Deborah Mannia

Background

About Deborah Mannia

When I decided to become outside general counsel to technology companies, I knew that sharing my years of experience and hard-fought insights would make a difference for my clients. I usually start working with small to medium-sized companies when they have run across a particularly complex or protracted commercial contract problem – I dive in and solve the contract issue, and then help my clients build risk-aligned processes to support revenue generation without becoming a bottleneck. This allows sales professionals to handle a good deal of the process using negotiation guidance and approved alternatives…but still builds in crisp escalation mandates to make sure liability and performance burdens are not inequitably shifted to them. Once I’m on the team, and my C-suite partners see I have truly “been there & done that,” I’ve often become an adjunct member of the senior leadership team. I’ve asked to jump into all sorts of legal issues – regulatory oversight for expanding product suites, employee recruiting/counseling/terminations, compliance with an evolving legal landscape, financing efforts, and pre-litigation disputes. Each is a challenge I’ve seen before, and enjoy working with senior leadership to solve. The growth in my clients echoes my own journey as an entrepreneur and founder – parts of the process were bewildering at first, but when I’d been through it all a few times, it got a lot easier to see around corners. I’m seeing that the work I did way back then to right-size the corporate framework, build workable policies and procedures, and encourage collaboration and ensure the board, officers & directors, and members each fulfilled their functions has made it much easier to provide guidance and counsel to high-growth companies to take their companies to the next phase.