Zap's Wrap June 23rd

nashville startups

Author

Haley Zapolski
June 23, 2025

hi friends,

I published a list of all of the tech startups in Nashville (that I know about). You can see what folks are building and sort by their stage & industry. I hope this can be a resource to people!

I also had my first several mark ups of my angel investments! I’ve been angel investing for 1.5 years now, exclusively into Nashville founders, with $5k checks. If you want to check out my performance (and the data from Carta about fund performance), check it out here.

Finally, I started and almost finished my 3rd SPV into a Nashville startup. This is getting really fun!! When things slow down this July, I plan to formalize these SPVs a bit more, make a website, marketing materials, etc. Every day I find more great founders to invest into and more people who want to invest in Nashville startups!

Startup stuff that’s cool

  • I met Tyler the founder of AgriCapture, a marketplace for farmers practicing sustainable farming practices to sell carbon credits to corporations. Tyler has a great story about how he had the idea, but teamed up with a more experienced entrepreneur to get it off the ground and raise the first round of capital until he eventually took over as CEO. I think he ran a great playbook for someone who was 24 starting their first capital-intensive company! They are hiring all the time for some very unique roles.

  • My friend Analys just moved to Nashville from Miami. She is building Felipa, the financial wellness companion for women.

  • The EC has applications open to their programs until June 30th! You can learn more about their programs and apply here. These programs are for all types of founders (not just tech) and for all stages.

  • Startup jobs:

Upcoming Events

  • Tuesday, June 24th: Product Leaders Hangout

    • Email me if you work in product and want to come meet likeminded folks!

  • Tuesday, July 8th: How to run your fundraise like a sales process

    • A lot of founders have never raised before and don’t know how to do it. In this event, I’m interviewing Jimmy, 1st time founder, how he raised his most recent round and how other founders can follow his process.

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

I published a blog sharing what we’ve been doing and where we want to go with the house. Read it here.

We also packed inside during the rain to watch Dan and Seth share a demo of their product at Listening Post!

Personal updates

Me and my brother took my dad to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY!

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