Introduction: 0:00

• April Lindauer, General Counsel at Carta, joins the podcast.
• Leading legal for a financial services platform.
• Previously working as compliance officer at Assurant, in-house lawyer at Encore Capital Group, and more.

Joining Carta and overseeing tremendous growth: 1:58

• April on being compelled by a strong mission.
• Working with former team members.
• Hiring staff that can work closely together.
• Moving from traditional industries into tech start-ups.

• Building from the ground up.

Cultivating a career in financial services: 4:10

• April on her legal internship at FINRA. 
• Working at a quasi-regulator.
• Tackling a broad swath of financial matters.
• Finding a great mentor.

Carta’s growth from 200 employees to 2000: 6:26

• April on joining as they launched a new product.
• Taking on all legal services then hiring specialists.
• Managing legal, compliance, and risk.

Transitioning from deputy general counsel to general counsel: 8:23

• April on learning curves.
• Building out legal operations.
• Hiring a team of paralegals.
• Getting buy-in from the CEO and CFO.
• Selling the legal team on operations.

Hiring for a global legal team: 12:30 

• April on making purposeful decisions.
• Utilizing roleplay scenarios to test decision-making.
• Hiring during the pandemic.

Navigating the GC role during the COVID-19 pandemic: 14:34

• April on Carta’s huge pandemic-era bump in growth.
• Prioritizing time on Zoom with team members.
• Scaling remotely.

Working with the executive team to make tough decisions: 16:57

• April on allowing the CEO to set the tone.

Working with financial regulators: 18:22

• April on openness and transparency.
• Working with outside partners.
• Advice to compliance professionals.
• Managing a patchwork of global laws and regulations.
• Building teams in Luxembourg and Singapore.

Leading legal through multiple financing rounds: 22:21

• April on the necessity of great external partners.
• Selecting future board members and advisors.
• The role of legal in international expansion.

Leveraging Carta’s wealth of data: 24:21

• April on releasing regular data reports.
• Offering a picture of the venture world.
• Demonstrating diversity and lack thereof.
• Ensuring that employees are paid equitably.

Rapid-fire questions: 27:48

• April’s favorite part of the day-to-day.
• Professional pet peeves.

Book recommendations: 29:00

• Born Standing Up by Steve Martin.
• All Fours by Miranda July.

What you wish you’d known as a young lawyer: 30:36

• April on non-linear career paths.
• Following your interests and taking chances.