Zap's Wrap January 12th

hi friends,

Last week was an exciting/demanding start for the year! I started raising for my 5th SPV into a Nashville startup and I am already set up my 6th 😬🤩 Things are moving super fast…

Here’s what I’m planning to get done in 2026, it’s not everything, but everything that fits nicely into this newsletter (:

• Write another 10-12 $5k scout checks. Go even earlier.

• Lead 8-10 SPVs. Add $1.4M in AUM. Add another 100 investors. Host an annual Investor Summit.

• Add 30 new Lighthouse founders, convert 10 to investments and 5 to SPVs. Formalize Lighthouse membership + platform playbook.

• Take founders on 3 fundraising field trips, 2 to SF and 1 to NYC.

• Form 5 cofounder teams. Help hire another 30 people to startups. Get to $25M raised for founders.

• Create ‘TechCrunch for Nashville’ content. Release 20 videos + stories about founders.

• Create an events strategy.

  • Quarterly engineers meet startups

  • Quarterly tech operators networking (to source talent, build community)

  • 2 Hackathons/Launch weeks

  • 6 investor education workshops

  • Quarterly all Nashville founders gathering

How I’m thinking about the Lighthouse in 2026

Non-negotiable investment criteria:

• They love the process and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. They have a ‘why me’ reason for why they see the problem they’re solving as their life mission, not just a job or a way to make money.

• There is (or will be) a strong coder + seller pairing.

• They value being part of a founder community.

• They have a clear bias for action.

• They create more value than they take.

Why founders choose the Lighthouse:

• We go earlier than anyone.

• We lead with a platform-first, give-before-we-take approach

• We work extremely hard for our founders

• We know founders as people, not just companies

Why investors choose to invest in Lighthouse deals:

• You get to be a part of something special happening in Nashville.

• You can write small checks into many high-quality deals

• You gain access to a curated founder + investor community

• Our diligence is differentiated, we know our founders deeply through proximity

Startup things that I think are cool

• WVN just announced their partnership with Tecovas. Super proud of this team! WVN helps brands make more money per sq ft in their physical spaces.

• I went to the UnityAI holiday party! They have over 20 people in Nashville now. I am incredibly impressed with their team culture + comraderie.

• Took a field trip to visit the Sitevue team. They are growing so fast and have been so fun to work with! So far, all of their customers are in meat processing, which is such a unique industry to be serving.

Startup jobs

• I have a startup hiring for a senior full stack engineer + a data engineer that is open to remote!

• Another startup hiring for a Forward Deployed Engineer.

• Edgevanta is hiring for a Customer Success Manager

• The Public Bored is hiring for a Community Amplifier

• I have 2 startups hiring someone to be their marketing hire #1. If that fits your skillset, let me know!

• An ai e-commerce startup hiring for a Junior product manager.

• A manufacturing startup is hiring for a UX designer

• Unity is hiring for an Enterprise Sales Lead

^email me about any of these roles!

Events

• Cofounder Connect, Tuesday, January 13th

  • I’ve helped form 10 cofounder teams so it felt like time to host an event focused on it (: Come and share what you’re building.

• Legal 101 for Founders, Thursday, January 15th

  • Literally everything you need to know when you’re just getting started. 1×1 Office hours are available after the event if you want to ask a specific question privately, just email me.

• Engineers meet Nashville startups, Tuesday, February 3rd

  • Engineers only! Hear startups pitching that are growing and need engineers

• Startup Operators Only Networking, Thursday, February 12th

  • If you work in tech and want to meet other people who do to, I am putting together an event for you! Looking for product, sales, marketing, growth, design, ops, etc type folks.

• Startup internship fair, Wednesday, February 18th

  • If you are a startup who is looking for interns or post-grad hires, hmu to join this!!!

ai helped me make this (:

Personal

I mostly laid low this weekend, but I did try cryotherapy for the first time at the new NextHealth in Green Hills lol.

to the moon,

zap⚡