The team · one person · so far

Hey — I’m Zak. Right now, Ember is me.

Twenty-four years of writing software, fifteen of them building maps and terrain for military simulators. One season into whitetail hunting in Cullman, Alabama — which means I’m learning these woods at the same time I’m building the thing that reads them.

That’s an odd pairing, and it’s the whole reason Ember exists. I came in as a beginner, went looking for tools that would actually teach me the land, and found apps that hand you a map and call it a day. I knew how to build the other half.

Read why I built itEmail me directly
Based
Cullman, AL
Company
Graylight, LLC
In software
24+ years
Zak Nixon, founder of Ember, in his home office in Cullman, Alabama
FounderZak Nixon · Cullman, AL

yep, this is the whole team ↗

Welcome to Ember · 2 min

Not filmed yet

A two-minute walk through what Ember actually does.

Video placeholder · 16:9 · drop the file here

I’d rather show you the product working than describe it. This is the app on real terrain, scoring real stands, with me explaining what the numbers mean and where the engine is still learning.

  • 01Who I am and why a beginner is building this
  • 02The Breakdown, walked through on real terrain
  • 03What’s shipping next, and what I won’t do

shot on a phone, in the woods — no studio

Why I started this

I spent fifteen years teaching computers to read terrain. Then I went hunting.

My career has been government and military simulation — building the 2D and 3D GIS interfaces that let people read ground they’ve never stood on. Elevation, cover, sightlines, approach routes. Terrain as something you interrogate, not just look at.

When I got into hunting, I went looking for that same rigor and it wasn’t there. The tools were good at drawing property lines and bad at answering the only question that matters: where should I sit tonight, and why?The deeper I got, the more the gaps stacked up — and they were all gaps I already knew how to close.

Being new is the useful part. I remember what I didn’t know last month. Ember is built to explain itself, because I’m the guy who needed the explanation.

Gap 01

A map is not an answer. Nothing told me why one stand beat another.

Gap 02

Clubs run on group texts and spreadsheets. Nobody built the back office.

Gap 03

Nobody at home knew whether you made it out of the woods.

Where I come from

Twenty-four years of software people depend on.

↓ mission-critical is a habit, not a slogan

  1. Defense & government contractors · 15+ yrs

    Mission-critical military simulations

    Built the 2D and 3D GIS interfaces operators used to read terrain, plan movement, and rehearse before it counted. This is the direct ancestor of the Breakdown engine.

  2. ESPN · public company scale

    Software that can’t go down on game day

    Millions of people, fixed deadlines, zero patience for outages. It teaches you to build for the worst minute, not the average one.

  3. Casino management platforms

    Audited, regulated, money-on-the-line systems

    Where every record has to reconcile and every change is accountable. Useful groundwork for club dues, rosters, and harvest logs.

  4. Data-center management · Dell, Microsoft, major banks

    Digital management for the infrastructure everyone else runs on

    One of the largest support operations in the business. Reliability at a scale where a bad deploy has a phone number attached to it.

  5. Now · Graylight, LLC

    Ember — every line of it, for now

    Design, engine, app, and the email you’ll get a reply from. No team yet, no plans to pretend otherwise.

How it’s getting built

This is what building it actually looks like.

No studio, no team, no roadmap deck. Field research, LiDAR terrain passes, whiteboards full of arrows, and the app tested on the same ground I hunt. When something here looks unfinished, it’s because it is. You’re seeing the real version of it.

The real work behind Ember: field sketches, LiDAR terrain passes, whiteboard app flows, score-chip maps, and the app being tested on real ground.

In the frame Field notes · LiDAR terrain · whiteboard flows · the app on real ground

What I promise you

Four things I’ll hold to, in writing.

01

No invented proof

No fake testimonials, no borrowed logos, no install counters. When Ember has real users saying real things, you’ll see those instead.

02

The score shows its work

A number you can’t interrogate is worthless. Every Breakdown tells you which factors moved it and by how much.

03

Your land stays yours

Your stands, pins, and harvest records aren’t a product I sell to somebody else. Terms are on the site, in plain language.

04

You’re emailing me, not a queue

One founder means slower some weeks and honest every week. If something’s broken or missing, I’d rather hear it from you first.

The Camp

Built with the camp, not just for it.

We build Ember in the open with the people who hunt it. Join the Ember Hunt Camp on Facebook and help steer what comes next.

Join the group on Facebook
One plan · No tiers · Uncapped

Built by a hunter, priced like one.

No investors leaning on the roadmap, no tiers inventing reasons to upsell you. One person, one flat $99 a year, everything in — the same price whether you’re solo or running a lease.

01No seat caps, no member limits, no upgrade to unlock.
02The Breakdown, the maps, safety check-ins, and club tools — all one price.
03Everything we ship next, at the price you started on.
Nothing locked behind a bigger plan.
Full access
Two weeks free
then $99 / year — everything in, every hunt.
Two ways to start
On your phone
Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play
or
On the webSubscribe on the web
See every feature →
Two weeks free · Cancel anytime · No seat math

Subscribe in-app (billed by the App Store or Google Play) or on the web (billed by card). Both unlock Ember everywhere — free for two weeks, then $99/year. Cancel anytime: in-app from your store settings, on the web from your Ember account.

Reach me

Tell me what’s missing.

Feature requests, bugs, arguments about where a stand should go — all of it comes to me. I read every one and I answer them myself.

Emailzak@graylight.io

socials exist, but this inbox is the fast one

Get the app

Ember is on iOS and Android.

Download it, score your stands, and tell me what the engine gets wrong. Flat price, no per-member caps.

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play

Flat price, uncapped. Billing terms are on the pricing page, not buried in a receipt.