Zap's Wrap January 5th

2025 reflections, investment #24, startup jobs, events

Author

Haley Zapolski
January 05, 2026

hi friends,

2025 was the year I realized I could just do things. Here’s my recap:

I leased 6k sq ft next to Centennial Park and the Lighthouse was born.

2025 by the numbers:

  • $12.8M raised for Nashville founders directly through my intros

  • 37 Nashvillians hired to Nashville startups

  • 11 angel checks

  • 4 SPVs

  • $685,450 in AUM

  • 56 Lighthouse founders

I am incredibly honored to have invested into all of these folks last year!

  1. Joe @ Send-It Healthcare

  2. Jared @ Vivy (+ led an SPV)

  3. Dan @ Listening Post (+ led an SPV)

  4. Joey @ Longview (+ led an SPV)

  5. James @ WVN

  6. Mike @ Watt Data

  7. Patrick @ District Cover

  8. Luis @ Pathway

  9. Tristan @ Edgevanta

  10. Tom @ Finch

  11. Chris @ Heard

  12. Doubled down with a SPV into Jimmy @ Glasshouse

I made this strategy doc for the Lighthouse in 2026 that you can see here to understand what I’m trying to build!

And I wrote about my lessons here.

Personal highlights:

  • Turned 29 and hosted my birthday party at my favorite place, Dairy Queen

  • Went to NYC, Cape Cod, Bozeman for a founder retreat, Atlanta for a conference, San Francisco for work exploration, Big Sur for a meditation retreat, Gatlinburg for a girls trip, & New Orleans for Halloween

  • Took my dad to Cooperstown, NY to see the Baseball Hall of Fame

  • Went to Iceland with Sammy + friends

  • Spent a week in Costa Rica with Brianna and learned how to surf

  • Biked all around Rio and spent time with my Alvorada Dev team over Thanksgiving in Brazil

2025 is off to a great start. I am in the middle of raising my 5th SPV into a startup I’ve already personally backed and I am about to write my 25th angel check into a new company!

I made investment #24 into a startup!!!

Heard Music, founded by Chris Paterno 

Heard is building the Moneyball for music. I actually watched the movie Moneyball to fully understand the analogy, and once it clicked… it clicked hard. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, the simple version is this: Heard is building decision intelligence for the music industry.

It still blows my mind that such a massive, influential industry is often driven by gut feel- executives metaphorically licking their finger, holding it up to the wind, and guessing where to spend marketing dollars. Heard changes that. They help artists, labels, and teams understand what’s actually resonating with audiences and where money and effort will have the biggest impact.

I can’t share everything, but I can say they’re already working with a lot of artists you probably listen to every single day.

Chris also wins the award for the founder I’ve known the longest. We met back in 2019, when Heard was still just an idea, and I’ve been cheering him on ever since. Watching this company turn into something real and now getting to invest feels especially meaningful.

Sharing a photo of us from his engagement party last year because this one feels very full-circle!

Startup jobs

  • 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.

  • Engineers meet Nashville startups, Tuesday, February 3rd

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

  • Startup Operators Only Networking, Tuesday, February 10th

    • If you are an operator at a startup and want to meet other operators, I am putting together an event! Looking for product, sales, marketing, growth, design, ops, etc type folks. Email me to be added.

  • Startup internship fair, Wednesday, February 18th

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

Personal

Me and Mr Zap spent our break moving into a new home in 12 south! It’s the nicest home I’ve ever lived in. I feel so blessed to have a dishwasher and washing machine (:

We spent xmas eve getting dinner with one of my portfolio founders while his wife worked! (she’s a doctor).

Then I drove home to Iowa to see my dad, Grandma, and 2 younger brothers.

Come visit me at in-person office hours weekly on Thursdays.

to the moon,

zap⚡