it investors. It is the founders. More than that, it is the founders relentless unwillingness to give up.

Many would give up. But both of these folks are not.

Maybe I am naive and haven’t been in the game long enough, but I feel the most optimistic when a founder is at their lowest point and tells me they are going to keep going.

Few folks would understand, but it reminds me of this quote:

Startup stuff that’s cool

• My friend Ian with Xuron secured a strategic lead investor on his capital raise! As you guys know, I’m a big fan of scrappy founders and Ian definitely fits in this bucket. But I’m so glad he now has a bit more capital to work with and keep growing.

• I caught up with my friend Corbin who recently joined an SF startup that has their second HQ in Nashville. He is really looking to make connections with people who operate manufacturing plants in the southeast. If anyone in my network has any leads they can share with me, that would be tremendously helpful.

• I caught up with the dynamic duo of MyHome, Lindsey and Gabe. They help homeowners manage all of their home services and are getting a lot of traction working with real estate agents who want to white label their product to stay in touch with their customers and get referral fees when they get work done. If you work in real estate, you should meet these guys!

• I met a founder who is planning to relocate his startup to Nashville! Bootstrapped to 1M and they just raised a small strategic round. Don’t want to jinx it ‘til it happens, BUT he is actively seeking a mid to senior level Java developer who also enjoys front-end to hire here in town. Reach out to me for more details.

• I enjoyed a women’s tea and snack cakes at Cynthia’s house with some other women founders and investors. Cynthia recently hosted several student entrepreneurs from all over the country for several nights at her home over Thanksgiving!

• I met Nabil, a Vandy mech-e professor and Rohan, a Vandy neurosurgeon. They have patented technology for a new robotics medical device company that they are hoping to build. They see their strengths as being CTO and CMO, respectively and are actively hunting for a potential CEO who has ideally worked in medical devices and has raised capital previously.

• I met Richard, who was previously the CTO and cofounder at Freightwise (you know that big success story). He’s spent the last couple of years getting a PhD in computational data and is exploring what joining another early stage startup could look like. Top-tier talent for anyone who captures his interest!

Nashville startups launch team

Alright, it’s happening, we’re making a ‘launch team’ and already have the first 2 startups in planning!

A lot of startups have a cold start problem when they launch their product. They need to get users and/or customers, fast. Unless they have an audience, they have to spend lots of money or fight tooth and nail for attention.

Joining the launch team says you will help startups for 10 minutes of your month. This would look like getting an email update from me and/or the founder, getting a cal invite with the official launch timing, and receiving specific instructions on how to help. Instructions may include activities like, liking and commenting across platforms like LinkedIn, HackerNews, ProductHunt, or Instagram.

Why this helps- lots of early engagement can trigger the algorithm to create a ‘viral’ moment, which boosts the viewing to reach more potential customers/users.

If this is something you think is cool and you would be willing to spend a little time on, sign up here. (correct link I promise lol).

Events

• I’m hosting a workshop about how to get started as an angel investor on Tuesday, Jan 14th. Teaming up with my friends and the people I rely on for their expertise- Peter at Gust and Tommy at Riverfront Advisors. Link to sign up is here. Because of demand, we are also hosting a virtual workshop about angel investing on January 13th at 4pm. Sign up here.

Personal stuff

I celebrated Christmas in Hong Kong with Mr Zap over the best sushi I’ve ever had.

I love traveling, but recently I thought that I don’t quite enjoy it as much as I used to. And I don’t think it’s traveling that has gotten worse, I think that my life has just gotten better that I don’t want to leave it.

to the moon,

zap