This article was originally featured on VoyagePhoenix.
Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Juetten.
Mary, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It all began over 50 years ago… just kidding. I grew up in Canada and decided that since I hated blood, I would be an accountant, and then later a lawyer. I went to ASU’s law school in 2008, when my kids and step-kids were teens.
It was a crazy time, and when I was in a clinical program for technology ventures, I saw first-hand the risks that businesses were taking by operating with proper business structures, agreements, and somewhat oblivious to their intellectual property (IP). I decided that I would start a software company (Traklight) even though I do not code. I went through some grief finding the right developers but launched our product and have been adapting ever since.
I did start and sell another business, Evolve Law, which was all about marketing and selling to lawyers, it was an accidental business that grew explosively and required way too much travel for my old bones. Traklight now sells to attorneys and offers free tools to small businesses, but our focus is with large partners, i.e., Paychex.
We educate users on legal and business needs and provide legal generation data to the partners, using a white label approach. I skipped taking any bar exam after law school, but in Feb 2018, I took the exam in WA state and will be applying to be admitted into AZ and maybe NYC. I joined Nimbus Legal this summer, and I am enjoying practicing corporate law.
Has it been a smooth road?
Haha, not at all. It’s basically the road less traveled. (that is the title of the book I am working on). I made every mistake there is to make. I have my former CTO take my development server and disappear. I had contractors who did not understand at all what we were trying to do but took our money. Finding talented developers, other than my now amazing VP Tech, was a constant struggle.
Raising money in AZ in 2013 was super hard, partly because of being female, but also due to the stage of the ecosystem at that time. I have to fly around the country to raise my seed round. Also, co-founders can be super challenging if your goals do not align. So many lessons learned!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
As a company, I am most proud of how we close the education gap with our software platform – in less than 15 minutes you can assess your business risk, and with 15 min more, you can identify your potential intellectual property, all from the comfort of your home.
People talk about the access to justice gap, but there is another issue, many people are not sure whether they have legal issues and risks. We have been very giving about education in terms of free webinars, speaking, writing ebooks and blogging.
We are also known for our willingness to connect and pay it forward. We want business owners to succeed in terms of getting started right or growing while minimizing risk. We are tireless champions for the value of intellectual property and intangible assets.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I think it is now. It definitely was not about seven years ago. Phoenix was an immature market, and many wanted free everything from the startups. There are some amazing people now who lead and celebrate the success of software companies, and the ecosystem has matured significantly.
Not sure about the female founder in technology acceptance as I am now practicing law too. We use Traklight to help assess potential clients at Nimbus Legal, which is a law firm that does outside in-house work or fractional general counsel.
Pricing:
- Free Business Risk Assessment
- ID your IP $199
Contact Info:
- Website: traklight.com
- Email: mary@nimbuslegal.co; mejuetten@traklight.com
- Twitter: @maryjuetten