Early-stage startup lawyers are like plumbers: you don’t want to hire one until it’s absolutely necessary.

A Silicon Valley attorney who works with small companies might charge $250-500/per hour. That can easily start eating up runway, which is why it’s sensible to put off legal expenses.

Fortunately, most startups don’t need outside help when it comes to creating initial frameworks for privacy, compliance and ethics, according to Laura Bisesto, global head of policy and privacy at Nextdoor.

I interviewed her in January to get her advice for companies that are just starting out. We talked about data governance, recognizing when you need in-house help, and the overall importance of planning for worst case scenarios. She also had some thoughts for rolling out new AI-powered features, creating user advisory boards, and navigating a patchwork of state, federal and international laws.

Here’s a breakdown of our conversation:

Coming up with an idea for an AI-powered startup is actually pretty easy, but how do you translate your personal vision into something that's tangible enough to attract a co-founder, investors and eventually, paying customers? 

To find out, I interviewed May Habib, co-founder and CEO of Writer, and Gaurav Misra, co-founder and CEO of Captions. We talked about building a founding team that aligns with your values, how they validated their ideas before bringing them to market, and how to successfully pivot with the support of your investors and your team if or when you need to. 

May and Gaurav also spoke frankly about the challenges they both needed to overcome after stepping into leadership roles. I really think this episode's gonna be useful for anyone who's trying to hone their storytelling skills, connect with investors, or even become a better marketer.

Thanks for listening!

Fund/Build/Scale is sponsored by Mayfield and Securiti.