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Every day, we at Hutchison PLLC work with founders and entrepreneurs as they fight and grind and stress and push to bring their visions to reality. We are inspired by their incredible stories of success, of failure, of reworking and trying again.
Zakiya Alta Lee: [00:00:00] When you are the only woman or one of the only women in the room, what happens is you're the unicorn in the room. And everyone's looking for the unicorn. You bring the different perspective. You bring the unique outlook. And so women need to understand that. Own that. And when you walk into that pitch, you walk in with confidence.
Trevor Schmidt: Hello and welcome to the Founder Shares podcast, brought to you by Hutchison. A law firm in Raleigh, North Carolina that helps founders and entrepreneurs in technology and life science companies start up, operate, get funded, and exit. So whether you're already an entrepreneur or want to be one someday, or are just fascinated by the stories of how a business goes from idea to success or not such a success, this podcast is for you.
Well, founder Shares is out in the wild. Again, we are on the eve of the Venture Connect Conference here, and we are at the Strength and Numbers event. We're coming out to talk to the participants who are coming out to support other women in entrepreneurship and investing, and to see how best we can go out and support this, uh, growing [00:01:00] community and support our ecosystem as it continues to thrive.
I'm here with Abba Bowers, head of Strategic Partnerships for Cee d. We are right on the very beginning of Venture Connect, and I'm so excited to be here and excited to hear. What you're looking forward to this week? I mean, how do you think about this week and how are you measuring success?
Abha Bowers: Thank you for having me.
It's a pleasure to be here. There is so much to look forward to. That's almost a loaded question, but thank you for asking it. You know, we are here live at the strength and numbers mixer where we are over capacity. So I mean it's, we're only two years old. We're strength and numbers and I'm. So thrilled to see the engagement of the community and our male allies, our partners coming together, giving an opportunity for folks to connect and be their authentic selves before the conference.
Right. You know, our main goal throughout the next two and a half days is making sure everyone gets the most out of all of the planning, programming, and hard work that the teams put in there, where a mighty team of 10. Wow. And you've seen the number of events, the meals, the programming, the events [00:02:00] that we have, and we really just hope that.
Every attendee goes away feeling like they left with something more and something to look forward to.
Trevor Schmidt: Now, are there any specific conversations that you're just most excited to see happen this week? Or, or tell me what you think about that.
Abha Bowers: Honestly, I'm most excited about the pitch sessions. Okay. I call it our mini shark tank.
Um, and I love seeing when a concept comes to life and we're giving an opportunity to be on the main stage of Deepak, which gives me the goosebumps 'cause I'm a theater geek. Right. But to think that you are main stage under the spotlight, sharing something you thought of that can help. Someone else that can create jobs, that can create a better economy.
It, it literally gives me the goosebumps. So I'm just that, that I can't wait to sit and hear people ideas. Um, the team work hard through what we call pitch scrubs and assisting through the actual decks and seeing it come to life. Um, so I think I'm gonna have a very proud like Mama Bear moment, even if I may be younger than some of the folks speaking, because I'm just so proud of where they've come, their accomplishments and [00:03:00] the grit that it took to get here.
Trevor Schmidt: So tell me a little bit more about strength in numbers. So how did this come about and like what do you attribute to the massive growth in just a short period of time to.
Abha Bowers: I attribute the growth to our amazing community. Um, I'm very pleased, proud that so many folks rally behind us. It's only been two years, and essentially we recognize the unfortunate gap that female, um, founders get when it comes to funding.
And we wanted to do something about that, but we took it a step further by opening it up to our entire community of investors, founders and partners. We wanna educate people too. Give them. Space where if you're interested in investing but you don't know where to start, you don't have to be embarrassed not to ask someone about it.
There aren't a lot of female, uh, focused organizations where you can find those type of resources, as you may see in our male counterparts. Mm-hmm. So we wanted to give a space for folks to connect and be able to have those conversations to then invest if they're interested. Or a founder may find an investor and partners also, you know, assist with their services that they provide as well.[00:04:00]
Trevor Schmidt: Now, how have you benefited from like a, maybe not this mean, this is new, but how have you benefited from women focused networking events and, and those types of things in, in your career? Mm-hmm.
Abha Bowers: Oh gosh. I could list off mentors that have helped me make really hard decisions. At the end of the day, you don't know what you don't know, but I think we forget how much we do know and how capable we are.
So sometimes it's having someone to honestly reassure you, am I on the right path? Am I, am I making the right direction? What was, what was something you wish you could do again, and having that mentor relationship to really help you move the needle forward.
Trevor Schmidt: So how do you think we're doing as an ecosystem here in the triangle, kind of in this regard and encouraging.
Women done entrepreneurship and investing. How, how are we doing? Just what's our grade?
Abha Bowers: Yeah. I think we're doing exceptionally well because we are putting a focus on it and we have so much passion. Um, Lila is an excellent organization that we also partner with. We just did an event last week, um, actually preparing for the conference.
So we went through how to utilize the [00:05:00] app and set up meetings, be intentional and make sure you're not just coming as an attendee to sit and listen. But make connections, meet folks, and really further your own brand as well. And I just see that being one of our flywheels expanding. And I think the event tonight, being at capacity with registration goes to show it's working
Trevor Schmidt: well.
It just goes to show a need and a desire for that type of community. Right?
Seema Nand: Yes, exactly.
Trevor Schmidt: So what is one aspect of, of being a woman in entrepreneurship that it's not talked about enough and that you really wish was more of a central part of the conversation?
Abha Bowers: Absolutely. I think from my perspective, um, I'm a mother and I think that there is a lot around guilt perception.
I'm also, you know, in wellness, being personal trainer and nutrition coach, and we're expected to juggle all these balls and be perfect and amazing and perform this way and that way. Um, but really it's about, I, I hate, I don't like the word balance either, but it's about bringing your best self and realizing that it's gonna teeter-totter.
Yeah. And that every day's not gonna be perfect, but as long as you know what you're prioritizing. [00:06:00] Let go of the guilt. Know that you're doing the best and rely on your community.
Trevor Schmidt: That's great. And, and you may have just answered this question, but if you were gonna offer advice to somebody who's, you know, thinking about starting a business or who's just kind of at the forefront of thinking about this, what, what would that advice be?
Abha Bowers: Thank you for seeing that. So, um, formally I was a Cee o of a marketing firm. You may have heard of them, you may know them here, you might know me. Um, and then I said, you know what, I've been doing marketing for over 20 years. And I love wellness, and I jumped and took a leap of faith into opening my own LLC and being a personal trainer and nutrition coach for a year.
I have to tell you. Have the leap of faith. Take the jump because the business community will be here. The role in which you are working in, you're gonna find folks that will help you grow and prosper. You just don't wanna live your life with any regrets, coulda, shoulda would've. Mm-hmm. And I'm so grateful that I did, and it really expanded my mindset.
Being uncomfortable is how you should feel. You should not always be [00:07:00] comfortable or complacent. That means you're just staying the same. You're not growing right? So you gotta put that pressure on yourself sometimes, and it's scary, but that's actually a good thing. Yeah.
Trevor Schmidt: That's great advice. So, last two questions.
One is gonna be, you know, Wednesday night at seven when this is all over, how are you gonna feel like this was a successful week? Mm-hmm. And then the other is, what do you do to just recover? Yeah. After a crazy week like this?
Abha Bowers: Absolutely. Thank you. Um, so I, I already know it's gonna be a great success. Uh, this team that I work with we're 10 people big.
We're lean, mean fighting machines. I am. Amazed. It's my first venture connect and I'm honestly humbled and proud of how much this tiny team has accomplished. Um, and so I'm gonna feel relief. I'm gonna feel pride. I'll probably cry with joy 'cause I'm a feeler. Um, and how I will unwind is sleeping and then working out and eating
Trevor Schmidt: well.
That's great. How about, thank you so much for taking the time. I'm gonna let you get back to the networking and enjoy the day.
Abha Bowers: Thank you so.[00:08:00]
Trevor Schmidt: So we are back probably with one of our favorite guests here at the podcast, one of the most recurring voices here on Founder Shares. We have Anna Harrington, my partner at Hutchinson. So Anna, we're starting off Venture Connect this week. Tell me kind of what are you looking forward to the most with Venture Connect?
What are you kind of hoping to meet or, or who are you hoping to meet and what are you hoping to get outta the conference?
Anna Tharrington: Thanks, Trevor. Um, it's one of my most exciting times of the year, right? Because. That room will have a lot of different types of clients that we touch and a lot of ecosystem partners that we interact with.
So thinking about our tech clients, our life sciences clients, our investors, they're all gonna be in there. Um, and it's gonna, we're gonna have folks on the stage. They get to present their ideas sometimes for, you know, a hundredth times. Sometimes they're pretty new at this, so you never really know what you're gonna get.
But it's always so fun to see all those people come together in the same space and interact. So I'm excited for that. Excited to see some touch points of clients who come to this conference to meet some [00:09:00] investors, but we don't see them as much. Yeah, we email a ton, but it's nice to see the face to face.
So excited for that as well.
Trevor Schmidt: So you've had some experience with this conference before, so if I'm a newbie, I'm coming out for the first time. How do you, how would you encourage somebody to kind of navigate, could be an overwhelming day or a couple of days?
Anna Tharrington: That's a good question. Um, so one of the things I think about when you're going into a room like that, it's a big room this year, exciting venue with a Deepak, but it's gonna be big.
Yeah. Right? And so finding a friendly face. Is usually one of the best things when you walk in that room. Um, I like to try to be that friendly face for folks, um, but also tend to look for my friends as well. It makes me feel a little bit more comfortable, a minute, one sort of outta the jump. I know who's there and kind of orient myself.
Um, but there's a lot of touches, right? So there'll be pitches lots of different ways for all types of personalities to enjoy the conference, whether it's listening to pitches or hearing some of the great content. So I think it's a conference offers a little bit of something for everybody.
Trevor Schmidt: So we're recording here at the, uh, [00:10:00] strength and numbers event.
Um, just tell me a little bit about why a group like this is important to you and kind of how we got involved.
Anna Tharrington: Yeah, appreciate the question on that. Um, this is a really, a really interesting group. This pretty near and dear to me because it was started with sort of a collaboration. Um, Elizabeth Kelly you'll talk with later from Pappas, um, fantastic advocate for the female entrepreneur and funder community.
Had this idea along with Cee D and it's something that Hutchison also has been pushing for for a while, is how do we get, you know, our sponsorship and our dollars to support things that we really believe in. And we're aware, you know, I'm aware, you're aware. Of the statistics around female funding, um, you know, female startups, female founders, who's in the boardroom, all those things, they take some intentionality to change.
And so I, you know, this is a, a little start to a big problem, but it's exciting 'cause it's grown, right? So over the couple of years we've been watching this and participating in it, um, you can definitely see more involvement from companies, more women getting involved, more men getting involved to support [00:11:00] it, more checks coming in.
So all that's really exciting and I think it's, these are the steps our communities have to take and I'm glad. Hutchson that what we do with our money is, this is one of the things that we said was important to us. Mm-hmm. And I'm proud of that. Yeah,
Trevor Schmidt: absolutely. And, and maybe just kind of from, on a personal level, how have you benefited from like women-focused networking events and these types of things, both in the entrepreneurial space and in the legal space?
Anna Tharrington: Yeah, so I, I'm also a female corporate lawyer and there's not a ton of us, right? Um, and so I'm excited on our team that we do have that kind of representation that we're growing that sort of within our firm. But it does, you know, when you arrive at events like venture conference or other events, you do notice a lack of diversity in the room sometimes.
And so that, that can be a little uncomfortable going into it. So I think networking opportunities like this particularly where everybody in that room's gonna be going to the conference, they get two hours with. A hundred other folks and they'll get to have those conversations so they arrive tomorrow in that space, they're gonna know somebody.
Yeah. And that's important. So back to your first question of sort of, who do you find you'll find those [00:12:00] spaces? Um, but it's my experience with interacting with strength in numbers and this group has been that people really want to connect others. It'd be helpful. Mm-hmm. And I like think that's the case in all environments, but with this, it feels particularly true.
So I can guarantee when I come to an event like this, I'm gonna find somebody I can help and I'm gonna find some folks that will help me. And that's something that's, that's usually table stakes for doing this.
Trevor Schmidt: Yeah, I don't know. I was just sitting here before the conference started. I was just seeing some of our younger attorneys walk in and just being happy to know that they have this type of an event and you know, this type of a network that they can build and grow their own practices with and get to know kind of the people who've come before them.
I just was excited to kind of see that, and I don't know. How do you think about that from, from your perspective as, as we continue to grow for the younger generation?
Anna Tharrington: I, I think it's really important, right? Like it's important that our young lawyers get to meet young accountants and get to meet young founders.
Um, and maybe we generationally missed out on some of that. Like, I think when I talk about, you know, I, I talk with Liz or I talk with Zakia, [00:13:00] maybe we didn't have as much of that coming up and we're sort of in the professional services side and the venture side. But having that sense of community, I've found it really valuable the past couple of years.
So I'm hopeful for folks that are coming on our team, even the young founders and entrepreneurs. The young folks that are working in these funds, right? Like their associates also need to have colleagues and peers and people to bounce things off of, um, to grow their network. So I think these events are really important and these groups are critical in that.
Trevor Schmidt: So, beyond strength and numbers, what are some other concrete steps that we can take here in the ecosystem and the triangle to, to help improve support for underserved, underserved voices?
Anna Tharrington: Yeah, I, I think there's the, the networking and ecosystem stuff we're doing on a, you know, on a quick, very rapid scale over the next couple of days.
And I think you go to what happens beyond the conference, right? Like how do you continue those connections you found at conferences like this? How do you reach out to the folks who seem to wanna help you or, or be helped by you and you know, sort of capitalizing on the connections you've made at those conferences for our law [00:14:00] firm, I know one of the things that we think about doing is how do we specifically support.
Underrepresented founders, right? How do we give time or services to help those companies and those founders that otherwise might be overlooked or might be skipped? And I, I expect there's, you know, other people willing to give their time and their resources to help move these companies forward. It, it's usually just getting the conversation started and I think events like this really help for that.
Trevor Schmidt: So, a bit more of a random question. Is there one piece of advice that you hear all the time that you think is just absolutely off base?
Anna Tharrington: Um, I'm sure there's a lot of pieces of advice I hear that, that I think are off base, but, you know, sometimes I think the reason why folks don't attend events like this, since we're sort of focusing in on conferencing and networking, I think sometimes it's the fear of not knowing anybody.
But if you back out of that and you think that's a pretty tough cycle, right? If you don't ever attend an event like the strength and numbers event because you don't know anybody, it's probably not gonna get any better for you. And, and what I noticed when I walked in that room. 10 minutes ago [00:15:00] was I saw a bunch of people just waiting.
They're eager to talk to folks. Right. Sort of without an agenda or without any sort of pretense or wanting anything from you. They just wanted to connect. And so I would say that, that my tip or, or the thing to try to avoid is that fear of, of feeling uncomfortable and breaking a little bit out of your shell to get into in a group like that.
Get into a group that you feel comfortable, as comfortable as possible with and give it a try because I think in my experience, really good things come from that.
Trevor Schmidt: I am here with Zakiya Lee with Idea Fund Partners. And we are here kind of at the very beginning of Venture Connect. How you feeling about the week and what you most looking forward to?
Zakiya Alta Lee: Wow, that's a great question. So feeling optimistic as always, I think. You know, venture Connect is definitely one of those events that brings together, you know, founders and investors and service providers and all the people in the ecosystem.
So it's exciting to fill all those people in one room, the energy, the [00:16:00] excitement around what's happening, you know, locally and even, you know, abroad further, further out in, in the world. Um, but yeah, no, I'm super excited about it. I look forward to, as always, hearing the founder's pitch. I think it's very exciting to.
You know, hear from people who are literally trying to change the world with what they're doing. And so, you know, there's always, like I said, a lot of excitement around that, a lot of, you know, um, hope for the future. And so I think, you know, we could use some, some good new products and technologies and AI in the world right now.
So, yeah, I'm excited.
Trevor Schmidt: That's good. We always can look for new good companies, right? Is there any type of company you're most excited to hear about or kind of something that you're leaning towards or learning about?
Zakiya Alta Lee: Good question. You know, I think I'm going into this very open-minded like idea fund specifically.
We invest in tech and tech enabled services. We'll even do some consumer products as well, some, you know, consumer product companies. And so. Always on the lookout for those. But I'm really open, I go into [00:17:00] these conferences very open because I think sometimes, um, if you go in looking for a certain thing, you can miss out on other opportunities and we're generalists at Idea Fund partners and so I like to see what's out there.
Trevor Schmidt: Now you've like kinda looking back at other conferences, it's there like a moment or some like just good interactions that you've had with people that just kind of stick with you over the years?
Zakiya Alta Lee: I think so. So. For me, I absolutely schedule things in the app, but it's those in-between moments, right? So let's say you've just walked out of, you know, maybe a pitch competition and the person was awarded, you know, best pitch and everyone's coming out and there's chatter.
You know, investors are saying, oh, have you heard about this company? We need to get their information. Founders are like, oh, that was so cool, you know, um, you know, he was great or she was great. And so like just that excitement in the halls. Like that for me is, is has, is always the most exciting part of a conference.
And of course, you know, the happy hours and kind of the fun getting to know you moments, right? Because [00:18:00] it's always so formal and, and um, I think those moments are great for developing real relationships with founders, with other investors, you know, with everybody.
Trevor Schmidt: And that's a good segue 'cause we're kind of at one of those Get to know you events here with strength in numbers.
You know, how, how or why is a, a group like strength in numbers important to you?
Zakiya Alta Lee: That's a great question. So it is imperative that women come together and, you know, support each other on our journeys. No matter where you are, no matter if you're an investor, if you're a service provider, if you're a founder, if you're ecosystem building, we have to support each other because a lot of these spaces are very much male dominated spaces and look.
I like men just as much as the next person Married to one. Got a son is great. Okay? But because these are male dominated spaces, it's imperative that women have the opportunity to really feel, um, you know, like they can be [00:19:00] themselves in the room to really feel like there's a place where they belong, where the room was almost put together just for them, right?
And so strength in numbers, I mean the name speaks for itself. Us having this place. That was curated. These events that are curated specifically for us and what we need and the things we want to talk about is so important. And a lot of times women don't wanna have certain conversations with men in the room because they feel a little vulnerable or maybe a little shy about talking about certain subject matter.
And so it's great to have those rooms where women can come in, feel completely at home, you know, and talk about whatever without feeling, you know, any type of insecurity. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Trevor Schmidt: Now there's a lot of kind of statistics around kind of just the discrepancy in capital that's available to kind of female led ventures.
You're kind of on the side of capital. So how do you think about that as you approach investments in other companies? How do you think about that just systemically? How do we improve that as an ecosystem?
Zakiya Alta Lee: Yeah, that's, that's the [00:20:00] million dollar question. Um, so I think. At the end of the day, I don't believe that everyone is system systematically discriminating against women.
Like I don't believe that's the overarching, you know, thing. Now look, I tend to err on the side of giving people the benefit of the doubt. But if you look at how we're sourcing deals, that to me. It's where the problem lies, right? And so a lot of times, I'll give you an example, a lot of times. VCs source in ways that save them time, right?
So they may say, Hey, let's just go to this school or that school. Let's go to our LP network. Let's go to other founders that we've supported in the past, and Sue what type of deal flow they provide to us. So I think it's very important, and it's difficult because VCs are incredibly busy, right? In addition to our day job, we're trying to sit on every panel, come to every event, help every founder.
VCs are [00:21:00] some of the most like caring folks that I've ever met. Honestly, I don't know how they got this like bad reputation of being like, you know, money hungry or whatever, but like, and so I think what's gonna be. Really important is for venture capitalists to try to figure out how to diversify their sourcing streams, so how they're getting those companies in the pipeline.
And so if they can go to more events where there's gonna be a larger pool of female investors, then I think that will be helpful. If they start going to the female colleges and things like that, I think that'll be helpful in filling the pipeline with more female founded companies, thus leading to more investments in women.
Trevor Schmidt: Yeah.
Zakiya Alta Lee: Yeah.
Trevor Schmidt: Ah. I love that answer. And you know, we've kinda been talking about access to capital and the challenges for kind of women led companies, but just being an investor, there's not a lot of women representation in investing. So talk a little bit about your experience with that and some of the challenges you faced.
Zakiya Alta Lee: Yeah, so for me specifically, I am okay in rooms that don't quite look like [00:22:00] me. It can be challenging though because. From my perspective, I'm very confident and I'm very outgoing and I'm very much an extrovert and everyone isn't like that. And so, you know, there are times of course, when I look around the room and I'm like, oh wow, there's no other women here.
But luckily, you know, I've had the opportunity in this ecosystem to get to know a lot of the other women investors. And so we are able to walk into meetings together or we know we're gonna be there. And so there's that type of support, right? But I think what's key is as more women enter into. This ecosystem, you're start, you'll start to see more female representation and I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll clarify what I'm saying.
So right now, if you look at our LP base, our limited partners, our investors, it's still very male dominated, right? And so I think we need more female investors because our LPs, they pretty much have a big say. And the types of companies we invest in and like where we're sourcing and they [00:23:00] get, they have a lot of, you know, power in these, within these funds.
And so even as we look at high net worth individuals, you know, women who are in that position, I would like to urge. Women to start investing a little bit more. Um, because I think that it puts you in the power seat, right? And so whether it's starting a fund, which is very difficult, um, or just, you know, being more involved in venture capital, I love that a lot of the universities now have like women in venture capital or females in venture capital groups because it's even sparking interest, you know, earlier.
And so, you know, it can be a tough challenge, but. I do feel like I'm kind of an early pioneer of, there's certainly ones that came way before me, but I'm still in the early stages of kind of opening up the investment opportunities for VCs, you know, that look like me for female VCs to come into this ecosystem.
So, yeah. Yeah.
So
Trevor Schmidt: what else can we be doing as an ecosystem, kind of beyond strength and numbers, beyond what we're doing at Venture Connect to kind of just improve access for underserved communities?
Zakiya Alta Lee: Great [00:24:00] question. I think what it first kind of begins with is the realization that underserved communities are underserved.
Mm-hmm. Right? And keeping those communities at the forefront, um, of your thoughts. So as you're making investments. As you're crafting events, you know, as you're going out to do whatever it is that you do, remembering that there are these underserved communities and so there's a lot of opportunity there, right?
Like for example, you know, idea Fund is doing a lot of sourcing in North Carolina and Virginia and we're so excited about that because we believe these are undercapitalized markets and so it's gonna be a great upside for us, I think, when you think about underserved communities. Planning events for them, or you know, just doing things curated for those communities, it's gonna be a great return, right?
And whether that, whether that's a financial return, whether that's a community engagement, return, whatever it is. So I think that's one thing that we can be doing. Um, it's just keeping those communities top of mind. I think, you know, also just, you know, making the extra effort to reach out to those communities if you're able to, and understanding that [00:25:00] they are out there, um, is really, really important.
And when those communities are in the room, like strength in numbers. Creating a space for them to feel comfortable, to feel like they can bring their whole selves to that community. Um, but I would like to also urge, you know, females, for example, when they walk into the pitch or when they walk into the room to bring their whole selves and to walk in.
Incredibly confident, right? Because what happens is when you are the only woman or one of the only women in the room, what happens is you're the unicorn in the room. And everyone's looking for the unicorn. You bring the different perspective, you bring the unique outlook. And so women need to understand that, own that.
And when you walk into that pitch, you walk in with confidence. I don't care. You know, we hear the statistics around the types of questions female founders get asked versus the types of questions male founders get asked. I don't care what question you get asked. You answer with confidence. And knowing that you've built your business, you know about more about your business than anybody else.
And you're gonna get investment. And if it's not from you, it's gonna be from the next [00:26:00] investor. That's how I want underserved communities to walk into, to their meetings, to their pitches, everything.
Trevor Schmidt: I love that answer. 'cause it really just shifts that kind of perspective of like, what are you thinking about it?
How do you, how do you think about underserved or the opportunities that were represented by it. Yeah. Um, so you may have an just answered this question, but. If you were, you know, like a young woman about to go into a Venture Connect, this will come out after Venture Connect, but you're thinking about like coming to one of these events.
What's the advice you would give to that person about how to plan for it, how to make the most of it? Who to try to meet, you know, how do you think about that? Yeah.
Zakiya Alta Lee: Great question. So I just did an event okay. With Cee D and Sin a week or so ago. Oh no, sorry. It was C it was Sin and Lila. Lila Ladies Invested Ladies Angels, and um, and this is exactly what we talked about.
So it's about prepping for the event. Mm-hmm. Right. Like, so obviously it's gonna be different whether you're a founder or service provider or an investor, but you go in. First of all, understanding who you want to meet and being very clear about that and [00:27:00] communicating that when you meet people, right? So as opposed to walking into a conversation saying, hi, I am Zakia.
It's like, okay, great. But hi, I'm Zakia. You know, I am a principal at ID fund Partners. I'm really excited about meeting other VCs as well as tech enabled and technology companies while I'm here. So the other person knows exactly how to help you. Yeah. Right. And so having kind of that script almost memorized, it makes it easy.
It's on auto pod and so you can feel much more comfortable meeting people. The other thing I would say is really map out obviously the events that you wanna attend. Be very clear about that. And you know, I would also say set, um, a set of kind of. Goals and takeaways before the conference starts. What do I want to get out of this, right?
Because we spend a lot of time and money and effort to be at these conferences, and so you wanna have your list of everything you wanna get out of it so that after the conference is over, you can compare, did I get everything out of the conference that I, that I wanted to? If I didn't, is it because. I didn't plan properly, or is it because this conference doesn't [00:28:00] offer that?
Now I'm not suggesting Venture Connect with it because it's amazing. Exactly. So it's probably user a era more than anything. But I think that just being very intentional is very, very important. And then understanding what you need to do in the moment and then what you can follow up on is also very important.
So if you don't get to have that founder conversation or that investor conversation, there's always like, Hey. Great to meet you. We had fun. We had a glass of bubbly at the bar. Can I follow up with you next week? Can we jump on a call? So just being very intentional and, and kind of going in Oh. And being confident.
Like you can't, it's no excuse. Oh, I'm shy. That's great. But this is a conference.
Trevor Schmidt: Yeah.
Zakiya Alta Lee: So you've got to shyly go over and tell people who you are and what you wanna do. Just
Trevor Schmidt: for that brief period of time you gotta find
Zakiya Alta Lee: yourself. Yes. Yes. And if you can't find it, just come find me and I'll introduce you to everybody I know.
That's
Trevor Schmidt: what that, that little as little nugget too. You gotta find a wingman, someone to come out and like, support you. It's easier to do as a group.
Zakiya Alta Lee: Yeah. But, um, a wing woman.
Trevor Schmidt: Yeah. Right. [00:29:00] As soon as it came outta my mouth, I knew, I was like, okay, we need a wing person. This is really what we need. This is great advice.
I just appreciate all your thoughts here. We need. I don't know, bookend this one and ship it out. 'cause this is a lot of good information for people. So Zia, thank you so much for the time. Absolutely.
I'm here with Seima Nandi from Sales Sim Biotech, Cee o and Co-founder, right? Yes. Well, welcome. Thank you so much for coming out.
Seema Nand: Thanks for having me.
Trevor Schmidt: So tell me a little bit about, we were just talking about it, but what are you excited, most excited for for Venture Connect and what looking forward to as.
Seema Nand: Um, yeah, I think, you know, venture Connect has always, I feel like it's, it's, um, kind of the easiest time of year to kind of, uh, get to see, um, so many people that you, you maybe just kind of see here and there anecdotally, but you know, everyone's kind of in the same. Place, especially all the local kind of RTP, you know, startup, uh, groups.
So it's always nice to see, you know, like the progress people have [00:30:00] made year over year and, you know, um, all the exciting advancements. And then, you know, for us, um, I think this year is, um, we're really excited to be here 'cause we just, you know, we also just internally have had some, some really cool, um, progress and developments this past year.
So it feels like a good. Time for us, you know, also just as a company to kind of be here and, and sharing that, that progress and,
Trevor Schmidt: well, well, you said you were pitching Yeah. As part of the conference. So how do you, how do you think about that and what do you hope comes out of the, the pitching experience?
Seema Nand: Yeah. Um, I guess, um, we are, you know, um. Looking to, I guess, just expand. I mean, we are raising, you know, around just to, you know, so hopefully some follow on connections there. But, um, also, you know, it's always nice I think just in terms of sort of getting more recognition out there, just kind of being more, being, um.
Having people in the space that we're in be more aware that there's something going on that we're working on. Um, you know, [00:31:00] the, the area we're in is, is kind of, um, like, uh, blood trauma, hemorrhage kind of synthetic products in that space. And it's, it's not a really huge area. So it's, it's always nice to, um, be able to have more, um, awareness for the, the players that are in that space, you know.
Trevor Schmidt: So tell us a little bit, has there been like a sign significant moment or breakthrough in the past year for your business? And tell us a little bit about about that.
Seema Nand: Um, yeah, I guess, um, so the biggest thing I think for us, you know, in the past year we're, we're very much still an early stage, you know, life sciences company.
Um, so the biggest thing I think for us actually just happened very recently is we had our first, um, contact first meeting with FDA. Um, I think that's very much kind of the highlight, um, of, of the past few months, um, that went really well. So we're all really excited about it. Um, really excited to kind of.
Build on that, um, over the next year. But, um, I think we've also just really kind of, um, in the past [00:32:00] year built out the team more we've, there've been some, some gaps that we had, you know, at founding that finally feel like they're, they're filled and everything's kind of moving along. So, um, just excited to, to kind of feel like we have more of a full robust team as well.
Yeah.
Trevor Schmidt: So, so what are some of the challenges that are facing the business right now and, and how do you hope to overcome those?
Seema Nand: Um, yeah, I think, you know, some of, some of the challenges, um, I guess, um, on the technical side, you know, we have, we have a little bit of a complex product, I guess, in the sense that there aren't, you know, sort of a.
Clear predicates that have gone through. So there's been a little bit of, of troubleshooting and getting creative on the technical side as far as, you know, what will work for FDA, what will still, you know, work for them and also get us usable data and be technically feasible and all of that stuff that we've, we've been working through.
Yeah. You know, and then, you know, just on the operational side, I mean, you know, um, I, I [00:33:00] think it's kind of generally across the board, 2025 was kind of a tough funding environment. Um, and so, you know, we're. We, we were lucky enough to, to bring in a few, um, kind of small grants and things in, in, in 2025 that are, have allowed us to kinda weather that and keep going.
But I think, you know, as with probably many startups, funding is very much top of mind as far as a thing that needs to,
Trevor Schmidt: yeah.
Seema Nand: Get taken care of.
Trevor Schmidt: So we're here at the Strengthen Numbers event and you just kind of came out of that session. Tell me a little bit about kind of what brought you to the event and, and how do you feel this type of a, a group is important to kind of our ecosystem.
Seema Nand: Um, well, I always, I, I kind of always like coming to the, the strength in numbers, events, you know, when they do them. Um, I think it's so helpful. I find as, you know, um, a female founder and especially like a first time female founder to, you know, connect with people who, um, have been through it before and, you know, kind of also are coming from that sort of [00:34:00] background, that kind of understand, um, some of the things that go along with that and, and, you know, um.
You know, not of course, you know, I've had like really great mentors across the board, you know, not just, not just, you know, but, um, there are some, sometimes, you know, unique perspectives that, um, I find maybe, um, can sort of help me sort of get to the root of ways I'm thinking or, you know, um, internal.
Conflicts that I'm, I'm dealing with that. Um, I have, uh, been very grateful to, I guess have, um, through some conversations at events like this. And, um, yeah, I think this is also, uh, always a great way to, to have sort of regular check-ins with those mentors that I've, I've, you know, kind of formed along the way.
Anna Tharrington: Mm-hmm.
Trevor Schmidt: So what is one aspect of being a, a woman in entrepreneurship that is not talked about enough that you just wish more people would have a conversation about?
Seema Nand: Um, [00:35:00] so, you know, I, I'll say, I don't know if this is, uh, a me thing or a Yeah. Women across the board thing, but I think for me, one thing that wasn't really talked about so much is, um.
Just the way I have to sort of make a conscious choice to just change tone in which I'm delivering what I'm saying, you know? Um, because so much goes into, you know, the pitch and the how you're messaging and like, is this, is this a good from a sales standpoint, is it a clear story? Is it all of that stuff?
And I, you know, I think that was sort of relatively, not that it's not always a work in progress, but relatively easy to grasp. I think the smaller things than just, you know. The way you have to change delivery a little bit to be perceived in a certain way is, is something that, um, is not really taught so much, but kind of becomes apparent that you have to, that was a little more challenging.
Trevor Schmidt: Now is that something you intuited or is that something that you like kinda learned through conversations with other people who came before you?
Seema Nand: Um, I think [00:36:00] it, I, I was kind of starting to intuit it. Um, and I think for me also, you know, I don't know if it's just a female, I come from a science background.
I'm a scientist and you know. This whole thing in science is you, you never are emphatically sure about something, you know, like you are never just, this is the way it is, you know? And so I think it was maybe an intersection of those two things, but, um, no, I was, I was very fortunate to, I was kind of starting to realize it myself, but I actually had, um, just a friendly, a friendly investor actually, that I was just kind of pitching to for feedback, who kind of was like, Hey, he said it very nicely, you know, but he was like, Hey.
Just so you know, you know, you are kind of also coming up against these other things. You need to maybe work on that aspect too. And that was incredibly helpful to have someone just explicitly say, you know,
Trevor Schmidt: well there's sometimes those things that just go onset, right? It is just sometimes hard to navigate that.
So I, I did wanna ask, how do you think we're doing 'cause as an ecosystem here in the triangle, just to support underserved populations to support kind of women in entrepreneurship.
Seema Nand: Um, I will say I have [00:37:00] felt very supported, you know, kind of since, since starting, um, on this path. I, I think, um, I was very fortunate, um, to sort of become our, our company became, um, involved with, you know, we were like a NC biotech portfolio company kind of early on.
Um, and that really helped open doors to a lot of, um. A lot of other female mentors in the space. I don't know if that's something that they are doing intentionally or, or not, but it, it really helped me make some really key connections. Um, and then Cee d as well, I was fortunate enough to find pretty early on, um, through their grow incubator and, um, that that connected me with, you know, these strength in numbers, events and things like that.
So I, I feel fortunate that I've kind of had that support. For most of the journey so far, I think. Um, but, um, I think, you know, maybe as far as university outreach, um, you know, maybe that's one way [00:38:00] to, you know, for, for students or postdocs or professors who are thinking about it. I don't know how much awareness there are is of those specific types of resources.
So maybe that's one, one thing we could keep. Working on.
Trevor Schmidt: So if you were kind of at that stage, you know, just coming outta university or just coming as thinking about starting your business, is there one piece of advice that you would share with somebody who's kind of at that stage?
Seema Nand: Um, I would say, um, to, again, maybe this is, this is kind of specific to the background I came from, but, uh, I would say it's okay to feel like you're.
Unprepared or unqualified. Yeah. Um, for that, you know, um, I, you know, again, I know coming from a science background, I was like, I don't know any of the business side of this, right? I'm, I kind of went to science because I love science, but also because it's not a person facing job, you know? Um, and I'm very happy there and, you know, so it was, it [00:39:00] was very much like a.
I'm glad my co-founders, my other academic co-founders kind of pushed me into this role.
Abha Bowers: Mm-hmm.
Seema Nand: Um, I don't know that I would've necessarily in innately thought I could do it.
Abha Bowers: Okay.
Seema Nand: But, um, I'm really glad I did and, you know, you can learn along the way and you can get more comfortable along the way. And I think, you know, that's okay.
So I think that's, that's what I would say. It's just don't be too hung up on that aspect.
Trevor Schmidt: Well, there's always that chance to grow and kinda learn new things and do new things well, what's one aspect of being a Cee o that kind of caught you by surprise that you didn't really think about going into the job?
Seema Nand: Um, I think I did not realize, um, one, just how much operational and admin stuff there is if there's not a specific COO type role in the company. And two, I think I didn't realize. You know, it's not just having like direct reports, right? When you are the one person in charge. I don't think I realized how much having other people and having their sort of [00:40:00] jobs, you know, and livelihoods and things like that are directly impacted by what you're doing.
I don't think I realized how much that kind of weighs on you just day to day, you know? Um, not that I haven't, I think reached a balance with like. I dealing with that, you know, but, um, it was a difficult transition early on. Yeah.
Trevor Schmidt: So last question, like after you finish up this week, you know, you're going back home.
How are you gonna measure success for this week? You know, look back and say that this was a good conference, I had a good time.
Seema Nand: Yeah. I think, um, I will consider this a successful conference for us if, um, I think I'm always looking to just, um, meet new. Potential collaborators, you know, whether, whether that is investors or CROs or, um, you know, people in healthcare that can just help me connect to more end users and learn more about their needs.
Um, so, you know, I always kind of have a goal of like, oh, I'd like to have met, you know, X number of people that I didn't know before, [00:41:00] um, and kind of track success that way. Um, and then also I think just, um. You know, every time you do a stage pitch, it's, it's a kind of nerve wracking experience. But just to hope, you know, I always kind of for personal, on a personal scale track success by like, was I more comfortable this time?
Yeah. Did I feel better this time? You know? Um, 'cause it's always, I think a growing process there too.
Trevor Schmidt: Here I've got Liz Kelly, managing director at Paps Capital. Liz, thanks so much for coming on.
Elizabeth Kelly: Great to be here. Thanks for having me.
Trevor Schmidt: So we are coming to the tail end of the strength and Numbers event here. It's been an amazing turnout. It was just so great to see that room so full. Um, but I know that you were instrumental in kind of the start of this, so I just wonder if you could talk a little bit about why this group is important to you, how it came about, and how it's grown to what it is today.
Elizabeth Kelly: Well, thanks. Yeah. I am extremely proud of what we've built over the past year plus with strength in numbers. [00:42:00] Um, really stemming from the fact that I've been the only female in the room for a lot of my career. Um, and so having that. Professional, but also kind of personal support network. Um, around me. I, I wanna change that dynamic to make sure that younger people or even my own peers have the resources and the community around them, um, to support them wherever they're going in their career.
Whether it's as a founder, a Cee o an investor, um, what have you, there's a tremendous amount of energy when you bring a bunch of women together and, um, you know, putting it out there, what you need. I need a. Lawyer, I need an accountant and people follow up and actually make those connections happen. Um, I think there's also a tremendous value in just peer support.
So, um, founders being able to share with other founders doing it for the first time, like what they learned, what they struggled with, how they can, um, how other people, uh, overcome certain obstacles maybe before they have to, uh, go through the challenges there. Um, [00:43:00] and you know, the more I kind of started talking about it with other people, there was just a.
Interest in women wanting to support other women. I kind of say that, um, everybody has somebody to give and something, something to gain. And, but you have to put it out there, um, for people to be able to help you. And so having a, an event like this where um, people can hopefully meet some new people, go into the conference with confidence because they do have people that they know and recognize their faces walking into it.
Uh, 'cause it can be intimidating. Um, and it's really just, you know, a community within a community. And I, when I think of Cee DI think of. Community and um, this is just an extension of that broader community. So
Trevor Schmidt: yeah, I mean I think it's, it's intentional, right, that this kicks off the conference. So you have those friendly faces as you kind of go in through the rest of the week and you see the people kind of around and know you've got that support.
To kind of start off, I just wanted to ask you kind of like, and maybe you were saying that this is not something you experienced, but how have you personally benefited from having women focused networks and how has that helped your career and helped you to grow? [00:44:00]
Elizabeth Kelly: Um, I think women in general don't necessarily tend to be maybe as promotional of themselves as men, and so having other women kind of support and rally around you, I kind of call it your, your fan club or your personal board of directors, but having a group of people that you can really, um, rely on who can talk you up when you're not even in the room.
Um, it's, it's huge in terms of confidence building, and I think that's a huge. Benefit that I've received from this kind of network, and I think others have as well. Um, and I also think it's a safe space to kind of be vulnerable, ask the questions that you maybe are intimidated to ask in front of a larger audience.
It's intended to be a safe space. Um, uh, yeah. But I think there's just tremendous value and it's just a different dynamic, different energy. I, I, there's magic. I feel like when you bring a whole bunch of women together to, uh. Support each other and get stuff done. So, um, I've, I, something I wish I had earlier on in my career, and so to the extent that I can [00:45:00] make something like this available to 20 something year olds so that they don't deal with some of the challenges that I've had, that that is exactly what I'm trying to achieve.
Trevor Schmidt: So what's the one aspect about being a woman in investing or a woman in kind of entrepreneurship that's just not talked about enough that you wish was just more a part of the conversation?
Elizabeth Kelly: It's lonely at times. I think as I've gone further along in my career, and especially when you are surrounded by peers who are not female, it, it can be very lonely. And I think the importance of having female, and we don't have to call them mentors or anything like that, but just female, like I said, your fan club.
Right. Um, I think is. That's not talked about enough, like people that you can count on, that you can be vulnerable with, you can ask the direct questions of, um, is incredibly important. And, um, I don't think. A lot of the general [00:46:00] population kind of realizes some of that challenge, I think. I think for me personally, there's um, there's definitely more female investors than there were call, call it when I started my career.
Um, but there's still a huge gap and I think the more female investors that we have out there, the more female founders will get. Funded, um, I think it was a couple, it was like 2% a year or two ago of, um, venture capital funding was raised by, um, female founders. That number has increased over the past year, you know, as close to doubled.
Don't quote me on that exactly, but we're also starting from a small base and there's lots of room for, um, improvement there. But if there are more women that have seats at the table from a investor perspective, I mean, I know I. Want to hear from female founders, right? So the more females you have around the table making those decisions, hopefully the more companies that you will have that will, um, you know, get funding or at least get a chance at having funding.
Trevor Schmidt: So, related to that, how do we kind of create more seats at the table for women in investing? Is there are some steps that we can take as an [00:47:00] ecosystem or as kind of just in general that you think about as, as a way to improve representation?
Elizabeth Kelly: Um, I think women supporting other women, so VCs, supporting other VCs.
Um, when I started my career, there was maybe one other female investor in this ecosystem who was kind of at the partner level. Uh, last summer I convened a. A group of about 20, um, all the way, you know, from a associate all the way through, partner at the table. But if we can continue to convene that kind of community and network for people to have real conversations, whether it's about fundraising, whether it's about balancing, um, motherhood, um, and professional life.
So with, you know, ambition, but you have personal and professional demands of you. Um, how did. How did you work through this, for instance? How, what can I learn from that? Um, I think the more that we can bring people together to support each other and for people who have been through the ropes, for instance, to, um.
Be willing to pay it forward, um, and to allocate their time and resources to support the next [00:48:00] generation. I think that is incredibly, um, important and recognizing that the next generation might not do it the same way, but if you can be a resource and a tool and, um, pull up additional seats at the table for other women, um, that's gonna continue to change the dynamic there.
Trevor Schmidt: So beyond strength in numbers, what are some kinda other concrete steps that we as an ecosystem can be taking to. Again, take more steps to support underserved populations.
Elizabeth Kelly: I think it's just being cognizant of the fact that, um, there are tremendously successful females in this ecosystem. There's a couple of, um, other panels, you know, I'm coming at it from the biotech side, but a couple of other panels over the next couple of days where we've been intentional in terms of making sure that we have a diverse representation on stage.
And it's, you know, it's four panelists having half women or half. Non-white or what have you. Um, I think that's important to be intentional with that, um, from the get get go, because I think the diverse perspectives are incredibly important. That goes all the way [00:49:00] from kind of scientists coming out of a lab at a university all the way up to the, the C-suite and the board of directors for these companies that we're backing.
Trevor Schmidt: So if you were kind of a, a young person just starting their career, kind of trying to follow your, your path, do you have advice that you would kind of direct 'em to or, or something that you would use to encourage them? I.
Elizabeth Kelly: Um, I often tell people the soft skills to work on the soft skills. So that's, yes, I get now that AI can help you with writing and that sort of thing, but being able to speak, being able to articulate your perspective and point of view and be confident in it, um, and early on in your career gives you tremendous amount of opportunities to put yourself.
Out there. Um, and you know, the technical stuff, frankly, you can learn or kind of teach yourself, but the more opportunities you get to kind of be comfortable, I say, with the uncomfortable, um, that will suit set you up well for success. The other aspect of it is, especially in venture, is um, you know, there are tools and technologies that will help you in certain ways, but there's, at the end of the day, it's still a [00:50:00] relationship business and the importance of being able to.
Converse and network and talk to people, um, and strike up a conversation with, with somebody about whatever it may be. And who knows there's a deal at the end of that. Um, but you know, I think the interpersonal skills are still extremely important and regardless of the tools and technologies are out there, there's still gonna be a need for.
Those skills at the end of the day. And so that's, that's what I tell any young person that comes to me. And, and frankly, I wish I had been more comfortable with some of that, you know, earlier on in my career. So again, going back to kind of what I mentioned earlier about changing the dynamic for the younger or next generation, kind of instilling in them some of the tools, um, early on so that they can be successful even at a younger age, for instance.
Trevor Schmidt: So now, now if you, if there was a young woman who was just coming to her very first Venture Connect, uh, uh, you know, ever. How, how should she plan? How should she think about it? You know, what steps should she take to get the most out of this type of a conference? [00:51:00]
Elizabeth Kelly: Well, first and foremost I would say come to the Strengthen numbers mixer that's ahead of the conference so that you have some friends and familiar faces, um, walking into a conference.
'cause it can be very intimidating. Um, we actually did a, um, an event about two weeks ago in collaboration with Lila, strengthen numbers and Lila on how to prep for conferences and just different tools and techniques and strategies that all of us use to kind of get yourself ready because. Believe it or not, there are people that walk in the door and show up to a conference, not having done any homework, scheduled anything ahead of time, know what sessions are going so they're not making great use of their time.
Um, but setting out goals. What do you wanna accomplish at the head of that conference? Who do you wanna meet? Um, what sessions do you wanna get something out of? And then being able to take advantage of the kind of impromptu networking opportunities, whether it's at a formal event or just, you know, a hallway conversation.
But, um, doing the. Prep work on the front end to me, um, makes for a successful, you know, kind of [00:52:00] conference on the back end. So
Trevor Schmidt: this is maybe take a step back, but I did wanna ask you is what's one aspect of being a VC that surprises people or that you don't, don't think people appreciate enough.
Elizabeth Kelly: People think VCs are rich, right? Or they have tons of resources and you know, and which is not necessarily the case, right? You have to have exits to get, um, to have resources to that you then reinvest. Um, and especially, you know, depending upon the market cycle that we're in. Past couple years, there have not been many exits, right?
And so funds have to be very prudent in how they're allocating, you know, what they get from a management fee perspective. Um, and you know, the, the reality is like, depending upon the size of their fund, you know, a billion dollar fund for instance, that's a different story, but 50, 75, a hundred, even $200 million funds, you know, depending upon how many people are around the table.
Like you have a set amount of fees that you have to allocate around. You know, the operations of the [00:53:00] firm and there are certain, you know, functions that you have to, like back office reporting, et cetera. Like that's an, you have to do that, right? So you have to allocate fees to that. So, um. You know, I think pe there's a probably economic, uh, uh, aspect of, um, the venture world that is underappreciated, particularly by founders.
I think that, um, probably doing it for the first time don't necessarily appreciate, so, and maybe the other thing I would say is that, um, you know, we get, I get some days like five or 10 new, um, investment opportunities a day. Right. Um, and recognizing that. We want to help make companies successful, right?
Like, regardless of whether we invest in them or not. And so it's almost like, help me help you. So give me the core pertinent information. Um, you know, to some degree kind of reading the room and balancing kind of the science and technical aspect with the economic and financial aspect of things. Um, if you, you know, have an hour allotted for a conversation, like, how [00:54:00] can you best use that hour and put your best foot forward?
Frankly, if it's not a situation that's a fit for our fund, but we can introduce you to other investors where it might be a fit, we will do that. Especially if you, you know, make a good impression with your one hour you've pitched to us. Um, but recognizing that we're inundated with opportunities, which is a good thing, um, but um, we wanna do what we can to make you successful as well.
Trevor Schmidt: So, one last question for you. Is there one thing that you think about right now that has given you hope, kind of for the future, kind of with regard to. Kind of women in entrepreneurship, women in investing, is there something that you're just really excited about or hopeful for?
Elizabeth Kelly: I think we still have a long ways to go, but I think there's more acknowledgement of the fact that. We need more women and as founders, as investors, they bring a different perspective or different lens to the conversation, which I think help makes it more well-rounded, whether you're on the operating side and starting and running a company or whether you're on the investment side and doing due [00:55:00] diligence and you know, in the boardroom there.
I think, um, I think there's a balance at a mix. Makes for more successful companies. And so, um, you know, I think to some degree we are just getting started and there's more conversation than ever. Um, around this, the event that we just did on the other side was around women's health and that. And the fact that there's been more conversation around women's health over the past couple of months than I can ever recall in my career, which is again, a positive signal.
But um, you have to keep that conversation and momentum going. So continuing to talk about it, continuing to talk about successes, whether it's successful companies, successful fundraises, et cetera. Um, but we've gotta continue to have the dialogue and put it out there.
Trevor Schmidt: Well, Liz, thanks so much for taking the time.
Thanks for all you're doing to build this community, and I just appreciate you taking the time out to speak with us today.
Elizabeth Kelly: Thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it and uh, I hope everyone has a great conference.
Trevor Schmidt: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Founder Shares podcast. If you're a founder or business owner and need legal advice, be sure [00:56:00] to check out our team@hutchlaw.com.
That's hutch law.com. We have the capacity to help you out with just about any legal need your company may be facing. We're passionate about the innovation economy and ready to help you on your entrepreneurial journey. I'm Trevor Schmidt and thanks for listening to the Founder Shares podcast.