Leslie Feinzaig built her venture capital platform at Graham & Walker from a grassroots founder community that started as a Facebook group called Female Founders Alliance, which grew into one of the largest structured communities and accelerator platforms for women founders. Growing up in Costa Rica in an immigrant family before navigating her way into tech and venture from that non-traditional background, she frames this experience as core to how she spots overlooked talent and markets.

• Preferences for clear, no-nonsense pitch materials without gimmicks. She explicitly warned founders against excessive spin and mentioned passing on a specific startup because their slide deck was so overloaded with animations that it required twenty-five clicks just to view three slides.
• Identification as a small and scrappy investor. She observes a split in the venture market between massive funds and smaller, grittier firms, proudly positioning her own firm in the latter category rather than chasing mega-deals.
• Advocacy for female entrepreneurship and wealth creation. She frequently discusses the systemic hurdles women face, such as the caregiver tax, and promotes the idea that the tech industry needs to see more female billionaires.
• Belief that artificial intelligence will lower the barrier to entry for startups. She argues that AI tools enable tiny teams to build significant companies without needing as much outside capital, suggesting this shift could help women bypass traditional funding gatekeepers.
• Active creation of thought leadership content through long-form writing. She regularly directs followers to her newsletter on Substack and articles in business publications, often worrying if her industry takes are becoming too spicy or controversial.
• Relatable experiences regarding parenting and work-life balance. She shares personal anecdotes about the emotional toll of sending children to sleepaway camp for the first time and expresses frustration with people using strong profanity near kids in public spaces.