VC/Startup Lawyer Provides Scaffolding for Building Big Ventures by Geri Stengel

 Lori Hoberman knows what entrepreneurs need and don’t need in order to grow their businesses. She’s been advising leaders of high-growth companies for a couple of decades. And what they don’t need is large-firm prices and a stuffy atmosphere.

What they do need, in addition to legal and strategic advice, is someone to open doors for them to money, customers, vendors, and employees. They need back-office support, such as HR, payroll, and marketing. Many lawyers claim they can do this, but few have the connections that Hoberman does. She not only knows people, she connects the dots between the entrepreneur and the resources needed.

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FORBES

Gratitude Blog

Happy Thanksgiving all!

The last month of launching my own firm has reminded me of the many wonderful people in my life for whom I am immensely grateful. What better day than Thanksgiving to give thanks…

…to my amazing, talented friend Mary Kekllas, who designed my logo and website.  This is a new adventure for her too and I only hope that I didn’t drive her so crazy as to make her rethink her new career path.  She patiently taught me how to enter content and use the dashboard and even more patiently cleaned up my inevitable mistakes.     

…to Jerry Kestenbaum, who has taken us into his BuildingLink family, given us space and friendship and turned a potentially lonely, new  venture into a wonderful, warm, welcoming experience.  I love the office (what could be cooler than Union Square?) and the people there.

…to Lisa Merriam, who is teaching me all about SEO and Yost and how to optimize my website.

…to amazing writers Colleen DeBaise (@colleendebaise) and Geri Stengel (@ventureneer) for their articles on my launch in the Story Exchange and the Huffington Post (A New York Lawyer Popular With Entrepreneurs Becomes One Herself) and Forbes (VC Lawyer Provides Scaffolding for Building Big Ventures, respectively

…to my terrific associate, Izzy Cohn, who bravely joined me on this adventure.  

…to all my clients, who followed me, and to all the new ones who have come on board these first few weeks.

…to my son, Sammy, for all the designs and logos and launch videos that he’s created. 

…to my husband, Mitch, the “office manager.”  We decided to put our 24-year marriage to the test by seeing if we can work together.  As long as I get my time sheets in and keep track of my expenses, I think we’ll be ok…

A New York Lawyer Popular With Entrepreneurs Becomes One Herself

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Lori Hoberman is a New York City lawyer, but doesn’t look or act like one. She dresses casually, wears her hair long and unfussed, and takes enormous pleasure in hosting events like “Chocolate Night,” where she invites everyone she knows in the city’s entrepreneurship world (from venture capitalists to newbie business owners) to gather around platters of truffles and steaming fondue pots. Her informality may be one reason why Alley Watch, a blog for startups, named her one of “20 Awesome People in the New York Tech Scene” you need to know about.

 

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THE HUFFINGTON POST

Taking the Leap

After years of advising entrepreneurs, I have finally become one. Starting my own law firm has been exciting, energizing and terrifying all at the same time—it has given me a whole new level of respect and admiration for entrepreneurs.

Perhaps the most daunting part of this whole process was resigning from my former law firm. It’s never easy to walk away from a steady, significant income, to say nothing of the safety and comfort that comes with a big office, virtually unlimited expense account and sizeable income.  But I was tired of not being valued and of having my success judged by a management committee with no clue of what success looked like in my industry.   I was tired of trying to make myself look like their version of “success” –especially when I didn’t agree with it at all. It wasn’t me… 

Last May, a good friend sent me a box of the most amazing carmels from a company called Good Karmal (www.goodkarmal.com).  The wrapper around each carmel had a meaningful quote–the one I loved the best, from Erich Fromm, said “Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.” That sums it up.  I pasted that carmel wrapper to my computer and looked at it every day for the 5 months it took me to “let go of certainties.”   And I thought of it when I walked into the managing partner’s office to resign.

Most entrepreneurs face the question of when to take the leap.  One of my clients used the very fitting analogy of skydiving.  Leaving a steady job for the unknown is absolutely the leap from the plane.  Terror and exhilaration when you jump, hope that the parachute works and pride, confidence and liberation when you land on both feet.