946 Lindsey Mignano: Raising VC for Early-Stage AI

Gender Gaps and How to Survive Investor Pickiness and California Legal Mindfields 

Raising money for an early-stage tech startup is hard for anyone, especially if they didn’t go to Stanford, MIT or Harvard, drop out of any of those schools, or have existing relationships with Silicon Valley VCs. It’s all the harder for women, not least because of the “is he meeting me because he wants to date me, or because he wants to fund my company” dynamic no one talks about, at least on the record.

Now, it’s gotten even harder. Bottom line, there’s been a significant downturn in early-stage funding, with seed investment down 31% and Series A deals down 21%, and the check sizes noticeably smaller. It was already hard for women to raise VC money, with women-led teams landing only 1% of the funding so far this year.

Ever since post-pandemic inflation and high interest rates made money more expensive, investors have gotten very picky about the startups they fund. It was never easy before, and now it’s harder than ever to raise money for an early-stage tech company. Despite headlines that would convince you that investors in AI are spending like drunken sailors, even those investments are few and far between. 

So, how best to navigate these evolving market realities?

Lindsey Mignano is a San Francisco legal dynamo behind the female-founded firm SSM Legal, and recognized as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers every year from 2016 to 2024, an honor awarded to only 2.5% of attorneys under age 40. Lindsey is focused on helping women entrepreneurs in tech navigate the complexities and challenges of raising money. 

Today Lindsey shares candid stories and hard stats around the gender gap in funding, how biases play out in VC decisions, and the unseen hurdles that innovative women face in an ecosystem still dominated by the “usual suspects.” Lindsey also offers strategic advice for female founders on how to build relationships, target the right investors, and structure their companies for success—even when the cards seem stacked against them. We also get into practical realities on everything from team formation and founder equity splits to California’s tricky employment laws and the complicated dynamics of building diverse, high-growth tech teams.

More about Lindsey Mignano at www.ssm.legal

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More about Lindsey at SSM Legal

Lindsey S. Mignano is the founder of SSM Legal, an entrepreneurial Silicon Valley corporate lawyer representing emerging technology companies and industry-adjacent firms and small businesses.  Her practice spans technology company business formation and expansion into US markets, M&A (flips, entity or asset sales), commercial and technology transactions, and venture financing.  Lindsey has been recognized as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers every year from 2016-2024, an honor awarded to only 2.5% of attorneys under the age of 40.  In 2025, she was awarded the Super Lawyers distinction for the first time at the age of 40, an honor awarded to only 5% of attorneys. Separate from her law practice, Lindsey speaks often about diversity issues in the fields of law, tech, and venture.  In 2023, Lindsey founded Venture Betches, a venture fund of funds, and Syndicate Betches, a real estate syndicate fund of funds, both with a social justice mission to bring investment opportunities to historically underrepresented accredited limited partners who identify as female and/or BIPOC/minorities.

Get the Transcript HERE