Sparked by Zap, The Lighthouse is a grassroots force for Nashville-based founders
"When you look across the ecosystem. I think the Lighthouse is probably one of the most grassroots organizations. I think we're a little bit punk rock, and our own little self-sustaining community," the founder, Zap, said.
For the past year, Haley ‘ Zap’ Zapolski has been a growing voice in the Nashville entrepreneur community. As the founder of The Lighthouse, a founder-first community space, pre-seed angel investor, and LinkedIn influencer, she’s grown quite a brand for herself.
“When you look across the ecosystem. I think the Lighthouse is probably one of the most grassroots organizations. I think we’re a little bit punk rock, and our own little self-sustaining community,” Zap said.
But that “grassroots” organization keeps growing, and growing, and growing. Currently, the Lighthouse has 62 members for its coworking house near Centennial Park in Nashville.
The momentum behind her very public pursuit of real founders building real businesses started back when she worked as a program manager at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.
Zap turned her interest in startups into a full-fledged founder community
Zap is a promoter for Nashville startups. She does that through the Lighthouse and through her robust LinkedIn following; however, she’s actually not a native to the area.
Similar to about 45 percent of Nashville’s downtown residents, Zap is a transplant. She was born in Iowa, attended the University of Michigan, and spent her first few years out of college working for a startup in New York.
“Honestly, I hated New York, but I wanted to find a place where I could work with a bunch of entrepreneurs. I very randomly landed at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center when I was 23 years old as my second job out of college,” she said.
Through her work as a program manager, Zap organized and hosted events, connected founders, learned from the key ecosystem builders, and honed in on her niche interest in helping tech founders scale.
“I’ve really made it my own personal mission to build the Nashville startup ecosystem,” she said. “Nobody gave me permission to do that. I just started doing it. Then, started doing it more and more.”
A little more than one year ago, Zap took the financial leap to lease a home base for The Lighthouse, which was her vision for a tech-enabled, founder-focused environment.
The Lighthouse promotes founder density, growth, and capital connections
Leaning into the “punk rock,” “grassroots” vibes that Zap mentioned, she said The Lighthouse isn’t formal enough to have a proper mission statement. However, all it takes is 15 minutes with Zap to see the mission written on the proverbial wall.
She believes in promoting and growing a dense founder community to help tech entrepreneurs win. It’s about a support system – and making gainful connections. For example, out of the Lighthouse, Zap has helped introduce 10 founding teams already.
She also directly supports that mission with her own personal checkbook.
“I write $5,000 checks. I’ve done 24 of them, and now I’ve started doing special purpose vehicles (SPVs), which allow people to write $5,000 to $25,000 checks into my deals, and follow along. Angel investments are a highly risky asset, and you should start by writing the smallest check you possibly can. And that’s why I do these SPVs,” she explained.
Zap said her goals for 2026 are to write 10 more $5,000 checks and coordinate eight SPVs. In 2025, she did four of them.
“The Lighthouse has directly helped these founders raise more than $15 million, which is a small chunk of the $100 million they’ve collectively raised,” she said.
The $15 million in capital connections is a significant chunk of the pie. Zap hope in 2026 that that piece gets even larger.
“I’ve been focused on building the groundwork of the pre-seed and seed the past two years,” she said. “This year, I’m ready to get some Series A startups under our belt. And that’s truly my hope.”
You can read more about The Lighthouse here.
Like what you've read?
Forward to a friend!