Navigating Regulation and Startup Investing

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You want tech and tacos, Tacos and tech, you know we got it.

Hey.

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started.

You want tech and tacos, tacos in tech, you know we got it. Hey.

Foreign.

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Tacos and tech podcast by Rice and Tide Partners. I'm your host, Neil Bloom and I am thrilled to have on a longtime friend here in the ecosystem, a co investor, a co contributor, co collaborator of all things style startups in the San Diego ecosystem. Rose Bullas, founder of Rose Bullis Law. Hey Rose, thanks for being on the pod.

Hey Neil, great to be here.

It is great to have you here. We've obviously go way back doing lots of things in the community and we're doing even more things now, which I'm excited about and we're going to talk about. You know, I think a lot of people know you for a lot of different things in the community. Funder, startup supporter in all ways whatsoever, and investor and legal expert, fintech expert, all things. So we're going to dive into your background a little bit to get to know what all went into that and how you got to where you'd be today. But thanks again for being on the pod.

Yeah, absolutely. Gosh, I've been in San Diego almost 18 years now, so lots to talk about.

Yeah.

Where does it all start for you? Where did you actually grow up?

Yeah, I grew up in the Bay Area, San Ma, San Mateo county, small town by the airport called San Bruno. For Bay Area folks listening in, I grew up in the fog. There's going to be some giggles, I'm sure, over towards Skyline, Skyline College. So if you've been to the Bay Area, you know the weather out there is iffy, especially if you're. You're between the Peninsula and downtown. So naturally I find myself in sunny weather now. Yeah. And so, yeah, so I went to school in the Bay Area, you know, attended UC Berkeley for college. I was a finance and accounting major. After college I was like, what am I going to do? Like every other 18 year old asks themselves. So I decided to work for a year. Unlike most of my other peers who went on to graduate school, I was actually at the Haas School of Business. So that was very entertaining. But I decided to just go out into the workforce and, and I worked for A company called Franklin Templeton, which was out in San Mateo, which still is. It's a mutual fund company. And I Learned about the 40 act and mutual funds and exchange traded funds and all things like that. And then I decided to go to law school at night for four years and have lots of fun doing it. Monday through Thursday, 6 to 9pm for four years was really actually an enjoyable effort for me because I wanted, I knew I wanted to become an attorney, but very busy schedule, so I didn't really have a life. And then after law school I decided to work again for a little bit and I became in house counsel for various financial institutions. Let's see, Wells Fargo, PNC Bank, Wachovia, that became Wells Fargo. And then the financial crisis hit and I found myself asking, am I gonna continue on in my role at these banks when they're falling apart? So took my skill set with me, went on interviews and found myself in the energy industry where I was recruited over to Sempra Energy 2009. Was there for about 10 years doing a lot of the work that I did in the banks. But for an energy company which was capital markets derivatives, different asset classes being the underlying, so securities, commodities, foreign exchange, credit, credit, interest rates, things like that. So I was a derivatives generalist. Did that for, like I said, until 2019. And then I started Rose Bolas Law as a sole practitioner and did that for four and a half years and used all my experience at the institutional level and brought it to a small firm, boutique, all myself until 2023 when I formed Rose bowl slot Rose Bowl's law APC. And then fast forward to today, Neil. We are about eight lawyers strong, focusing in three main areas, securities, commodities and financial services. And do all things corporate within those realms and then subside experience that I bring to the firm is capital markets trading and Web3 legal services as well. So that's always fun.

Wow, what a background. Let's go way back to the Franklin Templeton days. Or was this Franklin then? Or was it Franklin Templeton?

It was Franklin Templeton Group.

Okay.

Yeah. And there was the Franklin side of the world and then the Templeton International side of the world. And I actually did a rotation through the company. I did the management training program. So I was both in like fund management and I was in marketing and compliance and all these fun areas. It gave me a real good visibility as to how a fund is created, run and maintained in compliance, of course. But then I was. My eyes got wide open when I thought, oh, there are hedge funds out there and Other types of structures that don't need to comply with all this stuff because they fall under exemptions and such. So that was very eye opening at the time.

Interesting. And so there's a few routes here in San Diego. Franklin Templeton at one point hosted the EVO Nexus fintech incubator, I think during COVID actually. So local incubator had a whole bunch of fintech companies at. Headquartered at the San Mateo office, I think, which was kind of cool, I know many years after you were there, but still cool to see some. And then there's the defense tech angle that they've got a defense tech fund that I think some people are based in San Diego related to Franklin Templeton. Anyway, just some random facts that I always have. But it sounds like, did they push you to do law school by night or where did that idea come from? So I knew legal.

Yeah, I knew I wanted to go to law school eventually, but it was very expensive and I thought, well, let me work for a year and save up and see what I can do. And so the night route was just the best route for me. You know, all those companies that I worked for, especially Wells Fargo, which came after Franklin, I actually went to law school at night and sat on a trading desk. So that's where I learned the derivative side of my legal practice. Started with the rates desk and then created an equity derivatives desk and just wandered into other asset classes, which was really cool because back then as a derivatives lawyer you can be a generalist. ISDA was very in favor of that. Today there are just so many nuances in each of those asset classes and the derivatives that are in those markets that you just can't just be a generalist anymore. Which is why I veered towards working in the energy industry. But I did do, you know, rates and equity derivatives for a while. That gave me a lot of my fundamentals in the security space. Worked with corporate and outside counsel and on very large deals, which gave me the confidence to deal with large transactions and, you know, and being in house with very senior intelligent entrepreneurial lawyers gave me the. The ability to know what the C suite expects from their counsel. So it helps with managing clients and understanding that you know what's important, what's not. So no over lawyering at rbl?

Yeah, for sure. The Sempra angle is really interesting as well. And in fact, maybe you can educate me about this. I feel like most of the people I have met who are former Sempra mostly are on the financial side, like seem to be traders or Investors, you know, is that Sempra's more general business as opposed to the SDG and E operator utility kind of piece.

Yeah, so my story is a little different from the, you know, from the wholesale trading probably exposure that you've had. I started with Sempra supporting their retail energy trading unit, which is more state focused. So you're probably more familiar with like wholesale trading with big banks and like Dodd Frank and all of that stuff. At the retail level, the unit that rolled up to the parent company at one point was in competition with the utilities that offer tariff pricing structures. The group that I supported was their ideal client were CNI customers, commercial industrial customers who can contract out of the tariff rate and to transactions with deregulated entities that were licensed to sell products in competition with utility and, you know, open or deregulated states. So we. So the unit that I, one of the units that I supported and that probably the bread and butter of my stay at Sempra, sold financial products to and physical products in certain respects to CNI customers for very great pricing simply because they were, especially in California, allowed to via direct access. So there's a lot of, you know, specialized terminology and you know, like compliance matters that needed to be managed at the unit that I was supporting in order to make this happen, including licensing. So got good visibility on the trading world. But at the retail level, which was state regulated, not federal, although FERC and CFTC always had oversight over some of the other bigger issues that can happen in the trading space.

Very interesting. And then the crypto world, like how did that come to, you know, now.

You'Re, now you're fast forwarding to probably within the last couple years. Okay, so I have a variety of, Well, I shouldn't say I, I should say the firm has a variety of clients that are, you know, dabbling. I wouldn't say dabbling, but they're, they're market participants somehow, whether in the wholesale or retail markets. I'm going to just use energy or commodities for purposes of our conversation, which everyone in the web3 space who's trading believes that, you know, commodity be the best, better designation than a security. So the Web3 exposure to the practice or what I'm doing came via some, I guess you could say in a second from my firm over to a big institution called Anchorage Digital. So they have always had ambitions and are probably going to be doing all sorts of things, the Web3 space, but including providing hedging products or financial products to their clientele, to their custody clients that hold digital assets. And in certain respects, you know, there's only a few that are really like quote understood and safe to trade if you will, you know, so. But it be my skill set was you know, easily transferred to say traders, not just a custodian, but say traders. And so now I'm outside general counsel for a company called Enhanced Digital Group which is out of New York and they are specifically focusing on derivative products for high net worth individuals, entities, miners, whomever's in the space that has a high concentration of digital assets such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, you know, and we are kind of in the space now that's kind of evolving actually. There's, you know, the, as you know the, the Genius act and the Clarity act and all of these other legislations are just right hot off the press. So as you can imagine being counsel in the space with the markets background and trading background that I have has to be extra cognizant of, you know, what we used to do versus what we can do, what we will do in the future. So that's kind of my exposure in the Web3 space right now through those two entities. But I have various other smaller players that I help. But as you know, just still not. The industry is still in its infancy as it relates to regulations.

Totally it. I mean I feel like we have, let's, let's just pull the thread on that, you know, and just like where things have gone because it feels like fintech technology for financial blank has always been around and has kind of always been a leading edge for a lot of other technologies.

Right.

Like Wall street, you know, lives on time and the quicker end data and the quicker you have all that, the better edge you have.

Right.

So theoretically they're investing in areas where you get quicker and up to date tech, if you will. Is that true you think? Is that why maybe fintech is some pulled along some, some innovation always at the front edge?

Yeah. So I feel as though with AI in the mix now, I feel like what, what we once believed to be the latest and greatest technology, whether it's in fintech or anything else, seems be evolving so rapidly that if one startup or early stage company believe it has a moat or something, you know, it, it could be recreated in seconds through an agent or something like that. So it's hard, you know, it's just moving so rapidly. So you know, it really then becomes is your tech or fintech or whatever it is that people are relying, is it going to be obsolete? Like how long and how much value is it going to Bring you in order to make an investment into that. So just as an investor, which we haven't talked about yet, but you know, when I do due diligence on some of these fintechs or newer companies that are looking to improve operations or improve certain things, companies, are they going to stay ahead of the game? Right. Or is a bigger player going to eat them up?

Totally. I mean that's true for all tech and anything software these days. But I think there's some staying power in fintech because of like the moat that exists in legislation.

Right.

Like actually getting depends on what branch of fintech. First of all, we're talking really high level.

Absolutely.

Betting is a whole nother world.

Oh my gosh.

But, but the regulation is a moat and is, you know, also I would say a makes fintech sometimes lag as well too. Like.

Right.

Like the crypto world, while it's been always forward thinking, has not been able to have a foothold in the Americas in the United States because of the lack of regulation.

Right.

Whereas other areas like bank tech has been over regulated and therefore also not enough innovation to the payment rails and that kind of stuff too. Like what's your kind of take on that? Just the regulation versus innovation in the United States.

Sure. So I feel like we're way behind our international counterparts. That goes without saying. I feel like a lot of people in Washington or just people who are in tradfi or traditional finance roles, they're not ready or they're not. When you, when you're not comfortable with understanding how a certain industry works, say Web3 or when I say cryptocurrency or even like some of these newer tokenization. Right. Of things. Right. Then people get fearful and can find all sorts of reasons why it can't work. When in reality the evolution and the, you know, the, the innovation, it's nothing's going to stop it. I guess what I'm trying to say is with new blood coming into some of these roles in Washington or seeing that these companies are functioning better, more efficient, greater revenues coming in, I think it's, it's just a normal pushback that eventually is going to wean off. So in the interim there's the pain and suffering of having to follow legislation and have all of these, the older crowd, if you will, try to make sense of everything. When the newer crowd really understands the fundamentals and once they come into office or they take leadership roles and then find value for mainstream America, it will be rolled out, you know, especially a digital, you know, dollar or you Know, just usdc, for example. Right. Payment, stable coins and the whole genius act and how that's going to transform the banking world. Right. So it's just coming and so better equip yourself with knowledge and relevance in your company rather than to fight it because it's. I don't think it's gonna go away anytime soon. It's too big. Too big not to succeed, if you will. Yeah, man, I don't know if that answers your question, but that just kind of gives.

Well, good on you for staying ahead of it like that because like you said, it is coming and it gives you a big edge. I would say on the same with the legal tech side.

Right.

Being in.

Yeah.

Just having. Leaning into the optimizations that have come. Like what have you seen less regulated space to just have, In a sense SaaS applied to your industry.

Right.

As opposed to fintech, changing financial vehicles and that kind of stuff. Like what's, what is, what's your take on, on legal tech and its innovation over the years?

Yeah, that's a, that's a great question and a one near and dear to my heart. I actually have, I created a small angel investing group called Angels in the Law. During the pandemic. I thought it was fun to get other lawyers together to talk about what legal tech tech was doing to our industry, to our clients, to our, you know, work, and been following it along ever since. So it's been a good five, six years. And so Angels in the Law was born to educate lawyers who are investors and who want to stay abreast of the changes in legal services. And what we've observed is that is an unstoppable train that is also coming and has arrived. And the adoption has not been so popular with attorneys, but with customers and clients and sales and biz dev and so other functions. And companies that want to get things done but don't want perfection have opted to use a lot of these tools. General partners, private equity, just different parties that are really embracing legal tech more so than the attorney. So if that's the case, then it's seems to me that the lawyers are going to have to get on the bandwagon of incorporating these tools and these companies that include AI capabilities into their practice and start showing clients value that maybe some of the bigger firms or some of these bigger companies show to their, to their clients. So, and there are various companies that we've reviewed over time that have been growing before our eyes. I mean, everyone's heard of Harvey, of course, and you know, even legal Zoom Good old legal Zoom. Publicly traded has really evolved through the years. Their offerings are incredible. Their output still questionable. Being a lawyer, I'm not going to lie, it gives keeps us busy on the correction later side of things. But they've come a long way and they'll go a lot further. And the acquisitions in the space have been incredible. Lots of buying of smaller outfits into bigger outfits. So it's just a matter of time again that some of these names will be household names and there will be more credibility as time passes and lawyers will have to bring value to their clients by bringing their clients to these platforms because doing things the old fashioned way are going to be cost prohibitive. So there are my thoughts on that. Let me know if you want me to talk about any particular legal tech because I've seen everything from e discovery or case prediction software, AI to gosh, software that can file a claim for you. You just tell them in Vibe coding, in the legal tech in plain English, it'll write up a complaint for you right away. So there's all sorts of stuff out there and just not hugely widely adopted yet because people do still appreciate human lawyers.

That's true. Yeah. And speaking to one of our San Diego darlings, Trust and Will, which sits on a bit of both the legal tech and financial estate planning tech, which has had to ride the wave of e notary being approved state by state just so that they could have a truly digital platform right there. Again, you know, is regulation affecting both legal tech and fintech in that regard? Just that someone could write a basic will around that as well too. Where, where do you. So we can dive into the, the investment piece a little bit. One I would love to know like when you decided to make your first investment and, and if you can share the name, great. If not, whatever, it's okay. But where is their room? Like where, where are the areas you're leaning into the same. Like this is the areas of legal tech that are exciting and new versus tried a ton of times before.

Yeah. So gosh, I would say pre pandemic when I was in house, you know, investing or the entrepreneurial scene was not really where I was. I was more sitting on nonprofit boards and doing more community things, but not really with the startup ecosystem. It wasn't until, you know, the pandemic that got me, got my eyes open to all of the great, great smaller companies that were kind of happening and growing within the San Diego community. Where then I started learning about angel investing. I started with, I would think San Diego Angel Conference and Kind of that was the, that was the more of the serious investing that I took place. Don't know if your audience knows about San Diego Angel Conference, but it is a beginner's angel group if you will, with various investors who are looking to learn about how to invest due diligence and such. And they run every year and they have some great companies. So that's sort of the more serious investing that's got me started. I want to say six years ago or so when I participated my first time and I've been in the fund ever since. I participate with various angel groups. Proud to say that Interlock Capital was also a fund that I partook in or you know, it was lpn. So thank you Neil for that opportunity. And then you know, various other angel groups. Estella with Sylvia Ma, I've co invested with her and sheesh. New fund, looking to be a serious investor with them this year by the end of the year. A personal goal of mine. Yeah. So you know various emerging funds and ecosystem builders that really understand companies such as yourself and others around me who I trust and I know that because they've experienced things themselves, they bring lots of insight and value to me understanding how my money could be best invested. So as it relates to legal tech, Angels in the Law has, while we are an angel network, we are very grassroots. Many of us have decided to invest individually in certain legal tech companies. One in particular that I served as an advisor for was Advocat AI which who was a. Or what was a winner at SDAC I think was SDAC 2 or 3. So Pradnya still around, doing great, hoping she gets sold sometime soon and then well, the company rather and then various other legal tech platforms that are growing and I'm watching but through the growing and the watching I've come to learn about others that are changing other tangential areas to legal. So for example a portfolio company of yours called Lend API which is, you know, helps companies create creative loan lending structures and other resource resourceful, you know, borrowing or you know, financing structures helped Law Fi come to pass. And Law Fi is a company out of Florida I believe who is looking to help attorneys and law firms help finance some of their clients. And which is so very helpful because as you know retainers can be very large. And so these creative mechanisms that are out there are very investable companies. They're very real, they're very revenue generating, they're very promising. And so any opportunities to invest in these types of companies while near and dear to legal tech are also other Opportunities that I've looked into. So that'll give you a taste of kind of what I've done. And I am pretty picky. Most lawyers are as it relates to where their money goes. But Angels in Law has really, you know, opened many of our members eyes to opportunities that they wouldn't have otherwise known about had they been for the group, with the group. And so, you know, there are legal check companies out there that have gotten funding from our members. So proud to say that, you know, yay, we did good.

I love it. Well, I mean, I think it makes sense for being kind of an entrepreneurial law firm, right, in that regard that you would take risks here and there, but and not risks. Well, calculated risks. And it makes total sense that you do it with domain expertise in mind, right? Like invest in areas you know, and invest in areas you know, you hope will manifest and make your job easier too. And so that makes total sense. I love the Lend API mention for a variety of reasons. One, we love all of our portfolio companies, but the fact that Tim, founder Tim and Sam, I actually introduced the two co founders during COVID when they were at totally different companies. They then teamed up for Lend API and Tim signed up as an LP in Interlock Fund 1 as well too. And then we got to fund it within Interlock 1, which is a very interlock and rising type partner story, right, Like Invest into the community where, you know, one wins. We all win in that regard. And of course you'd go in and be able to help them as well too. You mentioned Lafayette, another Steve Highhill, another connection through Tim at Lend API that we got to know as well. So yeah, just a great, great world in that regard and love that you're involved there. I know you've, you've helped a number of Interlock companies, you know, for a variety of fintech and legal tech kind of stuff as well too. And then San Angel Conference, this was last year. 2025 was the first year I participated personally actually into it. I think I emceed two years ago like the final, final go 2023, which was super fun. And this year I was so compelled to buy the final pitches. But this coming year I'm going to tease it to just this audience. You might see a bit more of me in the SDAC world either as fund manager, education curriculum lead, because I agree it is a great intro course to what is angel investing thing, which is huge in terms of unlocking people's ability to participate in the early stage funding world. Because if you're Better educated, you'll take better calculated risks and you won't take these big swings on one company and then you're out of the game for 10 years, which we see a lot of in angel investors, right? They fall in love with One founder, put 100K in, they're like, all right, just waiting for my return and then I'll do my next deal. And it's like, that's not you. That's not how angel investing works.

Right.

It's an indexing game where you learn about the people and learn about yourself as a picker of people.

Right.

And so I've loved that that was your entryway into there. And you have, you have broadened your area from not just participating, but then leading your own syndicate group now as well, too. What have you learned from that? Like leading your own syndicate group compared to just investing alongside others?

You know, I, I think it's, it's a team effort. I honestly have to say that the input that I get from the various angels in the law members are so invaluable. Why? Because they may be in a different area of law that I'm not in, or they've invested themselves maybe the same amount of time or longer where they are, their due diligence techniques may be different. And you know, what's interesting is we may be focused on legal tech, but we're talking about all sorts of deals. So, you know, some of us are real estate investors. And so, you know, I learned of a couple deals through various members and am looking into one now. So, you know, it really, it opens up all sorts of opportunities when you're talking about, you know, companies. And I, I honestly believe that if, if, if you don't invest, right? They say for every 40 or 20. I forget what the number is, Neil. And maybe, you know, but like, every 40 investments you make, one's gonna hit big and it's gonna return, right? Your investment maybe 10, 15x Lucky 20, that will basically cover up all, cover all the investments you've made. So if you're consistent, right? Everything is consistency and, and discipline in life that yields results. And so likewise in angel investing, putting all your eggs in one basket probably isn't advisable, but if you're going to be investing, stay, stay consistent with it, hang out with the right people who know a thing or two about the industry you're investing in, and then help the companies that you're investing in. So staying on the sidelines doesn't help your investment. So for every company that I've invested In I've tried to make connections for them, I've tried to do all that I can. And being a techstars mentor, for example, you know, one of the things they teach you as a mentor is it's a give first mentality. And like that in all of the things that I do, especially as an investor, have to give, have to help, have to be a part of the circles of resources for these founders that are facing so many different challenges. Investor, you know, investors who are resources are the best investors. So just trying to live up to that standard.

It's a huge, huge, huge, huge value add that I think you and I understand not every founder actually values that or knows to value that. How do you like show that?

Yeah, so it's a culture that I've adopted for myself personally. So I do have a give first mentality and all that I do. And I feel like counting your blessings certainly goes a long way because, you know, somehow it all seems to work out. When you give, the universe gives back. So it starts at my firm, it starts with the companies that I invest in and it's always communicating to them that, you know, aside from what I'm here to do, you know, mentor, give legal advice, whatever, please. I'm going to open up my network to you to the, to the extent it makes sense. So let's talk about what it is that you need. Like, let's talk about what your obstacles are and what is it. So I got to know that you're clear on what your ask is and what you want. And then when you announce that to the world, it's almost inevitable that it's going to come your way. But you got to be clear. And so communicating with the, those that I want to help and getting them to very clear spot on what their ask is definitely helps me help them.

I mean it's, yeah, give first, which is very San Diego. I've noticed not every community has that culture in the startup ecosystem. First of all, it is also though, within the techstars world. Like it is global somehow within, within certain networks of startups. So I find that all very interesting that the right people find their way to that kind of culture and then, you know, giving goes far, but when you're actually on the cap table, like you're pretty incentivized to do those things working when the founder is sleeping to a certain regard.

Right.

And you know, making connections and intros and those kinds of areas as well too. I know your syndicate does that within areas, you know, legal, within law, connecting to other customers. And that part, where do you find that you have to kind of educate the founder on what to expect from an investor, you know, and beyond writing the check.

Interesting that you should bring up this subject. The Women's Venture Summit's coming up here at the end of September and I am going to be co leading a seminar, I guess a mini seminar within the summit on due diligence and part. And I feel like your question really goes towards, you know, what is some of the due diligence points that you should be aware of both as a founder and investor? Like what's, what's important to, what's important in your ask and what's important in what you're providing. And so, you know, I think when it comes to, on the investing side of things, and if I'm answering your question right, I think if you stay on the sidelines as an investor and you're not opening up your network or you're not helping the founder get clear on what they need, you're doing your investment a disservice. Right, Number one. But number two, you then, believe it or not, form a reputation among founders because they talk. So founders gloat about awesome investors all day long. They're like, hey, this really great. I'm glad they're on my cap table. I'm glad they're bringing value, I'm glad they're introducing, I'm glad they're spending time and they're not dead weight, if you will, just waiting around because it's not really doing the company service. But on the other side, as a founder, you know, this is one of the things I just don't see enough of is the founder being 100% clear on what they need because they don't know what's wrong, why they're not being able to fundraise, why they're not getting the connections, why they're not. And so, you know, they, they, they take polls for their market, right, for their product, but they don't take polls on what sort of things their audience want to hear about as it relates to their startup. Right, Their product, their market, whatever. So, so discovery is always important in the entire startup journey. And so, and that's constantly conversing, you know, you know, talking to people about like, what are, what do you like about us? What don't you like about us? Have you tried our product? Have you tried our platform? What are you seeing? What. And there's just not enough of that going around. And founders are head down, but they need to be heads up to be aware of, you know, in order to get to that next level. I think that's super important on their part. So I kind of showed two sides of the coin there. I don't know if I addressed your question, but those are two very important things. I, I'd like to see more from founders and funders and I'll be talking more about it at the Women's Venture Summit.

Oh, awesome. Great plug there for sure. Yeah. I mean, I think in San Diego specifically we haven't really had the luxury of, you know, one too many domain specific angel investors, first of all. So founders just scrambled for any local money they could without discerning on what makes a good investor.

Right.

They're like, I just need capital to just get going. But over time realized not all money is created equally.

Right.

Some actually comes with a lot of anchors and others come with huge balloons that actually like lift you up.

Right.

And therefore it's also put some good pressure on local investors to differentiate, improve themselves.

Right.

Because not all capital is equal. So I think you drive a great point. I'm so excited you're going to be talking about that further from both ends. And we will link to Women's Venture Summit here, here in the show notes here as well.

So. Awesome, awesome.

First of all, something else very San Diego is our taco scene which, you know, runs, runs the full gamut from breakfast, early morning tacos to late at night, 2am tacos to, you know, south of the border tacos. Rose, you and I have never had tacos together, but we've had many other meals and drinks. Where, where do you go for your taco fix?

Oh my. I was dreading this question. So I'm in North County. I don't know if your listeners know or you're gonna tell everyone, but you know, being in North County, I just feel like we're just given a just big disservice on our taco places. I should, I should say before you get to Excellent Escondido. Right. So, but you know, if, if I need a taco and I know what I'm going to be, you know, islands is really good. It's fine food. Right. So, you know, I'm not embarrassed to say it. You know, I've got a growing family so, you know, so it, I'd probably go there. I forget the name of them. One of them is pretty spicy, but it's good, it's good stuff. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna be mainstream on you here.

I like it. It's a controversial pick. Islands is known for its fine burgers and drinks, yet found the very San Diego thing about it, which I love by the way. Islands Carlsbad based company. Even though I think it's national or at least statewide, I went to them all over the state for good sit down break burgers and I think they're endless. Fries is what it's like definitely known for but yet you go for the tried and true San Diego local taco there. I appreciate it. I love.

I didn't say on the border.

I also love adding Islands to the taco database which has never been mentioned before here on the pod as well too. So looks like we need a little meet up at Islands for Bowls there which I think is a unique thing as well. Rose, this has been so fun to sit down with you. I know we will continue to collaborate on a daily basis and probably have something to text you about right after this, but thank you for what you do for the community. You give, you give and then you help and it's, it's very much recognizable in our startup community and like you said, it hasn't been that long you're doing it, but you've had a very quick impact in the startup world. So thank you and keep I know you're only beginning here because we didn't even talk about your expansion to the Bay Area and other states. So we'll just do a part two down the road on the Rose Bolas empire that is growing.

Thanks Neil. I really had a great time talking with you today.

Thanks Rose. Talk to you soon.

Tacos in techie zone Smash for the green guacamole keeper Counting's counting beans Contador quentan frijoles Founders trying to raise some queso la vida San Diego school of rappy rapping Fire tortillas round jalapenos in these modern times a craft beer and coffee My coding yoga posse fold the body origami we be surfing Coronado eating tacos El Gordo the taco stand in puesto lucha libre and sombrero Gotta shout out to cost Angels by the ocean Watch the sunset La Jolla shores Entrepreneurs trying to get funded When San Diego Startup Week is popping in the summer ocean side of Tijuana SD be full of hustlers from couch surfing to penthouses right on the beach Tech leaders who believe stars are waiting within reach we interview and founders who be shooting for the Moon SD TechOS with your host Neil Bloom.

Come on Startups get the party Startups get the party started Startups get the party? Startups get the party started? Startups get the party? Startups get the party started?

You want tech in tacos, tacos in tech? You know we got it?

Hey?

Startups get the party? Startups, Startups get the party started? Startups get the party? Startups get the party started? Startups get the party? Startups get the party started?

You want tech and tacos, tacos in tech? You know we got it?

Hey, that.