Zap's Wrap November 3rd

hi friends,

I didn’t send a Zap’s Wrap last week. Honestly, I’ve been trying to figure out what direction I want to take this thing as my own career shifts into new phases.

There was a time when every week was packed with meetings, sometimes a dozen new founders in a few days. Now, most of my time is spent working with the founders I’ve already invested in, the ones building inside The Lighthouse, or those I’m getting ready to invest into next. It’s become less about volume and more about depth.

The ecosystem has changed too. I used to spend way more time introducing founders to investors, but capital now feels more accessible to the founders I get to work with. The real value is in customer introductions, and increasingly, talent introductions too.

22 portfolio companies and 57 Lighthouse founders keeps me plenty busy!!!

And truthfully… I already know my #23, #24, and #25 new investments (:

So maybe Zap’s Wrap evolves along with me… less about top of funnel and more about what is actually happening with my founders.

Tell me what you’d like to see more of!!!!

Startup stuff that I think is cool

• Andrew just signed his 2nd customer and hit 450k in booked ARR selling to meat processing plants! Really pumped to watch this one work more and more.

• Grace won the InsureTech Connect pitch competition! And celebrated her bday on the same day.

• The entire Laborup team ran the Nashville Half Marathon! Everyone is now in Nashville helping connect talent in the manufacturing world.

• Brooke has had a great Fall closing a ton of deals week after week with Offload!

• I caught up with a seasoned founder, Richard, who is now building Aerton, logistics and field service software for rural America.

• Joey is hiring for a Demand Generation Manager at Longview!!! This role has unlimited upside for folks who are amazing at marketing.

• Matt just got acquired by Supabase.

Events

• I am hosting a Product Leaders hang tonight at 5:30pm!!

• Wednesday, Nov 12th @ 7am Startup Run Club

  • Come casually jog 3-4 miles and hangout for coffee + breakfast after with Andrea from Rho!

• Thursday, December 11th @ 5:30pm Engineering Leaders Holiday Party

  • Engineers only! HMU for details.

Lighthouse

We have a new website (:

I need to get better at taking photos of us doing stuff…. paella dinners, breakfast on the blackstone, makeshift whiteboarding sessions wherever. We’re jamming over here and having a fun time building!

Personal

One of the founders I’ve known the LONGEST (almost 6 years ago) got engaged and me and Mr Zap went to their engagement party! Chris is building Heard, decision intelligence for the music industry.

Went to my favorite place in the world, New Orleans, for my favorite holiday, Halloween, and did my favorite thing… wore a bunch of costumes!! 💀

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

to the moon,

zap⚡