TechCrunch was proud to host Fidelity Private Shares at Early Stage in Boston on April 25, 2024. Here’s an overview of their breakout session.
So, you’re preparing to raise money to fuel your startup. How confident are you that your cap table and data room are squeaky clean? This question should be top of mind for most founders because a messy data room may drag out your raise and could cost you tens of thousands in legal expenses. This session covered the best practices to help you close easily and efficiently. Our 4 speakers offered tips from the legal perspective, the investor perspective, and the founder perspective. Founders left this session, armed with tangible, actionable guidance.
SPEAKERS
Kristen Craft, Vice President & Business Partner Manager, Fidelity Private Shares
Kristen Craft brings deep startup roots to her role as VP of Business Partnerships at Fidelity. In this role, she’s building out Fidelity’s startup engagement platform, supporting founders and investors with equity management tools, fundraising strategy, and go-to-market best practices. Prior to Fidelity, Kristen was a founder herself, and then a longtime startup operator. She enjoyed working on strategic partnerships and digital marketing, predominantly in B2B SaaS companies. A Boston-area native, Kristen holds a B.A. from Brown University, an M.Ed. from Harvard University, and an MBA from MIT Sloan. She’s particularly passionate about building community, creating connections, and supporting diverse founders.
Laura Stoffel, Partner, Gunderson Dettmer
Laura Stoffel is a partner at Gunderson Dettmer, the preeminent international law firm with an exclusive focus on the innovation economy. Laura represents entrepreneurs as they form and structure new businesses, counsels companies through equity and debt financing rounds, and executes complex M&A transactions. Laura specializes in representing emerging growth companies, frequently starting from formation and continuing through their achievement of scale and an M&A event. Laura is highly experienced with governance and venture financing matters, advising early and late-stage start-ups on everything from day-to-day matters to material strategic events. Laura also represents venture capital, growth and private equity investors on investment transactions and portfolio company matters.
Alicia Tulsee is a native New Yorker and Harvard alum, based in Boston, MA, and is the founder of the first direct-to-consumer medical apparel brand for nurses, Moxie Scrubs. In awe of all of the amazing nurses who cared for her loved ones, Alicia felt a calling to do something meaningful for the nursing profession and founded Moxie Scrubs out of Harvard University’s Innovation Lab with the passion to create a brand dedicated to giving nurses the sense of fashion, professionalism, and respect that they want and deserve.
Melissa Withers, Founder & Managing Partner, RevUp Capital
RevUp Capital Founder and Managing Partner Melissa Withers is one the most experienced female early stage investors in the U.S.. She is also a bullish advocate for innovating the ways in which new companies are funded and supported throughout their lifecycle. In 2016, Melissa and her partners created RevUp—one the first revenue-based funds in the world to serve earlier stage companies. In freeing themselves from the “exit or bust” constraints of equity, the team pioneered a powerful new way for investors and founders to define success. In 2023, RevUp began deploying its 7th Fund. For Melissa, the progression of the RevUp portfolio— and the results these companies have produced for investors—is proof enough that the only barriers to innovation in investing are the ones that investors set for themselves. Beyond building new economic models for investing, Melissa is also committed to efforts that direct more entrepreneurial funding to those underserved and overlooked by traditional VC. With a background in life sciences and a graduate degree in science communications, Melissa started her career at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, working at the intersection of basic research, communication, and public policy. She’s also spent time in public service at the state and municipal level. Most importantly, she’s a proud mom, an amateur boxer (with a title belt!), and a lover of the great outdoors.
