Zap's Wrap September 9th

hi friends,

this week feels like fall. for me, fall always feels like it’s time for things to change. so we will see how things get mixed up.

3 of my investments have now closed seed rounds. ive spent most of the year building relationships with preseed and seed investors (because that was a greater need for the founders in nashville), but now im excited to get more into the exciting world of series A 🤩🤩🤩 

startup stuff that’s cool:

• i met the team behind inkbloom. amanda and john are building a vertical ai saas tool for the book publishing industry. honestly, what ai does super well is digest lots of words and summarize them, so i think this product makes a lot of sense. they are bootstrapping and just got their first customer as well.

• for all my golf fans out there, i met nicole smith, a cofounder in swing pro. they are an ai golf coach that just launched.

• i caught up with my friend avi who works at nine four ventures in chicago, a proptech fund. they just launched this new program that sorta works like a venture studio, but isn’t like a venture studio because they don’t have crazy terms like many do (30-50% up front). it’s called preseed plus and they want to find folks with ideas on the proptech/construction tech/any thing built world space.

• two very funky businesses came my way. one was revity farms. they are a super tech-y hydroponic farm that freeze dries microgreens and have found an opportunity to sell them to other brands to enhance the nutritional quality of their food. the other was aquatrino, a PFAS separation startup where two of the cofounders, doug and marc, are moving from belgium and florida respectively to build here in nashville.

• i met matt arcaini, who’s trying to disrupt royalty free music with wavmakr. they previously raised a seed round.

• im hosting another event for engineers to learn more about startups on oct 1st. if you are a founder looking to deepen your network and relationships with the technical community, hit me up. if you are a software engineer wanting to meet startups in town, sign up here! you will hear from the technical leaders at startups about the technical challenges they are facing, 3 that are already coming to share are triplit, grouped, and opsera. we’re having fewer startups share, but for longer, but there will also be other founders looking for technical cofounders that you can meet before and after programming.

personal stuff:

• gale wilkinson took me and channing moreland to the sexual assault center’s mad hatter event! as a woman in the world of startups/venture, the mission is certainly one i resonate with and i was stoked to sit with other awesome women (:

• me and mr zap are hosting a city wide scavenger hunt on saturday, sept 21st!!! learn more about it here. form a team and come ready to compete!!!

events coming up:

• 3686 is this week!!! i am working the conference, so you will find me there (: if you aren’t going to the conference, here are a bunch of other events i know about:

  • Female Founder/Funder Hat Design Experience, 9/10 @ 12pm. A catered lunch and hat experience compliments of TriNet.

  • StartupNash Happy Hour, 9/10 @ 6:30pm. Networking with other founders.

  • Build in SE Morning Run, 9/11 @ 6:30am. 3 mile run.

  • Idea to Exit: The Journey Ahead, 9/11 @ 9am. ​This networking event will address important legal and financial issues that entrepreneurs need to be aware of throughout the startup journey.

  • Invest in Community, 9/11 @ 3pm. Networking and conversation about impact investing and philanthropy.

  • Pipeline Entrepreneurs PRO Series: Marcus Whitney, 9/12 @ 4pm. An engaging fireside chat with Marcus Whitney—an accomplished innovator and investor

  • Standups & Startups, 9/12 @ 5:45pm. Comedy show.

• im on a panel for women in technology about transitioning from employee to entrepreneur on sept 24th with some other awesome ladies, dr t, anna-vija, and elizabeth. here is the link to attend.

to the moon,

zap