Zap's Wrap July 23rd

hi friends,

Wow, this is the latest a Zap’s Wrap has ever come out 😮 

I’m feeling distracted and tired this week, but bouncing back today!!

Heads up, this week is a LOT of PHOTOS!

The Lighthouse

We had a BBQ and fake awards ceremony (: I wanted to host the event because many of the founders closed their venture rounds in July, but they reminded me that raising money is not to be celebrated LOL. I was just excited because they worked so hard!! So, we had more of a roast than a celebration. Some favs:

• Most likely to accidentally join a ponzi scheme

• Most likely to get cancelled on LinkedIn

• Most likely to pivot during this awards ceremony

• The only AI founder who wears a chain

• Most likely to exit, have 10 pivots, to then build the same company 1 year and a day later

We hosted a hang with our Lighthouse sponsor Riverfront Advisors and a workshop with our friends Derrick & Joe at Frost Brown Todd!

We even had 60 people out on a SATURDAY to hear about what the Laborup team is building in Nashville and how they are growing their team. We had Allen share about what it was like being employee #25 at Uber and what he gained from it.

Startup jobs

I am hiring for:

• SDRs

• Full stack engineers

• Devops engineer

• Revops killers

Just email me (:

Startup stuff that’s cool

• New startups coming next week…last week was all folks still deep in ‘stealth mode’ and I want to respect that!

Personal

Analys and I trekked all the way to Chattanooga to visit our friends at Brickyard!

Since starting the Lighthouse, I’ve had so many people mention Brickyard to me.

And every time, I say the same thing: Yes! I know Cam and Brickyard. And I’m obsessed with what they’re building!!!

Every visit gives me a deeper sense of their culture- what makes it work, what makes it different. It made me think about what I can bring back to The Lighthouse and how I can better articulate what makes our model distinct, too (because I am still figuring it out).

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