We recently sat down with Nancy Prager in Washington D.C., founder of Prager Law PLLC and counsel to many startups and small businesses, for our member spotlight series.
Here’s what she shared:
I’m originally from Memphis, Tenn., home of Elvis, BB King and BBQ. I was always interested in progressive causes, so I wound up going to college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After college I worked in Little Rock, Arkansas on then Governor Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign.
But politics isn’t what brought me to DC. After graduating law school at Wake Forest University, I practiced with great firms in Atlanta and Memphis providing general business counsel with a focus on intellectual property. After eight years of practice, I took the leap to be an entrepreneur and moved to DC to be an independent business development consultant for technology companies trying to do business with the government. I also developed a licensing solution that would have provided individuals the ability to legally stream music on their sites on MySpace and GeoCities.
Entrepreneurship has always been a part of me, since I come from a long line of them. My great grandfather founded a commercial laundry that was the first dry cleaner in Georgia and another great grandfather had a wholesale business that supplied much of the mid-south and Mississippi Delta back in the day. Recently, I learned that my father had a business in the 1970s that provided data processing to clients using a mainframe computer through a time-share. Apparently they had the overnight shift!
An entrepreneur is someone who has a vision of what could be and is willing to take the risks necessary to try to make it happen. I enjoy working with them because I love the passion and commitment they have for their projects. I value the trust they have in me to help them meet their goals and objectives.
One of the biggest challenges I see startups face is not appreciating the importance of having a strong legal foundation for their businesses. Putting the agreements in place between founders, choosing the right entity and having the appropriate agreements with contractors and vendors is as important to the growth of a company as the product or service being offered. Unfortunately I have seen situations where not having a strong legal foundation has cost a company opportunities, as well as time and money.
The best piece of advice I ever received was from a seasoned attorney before I went to law school. He told me to find a job after law school where I would get hands-on, substantive experience on a range of matters. I heeded his advice. Not only can I write a private placement memo, I know where to file a lien on an airplane.
Without a doubt, I would say my family is the root of my success. My parents encouraged me to explore my interests while I was growing up. In addition to being a Girl Scout and playing tennis, I was very involved in community service. I started a project through my local United Way called the “Youth Allocation Committee” that allows students to participate in the allocation process, as well as fundraising. The best part is that the program remains active, under different names, at United Way chapters across the country almost 30 years later!
