How do you build a fintech juggernaut and redefine how employees think about ownership in businesses, navigate regulatory roadblocks along the way, and build a global team to make it happen?Join April Lindauer, General Counsel at Carta, as she discusses her start-up’s tremendous journey from 200 employees to more than 2000, as the software platform that allows users to manage equity, build businesses, and invest in the companies of tomorrow as they expand into an ever-growing list of international markets.Listen as April offers tips for working with regulators, navigating several financing rounds, building out legal operations, working with great outside partners, and hiring the perfect team, and much more.Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-82Topics:Introduction: 0:00Joining Carta and overseeing tremendous growth: 1:58Cultivating a career in financial services: 4:10Carta’s growth from 200 employees to 2000: 6:26Transitioning from deputy general counsel to general counsel: 8:23Hiring for a global legal team: 12:30Navigating the GC role during the COVID-19 pandemic: 14:34Working with the executive team to make tough decisions: 16:57Working with financial regulators: 18:22Leading legal through multiple financing rounds: 22:21Leveraging Carta’s wealth of data: 24:21Rapid-fire questions: 27:48Book recommendations: 29:00What you wish you’d known as a young lawyer: 30:36Connect with us:April Lindauer - https://www.linkedin.com/in/april-lindauer-2174104/Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinnSpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraftSpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

How do you advise founders and learn to speak their language? Build a thriving legal community in Europe? And navigate the ups and downs of starting your own business?Join Sarah Irwin, CEO and Founder of Irish Tech GC, as she discusses her career as a consultant for tech founders, adviser for GCs looking to build better relationships with their fellow executives, angel investor, and global legal influencer.Listen as Sarah shares how she founded the Irish Tech GC community, why she decided it was time to leave her GC role behind and go all-in on her own company, how she leveraged LinkedIn to create enormous reach, and offers tips to GCs on how they can position themselves as business leaders.Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-81Topics:Introduction: 0:00What inspired Sarah to be a lawyer: 2:19Assessing Dublin’s start-up landscape: 7:47Working with founders at Tines: 9:44Founding the Irish Tech GC community: 12:17Seeing yourself as a founder: 15:12Deciding to go all-in on your own company: 18:31Operating a start-up and legal consulting practice: 20:01Common mistakes that GCs make when working with founders: 21:51Documenting the ups and downs of your founder journey on LinkedIn: 26:39The best and most challenging parts of being a founder: 29:07The future of Irish Tech GC: 33:01Getting in touch with Sarah: 34:31Rapid-fire questions: 35:15Connect with us:Sarah Irwin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-irwin-aa273064/Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinnSpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraftSpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

How do you become a leader in the privacy space? Use video and content to make privacy and the profession more accessible? And define a whole new type of privacy role?Join Ron De Jesus, Field Chief Privacy Officer at Transcend, as he shares what it’s like to be the first in the compliance industry to take on his innovative new role leading dialogues and creating spaces for discussion about the future of privacy. Pulling from his experience leading privacy at dating app companies like Grindr and Tinder and fashion houses like Tapestry and Coach, Ron leads with his extensive domain knowledge and first-hand understanding of privacy-related issues.Listen as Ron discusses how he conducts interviews with privacy regulators, politicians, and activists in his video series “Field Notes,” the future of the CPO role in the age of AI, managing corporate reputations after privacy complaints, how to break into privacy without a law degree, and much more.Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-80Topics: Introduction: 0:00What is a Field Chief Privacy Officer?: 1:50Producing a creative video webseries at Transcend: 6:54Experimenting with video content as a freelance privacy consultant: 12:05Coming into a role at a company dealing with privacy complaints: 15:50Managing privacy-related communications issues: 19:01Navigating a career break after alleging wrongful termination: 21:53Thinking about new consent frameworks in the privacy industry: 24:40How did you get your start in privacy?: 27:57What is the future of the CPO role?: 33:56Advice to young people who want to work in privacy: 36:19How to find Ron: 39:34Rapid-fire questions: 40:01Book Recommendations: 41:28What you wish you’d known as a young privacy professional: 42:42Connect with us:Ron De Jesus - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rondejesus/Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinnSpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraftSpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

How is the rise of AI going to affect the intellectual property field and patents? What are some common mistakes that GCs make when setting up a patent strategy? Or tips that our guest has learned from years as a patent examiner?Join Matt Veale, European Patent Attorney and UPC at PatSnap, as he leads us into this podcast’s first-ever deep dive into all things patents and IP, sharing expert advice on the best way to work with examiners to bring your innovations to the world.Listen as Matt discusses why he thinks IP is the most important thing in the world, the importance of data analytics, bridging the gap between lawyers and R&D, building a strong patent strategy, the future of IP law, and much more.Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-79Topics:Introduction: 0:00What inspired Matt to be a lawyer: 1:48What does intellectual property law mean?: 3:40Starting your legal career at the UK Intellectual Property Office: 5:11Tips for people filing their first patent: 6:42Interesting patent applications Matt has seen: 8:47Tips for GCs who inherit corporate patents: 9:39Looking for outside patent counsel: 11:55Patent analytics at PatSnap: 13:44The future of IP law: 16:38AI as a tool for patent lawyers: 20:55Contacting Matt: 25:23Rapid-fire questions: 25:37Book recommendations: 26:46What Matt wishes he knew as a young lawyer: 27:17Connect with us:Matt Veale - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-veale-ip/Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinnSpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraftSpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

How can general counsels and legal operations leaders work better together? How do you cultivate a high-performance culture across your legal team? And what makes for a thriving community of legal ops professionals?Join Steph Corey, CEO and Co-founder of UpLevel Ops and Link, the Legal Innovators Network, as she unpacks her career leading legal operations, starting at HP in the 90s, leading operations at Flex and VMware, co-founding the game-changing CLOC and Link conferences, and launching her own consultancy.Listen as Steph discusses how she built community in an isolating legal role, whether or not you need a law degree to work in legal ops, how to hire the best talent for your team, and merging with The L Suite to bring general counsels into the legal operations conversation.Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-78Topics:Introduction: 0:00Switching to legal ops from finance: 2:50Building trust with HP’s general counsel: 5:33Co-founding CLOC, the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium: 11:21Do you need a JD to break into legal operations?: 15:47Tips for finding the right talent: 18:55How can legal operations professionals and general counsels work better together?: 23:03Co-founding Link: 28:44Merging Link with The L Suite: 31:54The future of her consultancy: 38:23Connecting with Steph and LINK: 40:27Rapid-fire questions: 41:11Book Recommendations: 45:46What you wish you’d known as a young legal ops professional: 49:30Connect with us:Steph Corey - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephcorey-ulo/Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinnSpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraftSpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

How do you help one of Silicon Valley's most iconic companies, Yahoo!, navigate years of change, stay engaged over almost two decades there, and make the move to health tech when you're ready for something new?Join Ron Bell, Chief Legal and Administrative Officer at Collective Health, as he shares his journey from Chicago litigator and software programming hobbyist to in-house lawyer at some of the hottest tech companies in the world during the dotcom renaissance.Listen as Ron offers his insights on how to navigate the constant and radical changes he’s seen in the tech industry over three decades, the importance of creating spaces of trust and transparency, establishing legal operations in legacy businesses, and why people are so afraid of lawyers.Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-77Topics:Introduction: 0:00Charting a career course after law school: 2:04Leaving Illinois for the Bay Area: 3:44Working in legal at Apple as a former programmer: 6:45Leaving Apple for Yahoo!: 10:17Growing and changing at the same company for 18 years: 13:22Setting up legal operations at Yahoo!: 17:25Becoming the second Chief Legal Officer at Collective Health: 21:30Building a strong relationship with Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer: 23:04Navigating constant change: 29:45Coaching your staff to be more accessible: 35:00Paying attention to stock fluctuations: 39:13Reflections on the maturing tech industry: 42:59Deciding to move into healthcare: 46:50Being open and candid with your colleagues: 48:45Rapid-fire questions: 54:57Connect with us:Ron Bell - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronsbell/Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinnSpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraftSpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

How are marketplaces for legal work transforming the way that we work and the way that we live, creating opportunities for a better match between what you need from work and the work that you do?Join Lawtrades co-founders Raad Ahmed and Ashish Walia, as they discuss their path from dissatisfied law school graduates to running a powerhouse legal services startup that links white collar freelancers to legal departments, with $9.7 million in venture backing and $12 million in annual recurring revenue.Listen as Raad and Ashish talk about taking the leap to start a company, making difficult business pivots, working with leading startup accelerators, bringing the management suite into the gig economy, democratizing opportunities for entrepreneurial lawyers, building strong relationships with clients and investors, and much more.Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-76Topics:Introduction: 0:00Why two start-up founders went to law school: 2:04Deciding to go all in on your start-up: 5:46Participating in the 500 Startup accelerator: 10:49Pivoting your business model to match talent with legal departments: 17:58Is gig work good for workers?: 20:33Cultivating a diverse and gender equitable talent pool: 25:18Removing administrative burden for independent legal professionals: 28:17Changing course and enduring layoffs: 30:09Getting buy-in from team members and investors: 35:30Managing stressful times in business and coming out the other side: 39:56What’s next for Lawtrades?: 43:34Rapid-fire questions: 46:36Book recommendations: 50:13What you wish you’d known as a young founder: 53:19Connect with us:Raad Ahmed - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raadahmed/Ashish Walia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashishwalia1/Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinnSpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraftSpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

What are the top books that every legal leader needs to read to succeed in the new year?  At the close of each episode, Tyler asks our guests what book they would recommend to our audience, and we’re kicking off 2025 with this year’s list of must-read books that you need to check out. Listen to hear titles that these CEOs, start-up founders, and GCs can’t live without.   Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-75  Topics: Introduction: 0:00  Joe Green, Chief Innovation Officer Gunderson Dettmer, recommends Leading Professionals: Power, Politics, and Prima Donnas by Laura Empson: 0:42  Rachel Olchowka, General Counsel & Chief People Officer at Fetch recommends Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility by Patty McCord: 1:34  Dan Haley, General Counsel at Guild Education recommends Helping Your Business Win by  Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George Spafford: 2:39  Chelsea Grayson, Managing Partner at Pivot, recommends Quench Your Own Thirst: Business Lessons Learned Over a Beer or Two by Jim Koch: 5:51Aaron Gregory, CEO of Upwardly, recommends The Right It: Why So Many Ideas Fail and How to Make Sure Yours Succeed by Alberto Savoia: 7:38Jasmine Singh, General Counsel at Ironclad, recommends The Practice of Groundedness: A Transformative Path to Success That Feeds--Not Crushes--Your Soul by Brad Stulberg: 10:03Sean West, Co-Founder of Hence Technologies, recommends The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma by Michael Bhaskar and Mustafa Suleyman: 12:56Jules Polonetsky, CEO of Future of Privacy, recommends: Privacy Is Hard and Seven Other Myths by JH Hoepman: 14:17Heath Tarbert, Chief Legal Officer at Circle, recommends The Enchiridion of Epictetus: 14:57Matt Tanielian, Co-Founder of Franklin Square Group, recommends How to Talk Dirty and Influence People: An Autobiography by Lenny Bruce: 16:21Connect with us: Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft   SpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues.   Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

What’s the best advice you can offer to young lawyers who are just starting their careers? What do you wish you’d known then that you know now?These are the questions we ask each of our guests at the end of every episode of The Abstract. Listen to some of our favorite answers from the legal leaders and C-suite executives who visited the podcast in 2024 and hear tips about trusting your gut, building strong relationships, taking surprising career paths, and much more.Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-74Topics:Introduction: 0:00Adam Greenberg, former General Counsel at Warby Parker and Ro, on being a lawyer who doesn’t litigate: 0:33Christine Uri, founder of ESG for In-House Counsel, on the value of building relationships: 1:24Jasmine Singh, General Counsel at Ironclad, on trusting your gut: 2:54Matt Campobasso, General Counsel at Enfusion, on exploring self-doubt: 4:15Sarah Feingold, playwright and former counsel at Etsy and Vroom, on not doing everything yourself: 6:33Chelsea Grayson, Managing Partner at Pivot >, on centering business solutions: 8:26Ben Klein, CEO at Aero, on not putting pressure on yourself: 9:59Joe Green, Chief Innovation Officer at Gunderson Dettmer, on experimenting early in your career: 11:23Kristin Sverchek, President of Lyft, on imposter syndrome: 13:46Connect with us:Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinnSpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraftSpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

How do you avoid common mistakes in commercial contract negotiation? What about in drafting? And how can you get better at and find more joy in commercial contracting?Join Laura Frederick, Founder and CEO of How to Contract, as she goes deep on all things contracts—everything from how to avoid common mistakes to tips for supercharging your negotiating skills.Listen as Laura talks about her career in contracts working for top energy and renewable companies like Tesla and SolarCity, making the leap to start her own law firm and training business, establishing a yearly conference about all things contracts, and more.Read detailed summary:  https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-73Topics:Introduction: 0:00Why Laura chose contracts as her core practice area: 5:52Drafting contracts for energy and renewables: 10:17Laura’s favorite types of deals: 13:54Contract drafting tips and tricks: 15:39Considering a more generalist role: 17:50Common mistakes during contract drafting: 23:19How to negotiate more effectively: 25:10Tips for breaking a negotiating log jam: 27:59Lessons from mentors: 33:03Founding How to Contract: 36:39Leaving Tesla to make the leap to business owner: 40:06Focusing on mental health: 44:19Finding Laura’s businesses online: 51:10Rapid-fire questions: 54:08What Laura wishes she’d known as a young lawyer: 55:12Connect with us:Laura Frederick - https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurafredericklaw/Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinnSpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraftSpotDraft is a leading contract lifecycle management platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.