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Founder community

How We Work With Founders:

Our mission is to build billion-dollar tech companies in Nashville, TN- by investing early, showing up hard, and growing alongside founders from day one.

Why Founders Choose The Lighthouse

We go earlier than almost anyone, before traction, headlines, or hype
We lead with a platform-first, give-before-we-take approach.
We work extremely hard for our founders- intros, customers, team, capital.
We know founders as people, not just companies.

Our Process

Here's exactly how we work together, from first meeting to funding and beyond.

Step 1 Meet the Community

The best introductions happen organically- through our events, community dinners, and network. Feel free to email lorenzo@lt.house for upcoming Lighthouse-only events. Best way to start is to vibe with our other founders (:

Step 2 Determine Fit

Not every great founder is the right fit for the Lighthouse, and that's okay. We look for a few non-negotiables:

You're based in Nashville, TN and want to actively give and take from our founder community.
You have (or plan to have) both a seller cofounder and a coder cofounder.
You're solving a real problem in a massive market that makes sense to build in Nashville.
You have a strong bias for action, you move fast and figure things out.
You have a "why me" reason. This is your mission, not just a business idea.

Step 3 We Get to Work

We don't just write checks and wait. We do our diligence by helping and we help across the board:

Surround you with founders who've been there before and triage you to the right person.
Find your first customers through our killer outbound capabilities.
Help you recruit early team members through our community and network.
Teach you the game of fundraising and find investors when the time is right.
Be in your corner as a genuine cheerleader, through the highs and the hard parts.

Step 4 First Check

If you're the right fit for our community, our thesis, and we can help in more ways than one, we write a tiny check of $5K early. Just skin in the game, so we can signal to the market “we already invested”.

Step 5 Venture Process & SPV

When you're ready to raise, we help you run a full venture process and find the right lead fund. We then follow with a $100K–$200K SPV to invest meaningfully alongside you.

We believe one of the biggest drivers of success is surrounding yourself with other founders at your stage and beyond. It means real-time feedback, shared learnings, and a support system that understands the highs and lows.

The best help comes from the founder one step ahead of you.

Board drama? We’ll introduce you to someone who just survived it (often over a beer).

Lost a cofounder? Talk to someone who rebuilt their team.

Ran out of money? Sit down with founders who clawed their way back.

Lost your biggest customer? Get coached up by the one who turned it around.

Our Space

6,000 sq. ft. of DIY founder sanctuary next to Centennial Park. Two houses where founders work, meet, host events, and just hang out. Close to cheap food, the park, and a gym.

This is home base. Use it however you need. Daily working sessions, impromptu brainstorms, late-night problem-solving sessions, or just a quiet place to get work done. We host regular dinners and social events for our vetted network, plus founder-only gatherings where you can talk shop with others who actually live it.

It's not fancy or bougie, by design. It's built by builders for builders. It's where the founders building the next billion dollar companies in Nashville hide.

Watch a video of the space here.

Our Sponsors

They believe in backing builders and supporting the ecosystem that creates the next wave. These partners don't just write checks, they actively help.

Who's Part of the Community

Founders and founding team members ranging from pre pre-seed up through late stage venture and even post exit. Quality over quantity. We're selective about who joins because this is meant to be a peer network. The community only works when every member contributes, not just takes. The community is invite-only, but we're always looking for the next builders. Apply here.

You can see our founders here.