About Zappy
Hi! We’re Jacy and Zack, a couple of happy hour enthusiasts who also love building products and companies. We decided to create Zappy after struggling to find and keep track of all the happy hour specials in Austin. Despite Jacy’s knack for research and our shared love for a good spreadsheet, maintaining up-to-date information felt impossible. Occasionally, someone would post a list on the Austin subreddit that we’d get excited about, but it never took long for those lists to become outdated. And it seemed most of the “top happy hours in Austin” Reels and Tiktoks mentioned the same bars/restaurants, and they were places we already frequented.
Frustrated by this experience and determined to get the most out of living in this city, we decided to create our own searchable and filterable database that we could eventually maintain with the help of our users. We launched our MVP, a Notion workspace, in February 2024 with about 200 happy hour listings. In April 2024 we transitioned to a low-code web app and significantly expanded the list. In November 2024, we launched our mobile apps for both iOS and Android and a new web app with more than 500 listings.
For the more in-depth version of how Zappy was the result of about 20-years of experience, check out the blog post “The birth of Zappy: How Austin’s happy hour culture & and the pandemic inspired our company”).
We’ve been using Zappy regularly to find happy hours for ourselves, and we have backgrounds in Product and CX, so our experience, combined with feedback from our early users, has helped shape what we believe will be the easiest and most reliable way to find happy hour specials in Austin. We want Zappy to eliminate the analysis paralysis that results from having so many options, and to allow people to explore new places and find great deals. We love this city and want to make it super easy to find happy hours near you that have the types of deals that you’re looking for. Plus you’ll be the hero of your friend group.
Cheers to reliable data and good times!
Zack Pennington
Co-Founder & CEO
Zack loves music, comedy, and startups. His favorite happy hours include dirty martinis, old fashioneds, and tacos.
