Zap's Wrap July 14th

hi friends,

Last week was a personal week because I went on a founder retreat! (Yes, even some of my vacations include startups LOL).

Sammy hosted me & founder friends on his farm in Iceland. We hiked, swam, dined, drank, & roasted by the fire. I’m ready for the Lighthouse founders 2026 trip!

I am an investor in Sammy’s startup SteadyTrail. He is unlocking equity plans for non-tech workers by enabling ESOP and PE-backed employees to understand and interact with their equity!

They are already working with paid design partners like Altamont Capital, Kelso, & more and they recruited several early Carta team members to their founding team!

He started with Morrow, financial health for the American worker, and pivoted 6 months ago to add the ESOP product with the goal to grow faster. I am so proud of him for pushing through when things got hard and finding a better path forward!

Events

Even though the world gets slow in July, we still have a ton of things happening @ the Lighthouse:

• Tuesday, July 15th: Getting started as an angel investor

• Thursday, July 17th: Fundraising from your first SAFE to Series A

  • So many founders raise without knowing what is going to happen once they get the term sheet! This workshop will cover all those important details.

• Saturday, July 19th: Work Hard, Party Sometimes w/Laborup

  • Fresh off their latest venture round, Laborup is hiring for engineers, salespeople, designers, & anyone startup hungry willing to grind. Instead of throwing a job fair, we’re throwing a party! We also have special guest Allen sharing about the early days @ Uber.

• [NEW] Wednesday, July 23rd: Startup Run Club w/Pilot

  • Join a pace-friendly run and stick around for acai bowls. We can all sweat together (: Thanks to Evan for making this possible.

Startup stuff that’s cool

• I met Payson, a 2nd time founder who recently relocated from SF to Middle TN. He’s now building Envoi, a b2b lending platform and teaching Entrepreneurship at UT Southern!

• I caught up with Warren, who recently stepped into the role of CEO at Therify. They are building an enterprise platform for in-network mental and primary care, with household names like Indeed as customers already.

• Some startups hiring:

  • [NEW] Giggs is hiring for a Sales Director.

  • Glasshouse is hiring for sales, engineering, and customer success.

  • Financial Analyst @ a healthtech startup. Looking for someone w/2 years experience. HMU.

  • Marketer #1 at a community software platform. HMU.

• We hosted a fundraising session with Jimmy about what it was like to raise his seed round for Glasshouse! They also just officially announced their raise led by Nashville Capital Network with participation from Y&Z Ventures, Fireroad, and my SPV too 😊

Ask me questions about Nashville startups through my AI-self here.

Or, come visit me at in-person office hours weekly on Thursdays.

to the moon,

zap