You Don't Belong in the Room.

Why Getting Into The Room Is Only The Beginning—And What Founders Need To Protect, Prepare, And Deliver Once They’re There. | I Am What an Intellectual Property Attorney Looks Like.

Firm for the Culture

Aug 18, 2026

There Are Some Great Gems in Here. Please Share So Others Can Receive The Wisdom.

Hey Fam,

Have you ever been in a room somebody thought you didn’t belong in?

That was me at various moments during my time in corporate America.

Picture one scene:

I’m at an intimate IP gathering with some of the biggest heavy hitters in the field — multiple partners from my corporate law firm, foreign thought leaders who are the crème de la crème in the field, and experts presenting on the nuanced differences between the patent application process in China and the States.

Deals are getting made. Matters—entire cases—are moving forward. Tight-lipped negotiations are happening. It’s electric because I know I belong. I’ve fought for my place in the room because I know some people probably don’t think I’m supposed to be there.

Now here’s the thing: I was genuinely interested in the work, and I wanted to explore how my culturally centered understanding of IP was discussed, if at all, in a room of the industry-crowned thought leaders.

A few days before, I told the managing partner as much, expressing my enthusiasm to rub elbows with those who made things happen.

She was not as enthusiastic about having me in the room.

And she told me, in not so many words, that I probably wasn’t going to be able to attend — as the RSVP list was full.

But if you know anything about me, I have a knack for getting into places.

So when she saw me at the exclusive event a couple of days later, her face said everything her words hadn’t.

She was not happy, and she stayed a little cold toward me the entire time I was in the room.

But I was over the moon.

I got access.

I was able to watch the rainmakers actually make it rain.

And I left not just with some of my questions about the field, but an impression I still carry into every room I walk into today: when you’re in these rooms, you best be prepared.

What I Think About When I Share This Story

I see it in the client calls, in the DMs from founders asking whether they’re “ready” for a certain table.

I see it when someone hesitates before walking into a room full of people who look nothing like them, doing business at a scale that feels intimidating.

Here’s what that room taught me, and what I didn’t fully understand until years later: the question was never whether I belonged there.

The question was what I was going to do now that I was in it.

Listen fam, I am not the arbiter of whether you belong in a room.

That’s not my role, and honestly, it’s not anybody’s role but yours.

But as your business grows, understanding why you’re in certain rooms — and how to move once you’re there — is some of the most important work you’ll do in your journey of impact and business.

This applies just as much to a founder walking into an investor pitch as it did to me walking past a managing partner’s disapproval.

So we’re gonna dive into this very subject today:

In today’s Founder’s Letter, we’re going to talk about one of the biggest recurring themes of your entrepreneurial journey: knowing why you’re in certain rooms, knowing what you bring to certain rooms, and making sure you actually deliver on and protect what you pitch in certain rooms.

And of course, we’re going to relate this to the intellectual property that you’re building today as you’re learning to more effectively navigate these rooms.

Ready? Let’s get into it.

Loving This Post?

Show us some love by adding a “❤️” or commenting below; this will make our hearts sing. Also, please share, we want this to get to as many folx as possible.

But first, Church Announcements!!

Missed our recent live session? Grab the workshop notes below.

This is the last week for the workshop notes from the Queen Latifah workshop to be shared here—grab them here before they move behind the paywall too.

And sign up for our upcoming workshops!

August 20 — Women of Impact: Get Your Freak On (Missy Elliott)
Copyright, creative ownership, and protecting original work.

September 10 — Negotiate for Your Impact
A fireside chat with Damali Peterman on negotiating confidently and protecting your interests.

September 24 — Women of Impact: I’m in Love with the Coco (Coco Gauff)
Endorsements, image rights, NIL agreements, and personal-brand protection — Coco is building toward her own 1999 right now, and we’ll talk about exactly what she should be locking down.

All three upcoming workshops begin at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time, 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

One Click. All Workshops.

We have a new one-click sign-up that allows you to register for the entire Women of Impact series at once.

Sign up even if you’re not able to attend—you’ll still get the workshop notes by email.

Sign up for all four workshops here:

1 CLICK - WOMEN OF IMPACT SERIES

This isn’t just about who’s going to be there and whose contact info you’re hoping to walk away with.

It’s about naming, for yourself, why you showed up.

Are you there because it’s a major event in your industry and you’re building relationships?

Because you were invited to speak?

Because you’re simply there to learn?

These are different reasons, and they call for different postures.

There are seasons where I’m a bit quieter in a room — not because I’m shy, but because I’m not chasing splash that day.

Indeed, Firm for the Culture is in what some would call a “building season” right now, and so this means taking a bit of a break from attempting to generate an insane volume of new business while we’re still building the infrastructure that will actually support the people it brings in.

That’s a why.

It’s a valid one that will move the firm and me forward.

Founder Gem: Before you walk into any room, name your reason for being there. The room will ask something different of you depending on the answer.

Once you know why you’re there, take inventory of what you’re walking in with — because what’s unprotected is what gets taken.

But It Is Something You Should Be Scared Of GIFs - Find & Share on GIPHY

If you’re introducing your pitch and your business name, and you haven’t secured your trademark, you’re exposed the moment you speak.

Someone in that room can walk away with your name, your positioning, your language — all because you talked about your business before your IP was locked down.

This isn’t paranoia.

It’s just how rooms work when the stakes are real and the people in them are sharp enough to recognize a good idea, even when you do not.

Founder Gem: Your voice in the room is only as protected as your paperwork. Secure the trademark before you pitch the name.

The third thing I take inventory of: can I actually act on what I’m gaining from this room, and quickly?

In my experience, nothing kills a deal faster than someone who isn’t ready with the actual service they’re pitching.

Over-promising and under-delivering is one of my biggest pet peeves — professionally and personally.

That doesn’t mean you need to be fully polished before you say a word about your business.

Testing the room, gauging whether people resonate with what you’re offering, is part of the process.

But if the room isn’t filled with people who fit your ideal client profile—or if they may need more than you’re ready to offer right now—it may not be the right room to pitch in.

That doesn’t mean they’ll never be the right audience. It simply means your energy may be better spent connecting with the people who are ready for what you can deliver today.

Founder Gem: Readiness isn’t perfection. It’s knowing you can deliver on the promise the moment someone says yes.

I think about that managing partner sometimes.

I mean, she was pretty nice overall, lol.

So I think of her less with resentment and more with appreciation and clarity.

What I think about, more than ever, is that she didn’t explicitly say no.

So who was I to say no to myself?

She just assumed I’d read the silence correctly and stay in my seat. I didn’t. And what I found on the other side of that room wasn’t just access — it was proof that the gap between “not invited” and “not allowed” is often smaller than we think.

The rooms you’re walking into now — the investor meetings, the conferences, the panels, the partnerships — they’re asking the same three questions of you that room asked of me.

Why are you here?

What have you protected?

Can you deliver?

The answers determine whether the room remembers you as someone who showed up, or someone who was ready.