Silicon Valley Trust advises founders and boards on strategy, board governance, AI adoption, privacy, and the operating decisions that shape what your company becomes — across the full startup arc. Built by a 3x founder and California & New York-licensed attorney who's been in every seat.
Most advisors specialize. Founders don't get to. From your first board to your first IPO, the work cuts across strategy, hiring, capital, board governance, AI adoption, privacy, and the occasional crisis — and it's the layer in between most advisors can't go near. Silicon Valley Trust embeds with founders and boards across the full arc: operator judgment, lawyer's clarity, and a 3x founder's experience having sat in every chair.
Silicon Valley Trust runs two integrated practices: end-to-end advisory for the business of building a company, and the specialty technical governance most advisors can't go near. Most engagements draw from both.
The full work of building a company from your first raise to your IPO — strategy, capital, board, hiring, operations, and the moments that define what your company becomes.
Deep technical governance from a 3x founder, lawyer, and former DPO. The programs that protect the business and earn customer trust — built to ship, not to sit on a shelf.
Programs are only half of trust — the other half is the people making decisions at the top. We work directly with founders and boards, bringing operating experience (not just a framework) to the moments that shape a company.
1:1 coaching for founders building companies where trust is a feature, not an afterthought. AI, data, privacy, fintech, health — anywhere the hard questions show up early. Operator-to-operator conversations from someone who's been in the seat.
Independent board and advisory roles for companies where AI governance, privacy, or data protection sit on the agenda — and where seasoned operator judgment helps leadership teams build durable, trustworthy businesses.
We meet the team where they are — and stay until the program runs without us.
Map current state across legal, security, and product. Identify the gaps that actually matter.
A right-sized program with clear ownership, timelines, and the metrics to know it's working.
Policies, tooling, training, and reviews — implemented with your team, not handed off in a binder.
Hand-off with confidence. We stay on as advisors as the business and the rules evolve.
Leila Golchehreh has spent more than fifteen years building startups and the operational, legal, and governance programs that hold them up — across strategy, hiring, board governance, capital, AI adoption, privacy, and cybersecurity. She has served as a strategic advisor to hundreds of companies globally, from pre-seed through IPO.
She was General Motors Cruise's first cybersecurity, AI, and privacy lawyer; advised SaaS companies including Workday and Adaptive Insights; led Adaptive Insights through its IPO and acquisition by Workday; and practiced at major law firms including A&O Shearman, counseling clients across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and MENA. She has also advised international organizations including the OECD and the International Court of Arbitration, and studied law at the Sorbonne.
Today, through Silicon Valley Trust, Leila advises founders, executives, and boards across the full startup arc — strategy, operations, hiring, board governance, capital strategy, AI adoption, privacy, and cybersecurity. The throughline: operator judgment from someone who's actually built and led companies, with the lawyer's clarity to back it.
She is a sought-after speaker on modern governance — from boardroom to AI — with recent talks at the IAPP Europe Closing Keynote (Brussels), the State Bar of Georgia, Plug and Play, and a Governing AI Agents panel with A&O Shearman and Google in Paris. Upcoming engagements include the French Government on modern governance for the AI era.
A frequent voice on founder governance, board dynamics, AI adoption, and privacy — at conferences from San Francisco to Paris to Brussels.
An invited session for the French Government on what U.S. startup governance norms look like in practice — board composition, investor dynamics, founder protections, capital strategy — and how AI adoption fits into the modern governance playbook.
A practitioner conversation with early-stage founders on the work that actually moves a company forward: how to read your investors, structure a healthy board, navigate the first GC hire, and adopt AI without breaking what's working.
With privacy and security leaders from Anthropic, Box, and Uber. A practitioner-focused session on moving AI governance from theory to deployed reality inside established organizations — AI safety in practice, architectural hurdles, change management, and data integrity at scale.
Annual Privacy & Technology Law Conference. On the legal profession's responsibility around AI governance and ethics, the impact of AI on critical thinking, and why using AI to govern AI is the only practical path forward at this scale.
On the necessary shift in how technology professionals approach AI governance — that trust is not a byproduct of innovation but its precondition, and the responsibility of the industry to govern what it builds, not from the sidelines but from inside the work.
Past venues span San Francisco, New York, Washington, D.C., Paris, and Brussels. Additional speaking history and references available on request.
Photos and videos from recent speaking engagements and panels. Click any image to enlarge.
Additional speaking videos, photos, and references available on request.
Whether you're standing up an AI governance practice, scaling a privacy program, looking for a founder coach, or considering an independent board member — we'd be glad to talk.