“Founding a startup business is extremely intense and very time-consuming, but the difference is that in a startup you’re the boss, you get a say in what’s going on, you’re making critical decisions, and you get to determine the overall strategy behind what you’re working on every day.”
>>The incubator program proved to be an extremely rewarding experience for Alekto. “When we came down (to Durham) we just really enjoyed the startup and technology community here. Durham is really trying to build a thriving startup scene here in the Southeast. The people are genuinely interested in what you’re doing and helping you succeed,” Smith said. During their time in the incubator program, Smith and Pinson applied for admission to a venture-backed startup accelerator called Triangle Startup Factory. After multiple rounds of callbacks, Alekto was ultimately one of only six companies to be selected to participate in the accelerator’s fall program. The accelerator gives each portfolio company a small amount of equity funding, provides access to successful entrepreneurs and feedback, and culminates with a Pitch Day in November during which Alekto will pitch its business to angel investors and venture capital funds in hopes of raising a full seed round of funding. “We were ecstatic about our acceptance into TSF and that made the decision to move to North Carolina an easy one,” Smith said. While Smith assumed starting a business would be easier than working at a large firm, she soon discovered that it’s no easy feat. “Founding a startup business is extremely intense and very time-consuming, but the difference (between a startup and law firm life) is that in a startup you’re the boss, you get a say in what’s going on, you’re making critical decisions, and you get to determine the overall strategy behind what you’re working on every day,” Smith said. Despite the intensity, Smith has come to find that being an entrepreneur is the right path for her unique background
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and interests. “I don’t think many people realize how much legal work there is involved in starting a business. Especially because Alekto provides a financial service, there are many relevant legal issues. I’ve been learning so much since I’ve been doing this,” she said. Smith has been told by Pinson that having an attorney on staff as a co-founder has made the startup process run more smoothly and saved them a lot of money. “Attorneys are expensive, and although we use external counsel for certain projects, having an in-house attorney as one of the co-founders has been exceptionally useful in helping us both understand the strategic and legal implications of our decisions, and determining what’s best for both the business and what we’re trying to accomplish for consumers,” she said. Smith understands that her situation is unique, but she credits her time at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law to helping her find a career path that was right for her. She explained that Moritz helped her to be open-minded about different occupations possible with a law degree and broadened her idea of what type of job an attorney “should be” doing. In fact, Moritz is still helping Smith. Last spring, Alekto became one of the first clients of the College’s new Entrepreneurial Business Law Clinic. “If you would have asked me a year ago, ‘Would you ever start your own business?’ I would have said, ‘Absolutely not.’ But luckily, my education from Moritz prepared me such that I’ve been able to adapt to my personal circumstances and use my legal training to become an entrepreneur,” said Smith. “I don’t think that would have been possible without the excellent law school education I received at Moritz.”AR
BRYAN REGAN
Alumni News