Cameo Doran

Chief Product Officer ⇢ Fractional Prices with Full-Time Impact ◆ Digital Transformations ◆ Advising Startup Founders and Executives Building Innovative Products ⇢ AI / XR / Web3

I’ve always been fascinated (and a little frustrated) by how many great companies can’t seem to ship great software. I’ve sat inside teams where brilliant ideas died in Jira backlogs, and I’ve watched the opposite too: features rushed out fast, only to flop because they were poorly executed or customers didn’t care. Both hurt. Both waste time and burn cash.

Cameo Labs is my answer to that problem. I started it because I couldn’t stand watching founders lose momentum on ideas that should have changed their business and their lives. 

My mission is simple: help founders build the right product, fast enough to matter.

Since starting, I’ve led projects that:

- Shipped an EdTech platform that closed $3M in contracts in under five months.
- Migrated 1,000+ servers with zero downtime, saving $6M.
- Built an AI training platform that scaled to $1.5M ARR in 9 months.

I’m dorky about this stuff. I love the messy early product conversations, poking at assumptions, figuring out where speed really matters, and then helping a team pull off what feels impossible. That’s what gets me up in the morning.

If you’re a founder under pressure to ship something that can’t wait, I’d love to hear about it.

Chief Product Officer / Fractional Product Management

As the owner and founder of Cameo Labs, I am dedicated to helping CEOs and executives of $100M - $500M businesses in the Edtech, Fintech, and SaaS sectors achieve rapid and transformative innovation. 

At Cameo Labs, we understand that staying competitive in today’s market requires more than just innovative ideas—it demands strategic execution and a customer-centric approach.


I founded Cameo Labs to empower our clients by streamlining their product development processes, aligning their business strategies with technological advancements, and fostering a culture of continuous innovation.

We operate differently than most agencies. 

Our holistic approach combines technology, strategic foresight, and customer insights to create cohesive and impactful product visions. Our clients have experienced faster innovation cycles, improved product success rates, and higher customer satisfaction.

With a proven track record of success, we are committed to turning your challenges into opportunities for growth and success. Our goal is to be your trusted partner, helping you achieve your business vision and lead your industry.

Let’s Connect:
Discover how Cameo Labs can transform your business. Visit http://cameolabs.com or reach out to me directly to explore how we can work together to drive your business forward.

This headline cracks me up.

OpenClaw runs on the infrastructure Linux built. Without it, there’s nothing to achieve in 3 weeks or 3 decades.

I don’t know if this is a direct quote, but if it is, it doesn’t make Jensen look smart. It makes him look butthurt. 

Linus has been openly dismissive of NVIDIA for years, and this feels less like an actual data point and more like a score he is trying to settle.

From Vision to Execution | Faster Products, Better Results, Bigger Impact | SaaS Companies | Strategic Software Partner

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IP is the bedrock of modern capitalism. 

It’s the promise that if you build something, you own it and you get paid for it. But that promise is crumbling. 

Of course, LLMs were trained on thousands of copyrighted works without permission. And tools like Claude Code let you screenshot a product and whip up a clone in an afternoon.

And these Ai company’s are so confident they’ll get away with it that they’re not even being subtle anymore. 

Earlier this week, Grammarly got caught promoting the ability to have an literary expert edit your content. Except they never asked the experts if they could use their names, and never had any intention of paying them. 

They didn’t just steal their work, they stole their name and creative identity. 

Grammarly would only do something like this if they believed everyone’s already cavalier about identity, ownership, and the rest of it. 

I don’t believe these are edge cases. The are testing to see what we’ll tolerate. 

If IP protections become unenforceable, we’re not just losing copyright law. We’re dismantling the incentive structure that we built modern business around. 

People talk a lot about jobs being lost, but are we actively destroying the very foundation that makes our economy work?

And if so, what comes next?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

As a side note, Grammerly quickly turned it off after the backlash. But I am sure they will try to do something like it again.

graphical user interface, text, application

Today is the 2026 Utah Tech Week debrief, where hosts and participants will come together to figure out how to make next year even better. 

As I was filling out the pre-debrief survey, I just had to stop and say it:

I love Utah Tech Week.

I remember years ago seeing Trent Mano’s post announcing the whole thing. He’d gone to LA, saw what their tech week looked like, came home, bought the domain, and announced it the next day. From the moment I saw that post, I knew I wanted in.

So that first year I co-hosted two events: 
A Web3 in 2023 panel with Krystee Miller, Derek Wride, and Nicki Sanders. 

and an Assumptions and Risk workshop with Connor McLeod and Jacob Crockett

The next year, I co-hosted three events: 
AI acceleration - using AI to map assumptions with Lucy Harrison, 
a PMF panel with Jennifer Moore, 
and a strategic foresight working session with Christopher Federer (which somehow I have 0 pics of)

The next year I didn’t run anything of my own. I just showed up as a volunteer and spent the week helping where I could. 

And this year, I co-hosted one event. Vibe Mania with Krystee Miller and it was a huge success.

4 years and honestly it has been life changing. 

But the best part has never been the events. It’s been the people. Meeting new people that turned into true friends. Collaborators who turned into business partners. Individuals who became customers. 

So may people who have changed the direction of my life and I met them because of Utah Tech Week. 

So thank you Trent Mano for imagining what could be possible, and thanks to Kyle Spencer and the rest of the team for making it happen every year.

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cmeo-labs

voyantai

productinnovationlab

theory-of-anything-podcast

wow3

Utah Tech Week

Pre-seed investor/GP @ Convoi Ventures

Head of Product | UX Strategist | Designer | All the things

Founder & CEO @ CPAI - Crypto Tax Intelligence

Blockchain & Crypto Tech/Strategy Leader and Consultant | Engineering Leadership at Anchorage Digital

AI, GTM, and Product at SageCreek.ai and SageCreek Partners

fixing the hiring bottleneck for home services || ask me for my cookie recipe

CEO at Voyant AI | Driving Enterprise AI Adoption | From Readiness to Deployment

Chief Product Officer | Board President | Keynote Speaker | Community Builder

I share tips and tricks for strategists working in Experiential Learning industries.

Helping others buy or try campervans Operations | Strategy | Events

Most of the crap in your backlog isn't worth building. 
And AI is about to make that problem a whole lot worse.

I know that sounds harsh but it's true.

According to the product analytics company Pendo, close to 80% of features in the average software product are rarely or never used. 

Now hand your team AI coding tools and watch what happens. They will build faster. If they are smart and have good fundementals, it could be way faster. 

Oh YAY, now you are building more things your customers dont want. 

So instead of using AI to continually think of new things to add to your product, figure out how to eliminate more out of your backlog. 

Then you can truly focus on things that bring impact and value. 

The teams winning with AI aren't the ones generating the most code. They're the ones who figured out what not to build, and then used AI to build the right things really well.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi 👋 I am Cameo
▶ Helping startups fast-track product success! 💡

All these data centers will be worth it, right?

Claude code can’t fix everything!

That was my takeaway from yesterdays The AI Collective Utah Claude Code event (sponsored generously by Anthropic) 

Josh Dennis did a fantastic job demonstrating how his company is using Claude code to build their customers custom marketing solutions. 

But then I got home and noticed I had this enormous chocolate blob on my shirt, which means I was talking to people and networking with people all night with this enormous chocolate blob on my shirt, and Claude didn’t do one damn thing to fix it. Seriously what’s even the point of AI?

So as much as Claude has improved and changed my life, it hasn’t figured out how to eliminate my remarkable ability to embarrass myself. 🤦‍♀️

Thanks to Leslie Koch and the rest of the amazing AI Collective on a great event. The chocolate cookies were delicious even if I’m not sure if they were worth it.

SheTech Explorer Day is a full day experience designed to expose teenage girls to the possibilities of working in technology.

This year that meant 3,500 girls from across Utah coming together in one place. And let me tell, that is a lot of teenage girls.

I was grateful for the opportunity to host an AI workshop with Leslie Koch and The AI Collective. 

Even though research shows that women are adopting AI at a slower pace than men, I was pleasantly surprised to see how engaged and thoughtful these young women were about AI and how they are using it in their day to day. 

Thank you to Cydni Rogers Tetro, Kristin Wright and the whole team at Women Tech Council for creating such a critical annual event for our girls. 

I believe it doesn’t only change the trajectory for the girls who attend, but it changes the perspective for any adult who gets to be there as a mentor or volunteer.

Growth Marketing & AI Strategist | B2B, Creator and Social Marketing | Ex-TelevisaUnivision, CNN, HBO

The AI Collective

Growth Leader| AI Women Power List | 3× CEO & Co-Founder | Board Director | Investor | xSwire Coca-Cola | xDisney

Programs Director at Women Tech Council

Women Tech Council

$14 billion can buy a lot of things. But apparently it can't buy your way into AI leadership.

In this week's Build Signal, I break down how Mark Zuckerberg's record-breaking investment in Scale AI and its founder, Alexandr Wang, has unraveled in less than a year.

I think this matters for anyone building in AI right now because the core mistake is one I see constantly: Confusing expertise in one area with the ability to lead the whole thing.

Read it, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.

There's a specific type of mistake that executives keep making when hiring or promoting AI leadership. They find someone who is clearly brilliant, cle

Open article: The Most Expensive Hiring Mistake in AI History by Cameo Doran • 4 min read

The Most Expensive Hiring Mistake in AI History

Say it with me:
It’s dumb to build without talking to customers.
It’s dumb to build without talking to customers.
It’s dumb to build without talking to customers.

This year you are going to see this argument a lot: “Software is so easy now, so the constraint moved to marketing.” Or sales. Or distribution.

Nope!
If you’ve been building for months and haven’t talked to a single customer, the constraint didn’t move anywhere. You’re just doing it wrong.

CB Insights analyzed 431 VC-backed startups that shut down since 2023. The number one root cause? 43% failed due to Poor product-market fit, and two-thirds of those were early-stage companies that never found a market at all. 

These weren’t teams that had a marketing problem. They had a “We spent a boatload of VC money and we still built the wrong thing” problem.

Vibe coding and agentic development can be a trap if you’re not careful. It feels so easy and productive while you are building that you never stop to ask whether anyone cares. 

You can ship in days features that used to take weeks and mistake speed and velocity for validation.

A product that’s easy to market doesn’t happen because you figured out distribution after the fact. 
It happens because you solved a problem that actually matters to real people, in a way that resonates with how they think about it. 

That requires thoughtful discovery and customer work. 

Knowing what to build is still the whole game. The speed at which you can generate code doesn’t change that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi 👋 I am Cameo Doran 
I help your org move faster by identifying the right thing to build the first time.

It sure is easy to start things 

And vibe coding is like magic.
New project? Ten minutes and you've got a working prototype. You get the dopamine hit and start to think you a genius.

Now all you have to do it polish it, publish it, and promote it, right?

Except you said that about the last four projects too. And the six before that. And you've never done anything with them either. lol

Starting has always been the easiest thing. No matter how many times you see hyperbole that says the first step is the hardest, it's actually continuing to take step after step that's really hard.

LLMs make it easier than ever to start.
You better get damn good at finishing.

”Who is a woman who's made an impact on your career? Celebrate her with a post or video.”

I’m sure you’ve seen this prompt from LinkedIn for International Women’s Day. 

Yeah, That’s nice. Go ahead and do that.
But don’t pretend it’s anything other than being performative. It’s weak sauce.

Women don’t need more celebration or more empowerment. We don’t even need more mentorship.

We need to get paid. 

We need sponsorship. We need partnership.
We need more promotion. And we need more investment. 
We need to get funded and we need to get elected to office. 

Anything else is just lip service.

Anthropic wants you afraid. 

They released this chart last week.
And if you are in the blue zone, your job is disrupt-able with AI. 

But look at it carefully. The blue is what AI could theoretically do. The red is how people are actually using AI. 

That gap is massive. For industries supposedly facing replacement within 12 months, real adoption sits at 10-20% of potential. And that is across every category.

This matches what I see with every client. There is a high desire to adopt AI. But organizations don’t have the capability to execute on it.

I think this chart tells more truth than Anthropic meant. We are nowhere near the disruption that they are selling. The organizations aren’t ready.

The savviest companies aren’t just buying AI tools. They’re doing the change management work to make sure people actually use them.

I’m partnering with Voyant AI on executive training built around exactly that. Drop a comment or message me if you want details.

Hey Anthropic, where's the data?

I'm sure by now you've seen these charts. 
The first is the radar graph Anthropic released with their labor market report last week. 
The second is a bar chart version that Peter Walker made by extrapolating values off that radar graph, because that was literally the only way to get the numbers.

I went and read the full report. And guess what?
Other than computer/math and a passing mention of office & admin, they don't publish the actual percentages for any of the occupational categories. 
Not anywhere in the report in the report, not in the appendix and not in a supplementary table.

Interesting... The only place that info appears is in that unlabeled spider chart. 👀 

The entire point of this paper is introducing a new metric called "observed exposure" that they want researchers and policymakers to adopt as a framework for tracking AI's labor market impact. 

They go out of their way to describe their methodology. They make a big deal of how they came up with their unemployment analysis. So it's super baffling that the central finding of the paper doesn't provide any actual numbers. It's almost like it's all made up.

The report still tells an important story though. There iss a massive gap between what AI can theoretically do and what the vast majority of organizations are actually doing with it. 

If you're an executive trying to figure out how to close it, send me a DM.

Your developers aren't the problem. Your decisions are.

I sat in a meeting last month where a CEO realized his CTO and head of product had been building toward a different vision from his for five months. He thought they were close to release, but now he's looking at something that is likely to miss the mark.

This kind of thing happens all the time.
In this week's newsletter I talk about the 6 decision that would have caught and prevented this problem early.

The single biggest factor in whether a project succeeds or fails isn't methodology, team size, or technology. It's how fast leadership makes decisions

70% of Software Projects Fail. Here Are the 6 Decisions That Beat the Odds

Have you heard that Spotify's engineers haven't written a single line of code in months?

A lot of CEOs are seeing that headline and now they are mad at their teams. 
Why can't their team do that? 

They want their developers using AI that effectively. Hell, they want their whole company using AI that effectively.

They want to achieve what Spotify has, and they're looking around wondering who to blame. And they should want that. But most of them aren't being honest about why they don't have it.

Spotify didn't just hand their engineers AI tools one day and watch magic happen.  This isn't a bunch of schmucks who got lucky with AI. They worked for years on this foundation first. 

- clean data 
- clear processes 
- reliable architecture
- consistant standards

So when AI showed up, it had something to work with.

But at most companies, it's the opposite. Their data is a mess, and their processes are fragmented. Nobody's following the same playbook because there isn't one. And now they've dropped AI in the middle, and they're wondering why it's not performing miracles

So before you get mad at your team for not being Spotify, ask yourself what foundation they are working with.

How important is AI accuracy?

It really depends on what you are using it for. 
If you're generating marketing copy or brainstorming product names, close enough might be fine. Nobody dies if your tagline is a little off.

But 40 million people are using ChatGPT Health every day to decide whether they need to go to the ER.

And according to a new study in Nature Medicine, the results are abysmal. 

ChatGPT Health failed to recommend emergency care in over half of actual emergencies. Among a host of other issues, It told patients with impending respiratory failure to wait 24-48 hours instead of going to the emergency room.

and the suicide crisis safeguards didnt perform any better. In some cases, when patients described specific plans for self-harm, the crisis banner didn't appear at all.

We keep hearing that speed and scale are the metrics that matter. But speed without accuracy is worthless when the situation is life or death. 

And remember this is the same systems that the US government is going to let make autonomous decisions...

What are you willing to sacrifice to make a good impression? 

If you're like me, you get daily reminders from LinkedIn about how important it is to have a verification badge. 

Oh, and how exciting! It's free! 

I have spoken out several times about LinkedIn’s verification service, and the dark patterns they use in promoting it and how unnecessarily invasive it is, but I honestly didn’t realize the full horror of what they are doing 

This article is a pretty shocking breakdown of what they are asking you to give up to get that blue badge, and "make a stronger Impression"

I highly recommend you read it. A lot of the info in the article is specific to the EU and rules like GDPR, but if you're American, you don't even get that protection, so it is even more horrifying.
https://lnkd.in/gguNZ53v

Is it worth it to you? Its a hell no for me. 
Also LinkedIn, I get plenty of profile views, even without verification, thank you very much.

Nano Banana 2 dropped today and it is so impressive! 

But damn my productivity took a hit today.

I am a big fan of leaders being willing to take risks and make mistakes.

But also, this seems egregious for someone in this role.

The Director of AI Safety at Meta just let an AI agent delete her entire inbox. 
She told it “confirm before acting.” It did not confirm. It just deleted everything. 

She had to physically run to her computer to disable it.
She called it a “rookie mistake.” 

But she is the person Meta hired specifically to make sure AI doesn’t do things it’s not supposed to do. That’s the whole job.

I don’t want to pile on her personally. She has gotten plenty of that, including from Elon Musk.

But the lesson here is that if the head of AI alignment can lose control of her agents, what does that mean for the rest of us handing AI access to our business systems and customer data?

The answer isn’t to stop using the tools. But you best make damn sure you are taking the guardrails a lot more seriously than most people currently are.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi 👋 I’m Cameo. I turn AI pilots into production software for companies that can’t afford to get it wrong.

Wife & Mother of 7 | Venture Capital | Scientist | TOP 30 Patent Drafters | United States Patent Examiner | Violinist | Polyglot | STEM Children's Author | #1 LinkedIn Global Influencer in Innovation/IP Law

Kathryn Vatt is a scientist, former USPTO Examiner, and devoted wife and mother of seven, with over 25 years shaping the future of innovation. Recognized as one of the Top 30 Patent Drafters and Prosecutors and the #1 LinkedIn Global Influencer in Innovation/IP Law, Kathryn has built a career at the intersection of science, law, and business—helping inventors, startups, and global companies turn creativity into competitive advantage.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (B.S. Biology) and Johns Hopkins University (M.S. Biotechnology), Kathryn is currently pursuing her Juris Doctor in Patent Law at the Franklin Pierce School of Law, one of the world’s leading IP programs. Her rare cross-disciplinary background gives her both the scientific insight and the legal strategy to protect ideas at the highest level.

At the USPTO, Kathryn examined thousands of patent applications, conducted exhaustive prior art searches, and made determinations that shaped industries and influenced global innovation. After leaving the Patent Office, she founded Vatt IP Management, where she develops bulletproof IP strategies, drafts airtight applications, and supports litigation teams in defending patents. She also mentors engineering and life science students through Arizona State University’s Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute and judges international startup competitions, nurturing the next generation of innovators.

Her entrepreneurial vision extends to her ventures:

My Startup Shield™, a founder-focused program that helps startups secure their innovations before they pitch. It protects ideas at the earliest, most vulnerable stage and positions founders to raise capital with confidence

My AI Examiner™, the world’s first proprietary patent search platform that combines examiner-trained AI Patent Examiners with Kathryn’s own human review. Unlike conventional tools, it doesn’t just search faster—it “thinks like an examiner,” offering inventors and startups clarity, precision, and strategy.

MyKidVentors™, a STEM-inspired children’s book series born from her seven children’s real “What if?” questions. Through these imaginative stories, she nurtures curiosity in the next generation, showing that every big invention begins with a single question.

For Kathryn, the same motherly instinct that guides her family fuels her professional mission: to protect, guide, and nurture startups with care, strategy, foresight, and integrity. She believes innovation doesn’t just start in labs or boardrooms—it starts in the curious minds of those brave enough to ask, “What if?”

Kathryn V.

OREOS FOR MOTHER’S DAY

At a small neighborhood shop, a man quietly changes lives.

He gives free food to kids who show him their grades...a reward not just for doing well in school, but for trying, for caring, for showing up.

In this video, one young boy steps up to the counter, offered the chance to choose anything he wants.

Today, he picks milk, bread, eggs...and cookies for Mother’s Day.
And the shop owner...touched by that choice...adds a bouquet of flowers for him to bring home.

Neither of them realizes that what just happened will be remembered for years.
Because kindness like that doesn’t end at the counter...it multiplies.

Every act of generosity plants a seed:
A child whose confidence blooms.
A parent who feels seen and loved.
A community reminded that humanity still shines bright.

So here’s to the everyday heroes: the ones who lift others quietly, who give without expecting anything in return.

You may never see the full impact of your kindness...but someone’s world is brighter because of you. 


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If you enjoy my posts please follow me:
Kathryn V.
VATT IP Management
My AI Examiner™
My Startup Shield™
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Your Company ≠ Their Company

Startup culture is loud.

Announcements.
Rounds.
Launches.
Leaps.

And even the most confident founders feel it.
That quiet comparison.
“Should I be further by now?”
“Why does their growth look easier?”
“Am I missing something?”

But when you compare, you slowly lose sight of what’s yours to build.
And what’s yours was never meant to look like anyone else’s.

Different wiring.
Different gifts.
Different responsibilities.
Different seasons.

Some are drawn to bold, public momentum.
Others move with careful protection.
Some are compelled to disrupt.
Others feel called to preserve and strengthen.

None of it is accidental.
And none of it is a hierarchy.

But when you try to imitate someone else’s arc,
you drift from your own.

You trade alignment for applause.

At Founder Chapel, we care deeply about stewardship.

Stewarding your vision.
Stewarding your ownership.
Stewarding your influence.
Stewarding the people who trust you.

Because leadership isn’t about matching someone else’s leap.
It’s about faithfully tending what’s been placed in your hands.

That’s why we created Founder Chapel Learning Pods.
Small, steady circles where founders can step out of comparison and return to clarity...about their gifts, their values, and the kind of company they are called to build.

I’m deeply honored to be leading the pod focused on intellectual property and building your moat; helping founders protect what they’ve been entrusted with and think carefully about how they bring it into the market with integrity.

My incredible Founder Chapel family: David Y., Jay Jin, and Katrena Drake are leading pods of their own, each walking alongside founders through different pressures and seasons.

You don’t need someone else’s platform.
You need to steward your own.
And you don’t have to do that alone.

Come as you are.
We welcome you to apply here → https://lnkd.in/gM9xz6qk

FIRST TOGETHER


At Founder Chapel, we believe real leaders don’t climb alone.
They rise by lifting others.

In a world obsessed with rankings, valuations, and visibility, it’s easy to believe leadership means standing above everyone else. 

But the founders who build legacies understand something deeper:
Nothing meaningful is built alone.

Behind every breakthrough are unseen sacrifices, honest conversations, shared burdens, and people who stood steady when things felt uncertain.

True leadership isn’t about guarding the top spot.
It’s about making space on it.

Because titles fade.
Headlines move on.
Momentum comes and goes.

But character remains.
Stewardship remains.
The way you build...and who you build with...remains.

That’s why Founder Chapel exists.

Through our Learning Pods, founders gather not just to scale companies, but to sharpen judgment, strengthen conviction, and build with integrity alongside others who believe leadership is a responsibility, not a spotlight.

If you’re building something that matters and you want to build it with depth, wisdom, and community...we invite you to apply here → https://lnkd.in/gM9xz6qk

Founder Chapel: Build well. Lead faithfully. Rise together.
David Y. Jay Jin Katrena Drake

Three founders will leave my Arizona Tech Week event patent-pending.

We’re getting closer…

My Patent Pending Party™ at Arizona Tech Week (April 6–12) is coming up, and the response so far has been incredible. I’ve already had the chance to speak with some truly impressive founders and I’ve even started getting requests to bring the party to other cities 😊 

The event itself is shaping up to be something really special.

We’ll be hosting:
• A founder panel featuring raw, honest conversations about the entrepreneurial journey: the highs, the lows, the mistakes, and what founders would do differently knowing what they know now.

• An “Ask the Examiner” AMA session,  where you'll get to ask questions about patents, intellectual property strategy, and how the system actually works from an investor who spent fifteen years inside the U.S. Patent Office deciding which innovations got approved and which ones didn't. 

• A live patent hackathon, where three pre-selected founders will leave the party officially patent-pending. On me.

We’ll also have investors in the room, and we’ll end the evening with time for networking with founders, investors, and builders from across the ecosystem.

If you want a chance to be one of those three founders, there is still time to apply.

There are three Saturdays left this month, and I’m using those days to hold short 15-minute pitch sessions on Hubble.                                

The pitch session itself is the application process.

You get 15 minutes:
• 5 minutes to pitch what you’re building.
• 10 minutes for me to ask questions the way an investor with an IP strategist lens would.

From those conversations, I’ll select three founders to be invited to my Patent Pending Party™ during Arizona Tech Week.

And don’t worry...you don’t have to live in Arizona to apply.

If you’re selected, we’ll simply Zoom you in.

If you aren’t selected as one of the three, don’t worry.

You’ll either receive feedback on your pitch, or I may connect you with someone from my network of angels and VCs.

And you’re always welcome to come back and pitch again for the next party.

Ideas are everywhere.

Protected ideas are much more valuable.

If you want to pitch yours, you can book a Saturday slot here:
https://lnkd.in/g_jESdm3

Slots are limited.

Event details:
https://lnkd.in/g3dJgkzm


A special and heartfelt thank you to my sponsors, Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute at Arizona State University and Stearns Bank N.A. This event wouldn’t be possible without your support.

Open article: RSVP to A Patent-Pending Party #AZTechWeek | Partiful by partiful.com

RSVP to A Patent-Pending Party #AZTechWeek | Partiful

I’m honored to be returning for the second year in a row as a judge for Pitch the Pros® on April 10th in Greenville, SC.

As a former United States Patent Examiner I have spent more than 25 years helping founders and inventors protect what they build.

And I have seen how often founders focus on perfecting the pitch, raising capital, and gaining traction...only to think about protection later while losing ownership rights in the process. 

That is why this year, I am proud to personally offer a Protection Prize to the Top 3 presenters through moatly™.

Each of the top founders will receive dedicated intellectual property strategy support to help ensure what they are creating is properly protected. Not just celebrated. Not just visible. Protected.

Pitch the Pros® brings together a select group of founders, investors, and industry experts in an intentional setting. 

Ten founders will pitch live. The top three will also be invited to a private VIP evening featuring a Fireside Chat and networking experience with Daymond John of Shark Tank, along with dinner and live entertainment.

If you are building something meaningful and ready to step forward, I would love to see you there.

You can learn more here:
https://lnkd.in/eZyx78ge
Christopher Guerrera LSSMBB The Modern Inventor

Looking forward to supporting the founders who take the stage and helping them protect what they have worked so hard to create.

More than a thousand years ago, an army approached the gates of a Persian fortress.

Warriors gathered. Fear spread through the walls.

And then something unexpected happened.

A young woman rode out to meet them.

Her name was Gordafarid.

In the great Persian epic Shahnameh, written by poet Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi, Gordafarid sees her homeland under threat. 

Warriors gather. 
Fear spreads through the fortress.
So she does something no one expected.

She fastens her armor.
Mounts her horse.
And rides into the battlefield herself.

Even her enemies were astonished. They had never seen such bravery from someone so young.

But Gordafarid was not written as a fragile figure or a symbol of tragedy. 

Ferdowsi portrayed her as a strategist as well as a warrior. When she realized she could not defeat her opponent by strength alone, she relied on her wit, delaying the enemy long enough to protect her people.

For many Iranians, Gordafarid has become a symbol of something timeless:
the courage of women.

Today, on International Women’s Day, I find myself thinking about that courage. 

Not just in ancient stories, but in the lives of women all around us.

Women who stand up.
Women who speak out.
Women who lead.
Women who lift others even when the path is difficult.

Because women have always done this.

One woman opens a door.
Another holds it open.
Another widens the path so others can walk through it.

We all rise when we lift each other.

Today I want to honor women everywhere.

And I want to dedicate this day especially to the women of Iran whose courage continues to inspire the world.

Your courage has reminded the world that the strength of women is one of the most powerful forces on earth.

Across centuries, from Gordafarid’s battlefield to the voices we hear today, one truth remains:

The courage of women cannot be extinguished.

Happy International Women's Day to all of the amazing women in the world 💐

DOLPHINS IN THE DESERT 🐬🌵

Today is the day, Arizona!!

I am so excited to be serving as a panelist and workshop speaker for Dolphin Tank with Springboard Enterprises.

For more than two decades, Springboard has been accelerating women-led, high growth companies with an extraordinary track record:

850+ portfolio companies
$36.4B+ in value created
225+ exits
26 IPOs

And today, Dolphin Tank is happening at Grand Canyon University.

This is not your average pitch event.
It is a true launchpad. Women founders receive real time, thoughtful feedback from investors and operators who genuinely care about growth, strategy, and long term success.

I am honored to join an incredible panel and lead a special session during the Founder Workshop from 3-5 PM focused on protecting what you are building before you pitch, scale, or raise.

Joining me on the panel:
• Mitzi Krockover, MD, CEO, Founder, Investor at WomanCentered and Women’s Health Council Member at Springboard Enterprises
• Azin Radsan van Alebeek, Co founder and General Partner at Emmeline Ventures
• Rory Bidinger, Community Development Officer at Stearns Bank N.A.

If you are a founder, investor, operator, or supporter of women entrepreneurs, this is where you should be.

And Arizona…it is not too late.
🔗 Dolphin Tank RSVP: https://lnkd.in/eQDSywgq

🦾 Founder Workshop (3 to 5 PM): https://lnkd.in/ei4XZGSW

Come support the founders who are bravely stepping forward to pitch what they are building.

There is something powerful about watching vision meet opportunity in real time.

Proud to support this right here in Arizona. 🌵🐬

There is something defining about walking into a room and realizing you may be the only woman there and deciding that you belong anyway.

I have felt that in government spaces. In investor meetings. In high level technical discussions. In rooms where expertise is tested before it is trusted.

What I have learned is this. Leadership is not about blending in. It is about standing grounded in who you are, even when the room was not designed with you in mind.

My path began internationally, where at 21 I cofounded a company in Pakistan and learned firsthand that leadership is rarely about position and always about responsibility, requiring conviction, cultural awareness, and resilience. I later served as a United States Patent Examiner, and went on to found and lead my own firm, invest in innovation, mentor founders, and raise seven children. 

Each chapter has shaped how I understand leadership, not as authority, but as stewardship.

As Women’s History Month begins, I am honored to join a panel at The New York Public Library on March 4th for a conversation on growth and leadership alongside remarkable women whose journeys are equally layered and powerful.

We will be speaking candidly about what it truly takes to build influence, the pivots, the pressure, the persistence, and the quiet strength behind the scenes that rarely gets highlighted.

If you are building something, a company, a career, a life, while trying to remain fully yourself, this conversation is for you.

Grateful to James Corry for creating space for this meaningful dialogue and for bringing together such an inspiring group of women. I look forward to sitting alongside Christina Mitine, Laura Kavanagh, Olga Alcaraz, and Rechelle Balanzat for this important conversation.

👉🏼 Join us this Wednesday: https://lnkd.in/gtz_23Eu

Sr. GTM Leader at AWS | Head of GTM at Women in AI | Agentic AI Strategy & Digital Transformation | Industry Speaker

I know what it feels like to be the only woman in the room. If you’ve ever navigated climbing the leadership ladder while authentically showing up, this conversation is for you.

As Women’s History Month begins, I’m honored to be a panelist for “Five Powerful Women: Their Journeys of Growth and Leadership” on March 4th hosted by The New York Public Library.   

I’m joining four resilient women to share our career journeys and dive into the real grit required to build influence in both the corporate and government sectors.

Huge thank you to James Corry for hosting this important conversation! See you soon, Kathryn V., Laura Kavanagh, Olga Alcaraz, Rechelle Balanzat. 

👉🏼 Join us this Wednesday: https://lnkd.in/gtz_23Eu

#WHM2026 #WomensHistoryMonth #LeadingTheChange #IWD2026 #GiveToGain #WomenInTech #NYPL #Leadership

Open article: Five Powerful Women: Their Journeys of Growth and Leadership by nypl.org

Five Powerful Women: Their Journeys of Growth and Leadership

Founders: if you are fundraising, you do not want to miss this event.

And if you can, make sure you are in Bettina’s room.

I am not just saying that because she is one of my dearest friends. Bettina is truly one of the most thoughtful, caring, and brilliant investors I know.

The level of care and intention she brings to every founder conversation is rare. 

She listens deeply, asks the questions that actually matter, and shows up for founders long before there is ever a deal on the table.

That kind of stewardship is something special in venture. 💛

Silicon Valley Angel Investor (Pre-Seed) + LP | AI + FinTech + DeepTech + B2B SaaS + Sports Media + CPG | Ex-GoPro + Semiconductors | Hubble Advisor + Boardy Deal Partner + Incubator Mentor | Skiing + BucketHat Lover

Are you #FundRaising?  Come join me, along with 100+ other VCs, Angels, FO's

I'm hosting a networking room at the VC Virtual Conf on March 31 hosted by Max Pog.    There will be 40+ breakout rooms & 6 hours of VC networking & insights.

If you’re interested in joining the discussion
Register here:   https://vcconf.com?172

See you on the 31st... 
I'll probably be the only one in a #BucketHat

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The Battle

Cameo Doran

Kathryn V.

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Cameo Doran's LinkedIn Performance

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