Catherine Lacavera — Ex-Google VP on Law, Tech & the One Lesson Founders Can’t Afford to Miss

Catherine Lacavera spent 16 years inside Google’s legal war rooms, steering the company through high-stakes battles — from billion-dollar copyright disputes to defining the legal boundaries of AI. She’s seen too many groundbreaking ideas lose their edge because founders treated intellectual property as an afterthought.

Here’s the founder reality check: In AI, everything can be copied. Speed of execution will get you ahead, but defensibility is what keeps you there.

In this episode, Catherine and David go deep on:

• The founder IP blind spot — why most entrepreneurs don’t think about legal strategy until it’s too late, and how that can cost you your moat.

• Lessons from landmark cases — including takeaways from Google’s fights over search, patents, and AI models that changed industry precedent.

• Scaling without losing your advantage — how to partner, license, and go to market without handing your crown jewels to competitors.

• The new legal battlegrounds — AI training data, privacy laws, and compliance frameworks every founder needs to be across.

• How to pitch with conviction — the signals investors look for that show you’re legally ready to scale.

• Lawyers as growth partners — moving beyond “risk prevention” to using your legal team as a strategic weapon for market entry and deal-making.

• Execution over ideas — why even in the age of fast-followers, acting decisively still trumps the perfect plan.

Catherine also shares the mindset she brought to Google’s toughest cases — balancing aggressive defense with the long-term trust of users, regulators, and partners.

💡 If you’re building fast and ignoring the legal layer, this is your wake-up call.

From navigating the complexities of the U.S. legal system to building trust in high-stakes AI environments, Catherine’s advice lands as both a warning and a playbook for founders, legal teams, and investors.

And don’t miss the signature lightning round — rapid-fire insights on investment readiness, legal resilience, and scaling smart.

Epic Execution is the definitive podcast for entrepreneurs, executives, and innovators who want to build companies, raise capital, and deploy it effectively. Hosted by David Kenney, each episode gets to the unfiltered truth about reaching product-market fit, leading high-performance teams, and creating genuine customer value that lasts.

🎧 Listen now and learn how to protect what you’re building — before it’s too late.

👉 StartWithEpic.com for courses, tools, and frameworks that help founders scale with confidence.