Lisa Calhoun is the founding and managing partner of Georgia's first women-owned VC firm and was the first woman to launch a venture fund in the state, making her a pioneer for women in Southern venture capital. She created the Startup Runway Foundation, a nonprofit that gives $10,000 non-dilutive grants to underrepresented founders who can't yet quit their day jobs, based on her own experience of living in her brother's basement while bootstrapping her first company.

• Emphasizes the intersection of artificial intelligence and B2B sales strategy. She frequently discusses how traditional enterprise sales models are outdated and must evolve to include AI-driven training and guidance. To support this, she personally develops and shares custom AI tools designed to coach early-stage CEOs on sales techniques.
• Champions the startup ecosystem in the Southern United States. She regularly posts data and articles arguing that the region, specifically cities like Atlanta, Austin, and Miami, is undervalued and currently experiencing a boom in fintech and AI development comparable to early Silicon Valley.
• Highlights the emergence of optimizing content for generative AI engines rather than traditional search engines. She notes that selling to executives is becoming harder due to noise and suggests founders need to understand how large language models filter information, viewing this shift as significant as the early days of SEO.
• Advocates for underrepresented founders with a strong focus on data regarding female entrepreneurs. She shares detailed breakdowns showing that while women-led startups receive a small fraction of total capital, they account for a disproportionately high percentage of successful exits, arguing that female founders are overdelivering with less funding.
• Focuses on practical, hands-on tools for operational efficiency. Beyond just giving advice, she actively builds and tests custom GPTs for specific startup needs, such as a bot designed to help board directors at portfolio firms and another that acts as an automated analyst to provide feedback on pitch decks.