Zap's Wrap September 29th

hi friends,

When I first started writing $5K angel checks, I didn’t have a grand plan or a polished thesis. I just wanted to help founders win.

Fast forward a couple years, 21 portfolio companies, and 4 SPVs later… I finally got the push I needed to actually write my thesis down. Thanks to Sydecar (the platform I use to run my SPVs), I had the chance to be featured in the Last Money In newsletter. Putting pen to paper about what I believe as an investor was such a helpful exercise.

It reminded me why I started doing this in the first place: to be the first believer, to help first and invest later, and to back the founder spirit above all else.

Today feels like another milestone, I’m launching the 5th SPV into a Nashville startup!! To make it easier for folks to follow along, I just added a new page on my website with updates on the founders I’m backing.

I’d love for you to give my piece in Last Money In a read and let me know what resonates. Link is here!

Startup stuff that’s cool

• I spent the weekend at the Optura event in Franklin and wow…just wow. 90 minutes of deep dives on AI in healthcare. A private dinner at the Pilgrimage Festival fairgrounds. A private Dierks Bentley concert. Then a full VIP weekend at the festival itself. Honestly, I’ve never seen an early-stage startup pull off something this luxe. I’ll admit I was a little skeptical going in, but after spending the weekend with 100+ c-suite healthcare leaders, one thing was clear: these guys are pros. Optura understands the simple truth that people buy from people- and they’re really, really good at the people part. Definitely a Nashville startup to watch. (Earlier this year, Mike Hollis + team raised a $5M seed from Susa + Matrix ventures).

• My portfolio company, Longview Restoration, is hiring for a Demand Generation Manager! If you are a beast at running PPC campaigns, this is a rock star team to be a part of.

• I caught up with the Sitevue team, aka Jon & Andrew. Their first customer is a meat processing plant in Kentucky. Frontline workers wear a tiny camera on their hard hat and Sitevue uses Ai to process the video and learn how people are spending their time and what the bottlenecks are on the line.

• I hung out with James who is building WVN. Their team is already in with some huge names like Pepsi, Sam’s Club, Lego, etc, which is crazy exciting. Now they are playing the exciting waiting game of the 12 step corporate procurement process (:

• I caught up with my friend Chandler, who has a CRAZY life story (check his LinkedIn), and is looking for his next engineering gig that gives him energy.

• I met Bennett, a Vandy senior who raised 1.2M for his crypto startup Canopy!

Upcoming events

• Raising Money 101 Friday, October 10th @ 9am

  • An intimate session for first time founders.

• DUMB SHARK TANK Saturday, October 11th @ 7:30pm

  • A comedy show for startup weirdos.

• IP Strategy 101 Thursday, October 17th @ 5:00pm

  • Breaking down the essentials of intellectual property.

• Engineers meet Nashville Startups Friday, October 18th @ 5:00pm

  • Engineers only. Meet Nashville startups who are hiring or searching for cofounders…

Lighthouse

Last week was a full week at the house for founders, but I totally sucked at taking any photos 😭😭😭

• Peter Swan taught ‘What First Time Founders Need to Know’

• Read cheffed it up at a paella dinner for founders

• And then a crew of founders did an early morning sauna + plunge at Framework East

Personal

A private Dierks Bentley show! Turns out, he is a pretty avid ai investor too lol.

I have some upcoming trips I’m pumped about, I’m headed to Detroit this weekend to bike all around the city and to New Orleans for Halloween.

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

to the moon,

zap