From Boozy Cupcakes to $20M VC Fund: Lisa Song Sutton on Entrepreneurship, Philanthropy, and Saying No to Distractions

Lisa Song Sutton is a serial entrepreneur proving that real success isn’t just about building wealth—it’s about creating impact that lasts. 

In this episode of Pursue Vegas, we sit down with the former attorney (and Miss Nevada) who left a six-figure career to bootstrap Sin City Cupcakes, bringing boozy desserts to Las Vegas with the belief that business should be fun and profitable. She then scaled into real estate and shipping retail (yup, she’s the "mailbox lady"), turning multiple ventures from $0 to millions by mastering one key principle: "Focus on essential, stable business models as a growth strategy."

Lisa is a General Partner at The Veteran Fund, a $20M VC fund investing in veteran-led startups in dual-use tech. As the daughter of a Vietnam War veteran and wife of an F-22 fighter pilot, she’s committed to creating opportunities for those who served.

"Not every company has to raise money. It’s a lot on the founder, it’s a lot on your cap table," Lisa explains, challenging the glorification of venture capital. 

Beyond business, Lisa is committed to community impact—whether mentoring the next generation or bringing her therapy dog, Cupcake, to local hospitals. For her, success isn’t just about revenue, but the ripple effect of giving back. "If you’re lucky enough to be a successful entrepreneur, you must pay it forward." 

If you're an entrepreneur struggling with shiny object syndrome, Lisa shares a powerful exercise to help you say yes to the right things and no to distractions—so you can finally focus on building a business that lasts.

And when the road gets tough? Lisa reminds us:
"When you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit."

Key Takeaways:

• From Law to Entrepreneurship – Lisa shares how leaving corporate law unlocked freedom, opportunity, and true business potential.
• Community-Driven Success – Why giving back, mentorship, and philanthropy are key to long-term impact.
• Scaling the Right Way – Her formula for building stable, scalable businesses without chasing unnecessary funding.
• Intentionality in Business – How to filter opportunities and make decisions that align with purpose and long-term success.
• Breaking Barriers – As a pioneering Asian-American entrepreneur, Lisa challenges stereotypes and paves the way for more diverse leadership. 

Resources:

• Lisa Song Sutton → @lisasongsutton
• The Veteran Fund 

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Transcript

0:00:00 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Hi, I'm Lisa Song Sutton, entrepreneur based in Las Vegas, and this is Pursue Vegas.

0:00:05 - (Dave Burlin): All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Pursue Vegas podcast. I'm your host, Dave Burlin.

0:00:11 - (Tawni Nguyen): And I'm your co host, Tawni Nguyen.

0:00:12 - (Dave Burlin): And you already know what I'm about to say. I am excited, but this is a whole different level. A whole different level of excited. We have the incredible Lisa Song Sutton on today's show. Welcome, Lisa.

0:00:23 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Thank you so much for having me.

0:00:24 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah. What are you excited about right now? Because every time I see your stuff, I. I get fired up. You're doing so many things, but not so many things that are just completely random. It's like all with this big ambition for entrepreneurship. Right. You've got the Veteran Fund. What are you excited about right now?

0:00:45 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Well, we're closing in on Q3, obviously getting ready for a big Q4. So I guess kind of all of the above has been really, really exciting with the Veteran Fund in particular. We actually just closed out, initiated the phase of our final closed for our fundraising portion of the fund. So it's been super exciting. It's been two year journey with my partners with that. As you know, we're a $20 million fund.

0:01:13 - (Lisa Song Sutton): We invest in early stage technology companies that are focused on national security and dual use. They must have a veteran or a military spouse on leadership team. And it's just been such an incredible journey. So that's been a lot of fun. Otherwise, everything else has just been kind of keeping our foot on the gas. Real estate has been crazy here in Las Vegas in particular. Really. No slowdown. Even with the interest rates and these different things, you're seeing like headlines in the media in particular. You're still having Californians in particular every week, either moving here, buying or renting here because of the restrictive nature of California laws and real estate over there. So we're seeing just a lot of migration still happening here.

0:01:59 - (Lisa Song Sutton): And so that's been really great for our real estate market too.

0:02:02 - (Dave Burlin): I love that now we've had so many different people on the show from different walks of life, all with different paths of Las Vegas. What has Las Vegas been for you as far as home? When did you get here and what keeps you here in Las Vegas?

0:02:17 - (Lisa Song Sutton): So I moved here 14 years ago, which is crazy to say. I moved here after law school and I moved her in the recession. I moved here in 2010, finished school, was getting ready for my big girl job at the law firm. And it was just this place where everything was like half off, right. Because it was A recession. So I was like, this is amazing. And we started buying real estate here in 2011, back when it was like, you 90 bucks a foot in Summerlin. I mean, it's just.

0:02:48 - (Lisa Song Sutton): It was just such an amazing time to plant roots here. And certainly what keeps me here, as you know, I'm a former Miss Nevada. During that time, I did nearly 500 community appearances, volunteering in schools, reading in hospitals, working with countless nonprofits. And it's really the community. Right. The local community here is incredible. And even though I'm not born and raised here, my family is not from here. Right. I didn't even go to school here. But because of the time that I've spent here building jobs, building communities, volunteering, working with a lot of nonprofits, I just feel like I've been so rewarded by the community here. And so certainly it's built a sense of loyalty. And I'm just so grateful to Veas and everything it's done for me, I love it.

0:03:36 - (Dave Burlin): Well, you're definitely the people's people. You had posted something recently on social media that I took into practice just to see what would happen, and that's saying yes. And so I'm always grateful. Every time I've reached out, I've asked you to be on panels. You helped out with Global Entrepreneurship Week. You've helped out with stuff for Bunker Labs in the past. You've been right there. Every time you take the call, I always ask for the same thing. I feel like it's like, either be on the show or be on a panel. And every time, you say yes, and I'm so grateful for that.

0:04:07 - (Dave Burlin): You say yes to a lot of things, though. So what are some of the other philanthropy efforts that you're really passionate about here in the community? I know you're part of a lot of organizations, but what are the things that really light you up and get you excited?

0:04:19 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Yeah. So on the nonprofit side, I'm glad I started with kind of this really wide stance of it, especially from the pageant experience, especially during that time, it was like any nonprofit that was here operating, we were doing something with them. So whether it was volunteering at their red carpet or being their gala MC or just running around volunteering, those were all roles and responsibilities.

0:04:47 - (Lisa Song Sutton): So now I've really been able to hone in my focus one of the volunteer activities that I do on a regular basis, on a weekly basis. I have two corgis, as you know. One of them is named Cupcake, and she is a certified hospital hospital pet therapy dog. And so we go volunteer at Summerlin Hospital and we get to visit the kids. So sixth floor is Kids Oncology. These are kiddos with cancer. Fifth floor is Kids icu and the first floor is Pediatric er.

0:05:17 - (Lisa Song Sutton): And it's just such a win win. I get to bring my corgi into the hospital. And she loves kids, she loves people. And so she gets to go to a place where everyone loves her and they just want to pet her. And it's just a wonderful volunteer opportunity. So that's something I really enjoy and do consistently.

0:05:38 - (Tawni Nguyen): Wow, that's amazing. Like, you got me at the corgi.

0:05:41 - (Dave Burlin): Thing about you got me a cupcake, which we'll talk about.

0:05:45 - (Lisa Song Sutton): I'm sure she's the sweetest. Yeah. And she just has so much fun. And the kids just light up, right? I mean, some of them, some of them are there for a few days, some of them are there for a few weeks, some of them are there for a few months. And it's just something different for them, right? It breaks up their day. They get a chance to spend 5, 10, 15 minutes, whatever it is, just playing with a dog and kind of being a normal kid.

0:06:10 - (Lisa Song Sutton): The parents appreciate it. They love it. Again, it breaks up their day too. And there have been so many instances, like I said, first floor is pediatric er. So these are kids who maybe they've come in with a broken wrist or like some trauma has just happened where it's like fresh. They're still crying. Maybe the nurse is trying to get that fluids in or something. Like everything has just happened and you hear like screaming going on you and you're like, oh boy. And so they'll literally just open up the door and they're like, do you want to say hi to Cupcake? You know, it just distracts them immediately enough where they're like still trying to catch their breath, but now they're like mesmerized and they're know, distracted enough to like get the IV in, you know, get something going. I've had so many parents be like, thank you, thanks for bringing this dog in here. You know, because it just distracts them long enough. So it's just super cool. It's so fulfilling. And yeah, we walk in there, no one knows who I am there, but they all know Cupcake, right? So as soon as we walk in, I mean the nurses, everybody's like, cupcake. Like, say, why cupcake? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just like the dog walker. Like, I'm the lady who brings her.

0:07:18 - (Tawni Nguyen): That's amazing. Like, thank you so much. For pouring back into the community. And your work with philanthropy and the way leadership is in this town, specifically with Asian women, that's something I love to, like, lean into, specifically in, like, the AI You're Asian surprise. And the work that it takes to be in this type of world, in hospitality and just surrounded in real estate. And in all of the work that you're doing to pour into the community.

0:07:44 - (Tawni Nguyen): Is there anything, like, challenges or things that you face or miscon..ions that you've had to face as an Asian woman, making waves, like, in this town, to where you feel like you've had your back against a wall when you first moved here, starting to put roots in here. And what are there some of those things that you're, like, still working through right, during your journey here to build Las Vegas, and some of those things that, like, we don't really get to see outside of, like, social media and Miss Nevada and all of these other, like, fancy, superficial things that people see on your social media that, like, you have to face.

0:08:15 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Yeah, well, so I was the first Miss Nevada of Asian descent. And I didn't know that when I was competing in the pageant, it wasn't something I, like, ran on or had thought of. But after I won, it started to pop up on social, and people were posting about how I was the first Miss Nevada of Asian descent. And it was so interesting because that was when I realized, like, wow, like there's. There's kind of a certain level of responsibility that comes with the visibility.

0:08:45 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Right. And that's when I had young girls reaching out to me on social media and saying, oh, my gosh, I'm so excited that you won. I've never seen someone who looks like me likey Miss Nevada. So that was really cool to experience. And it wasn't something I had thought of prior to that. I think here in Southern Nevada, at least, I do feel like we're actually a pretty diverse community. And so I don't know that I've experienced maybe any pushback being a young Asian woman here, but I have experienced pushback just being a young woman in business here.

0:09:26 - (Lisa Song Sutton): I remember this is like 2013. So I used to own a cupcake business. We had that for 11 years. And when we were just getting started, we were trying to get our cupcakes into the mgm and we ended up doing a collab with the day club there with the pool. But to get the meeting, we sat in and their president at the time came in, and he was just like. He was like, you girls are Cute. Are the owners coming?

0:09:53 - (Lisa Song Sutton): And we were like, no, it's us. Like, we were just like. Like it was obviously, you know, it was like kind of weird and awkward, but I think it was just this person, he was older and old school. And so I didn't take offense to it, but it was more just like, okay, this person is not used to seeing Asians or just young. Yeah, like young people or young women maybe, who are. Whether it's the owner of a business or have been able to secure a meeting or whatever that is.

0:10:28 - (Lisa Song Sutton): There was definitely surprise when we were like, no, it's us. And he was just like, oh. He was like, sorry, it was awkward. It was awkward interaction. So I think just kind of interactions like that where you meet people and they expect that either you must be an assistant or you must. Or like your boyfriend or your husband must own the company or there's always some surprise level of surprise there. And you're like, no, it's just us.

0:11:01 - (Dave Burlin): How did you come up with that idea? Was that really the first big idea that you put into action here in Nevada?

0:11:08 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Yeah, so that was the first company I started. And we started that when I was still working at the firm. So I was working my job at a law firm doing business litigation and business bankruptcy. And I mean, I really liked it. It's not like I like hated my job or hated the people I worked with and was like searching for something else to do. I was just working my job. And then Danielle, who was my co founder with Sin City Cupcakes, she called me and she was like, hey, I've been making these alcohol cupcakes.

0:11:41 - (Lisa Song Sutton): And I was like, what? I was like, that's an amazing idea. And they would crush in Vegas. You should move here. Like, I made all the mistakes in getting right. This is my first company. She was in Florida and I was like, you should move here. I just bought a house in Summerlin. Like, you should move here and we should start the company. Like, I'll help you start the company. And so that was my first foray into like starting company. I didn't know how to bake when we started it.

0:12:07 - (Lisa Song Sutton): I kept my day job the first 18 months that the company was alive because companies take money. So I literally was like working at the firm. A full time job. And then every spare penny I had, we were shoveling it into the company. And then during the day when I was at work, Danielle was running the business during the day. But nights and weekends I was baking, I was running deliveries, I was helping set up Events like, you know, it's a grind in the beginning, but it was so fun because we were building this really fun business and we felt like it was on brand to be drinking all the time. So it was like, yeah, it was a disaster, but so much fun.

0:12:50 - (Dave Burlin): So at what point did you really feel like that broke that threshold and took off?

0:12:56 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Yeah, I mean it was just when you start hitting revenue caps right. Where you'just like we made a lot of money, you're like surprised. And I think it's just a function of realizing like when you are in a W2 position somewhere there can be a cap. So even working at the firm, I was at a third year associate when I left and my salary was like $140,000 a year, which is great money. It's great money as a 20 something year old. Right.

0:13:27 - (Lisa Song Sutton): But the reality is I mentally had this idea of like, oh, I'm going to be on track to make partner and that's going to take a minimum of 10 years. And hopefully by the time I make partner, I could be earning a million dollars between salary and bonus. Right. That's the goal. It's like a 10 year plan so that by the time that you're in your late 30s pushing 40, you hopefully could be making a million dollars in compensation.

0:13:51 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Meanwhile, as a entrepreneur, you can make a million dollars selling cupcakes and you don't have to wait 10 years s real estate or all these other anything. Anything that you build. Essentially it's sales and there's no cap on sales and there's especially no cap on a company you build yourself. And so that was the biggest lesson for me where I was like, whoa, it opened up my eyes and I was like, I'm over here excited about my 140,000 when there's massive opportunity over here.

0:14:27 - (Lisa Song Sutton): And I feel like it came easier than like going to school doing all the things, you know, like it was just a totally different journey and it was more fun to do it that way.

0:14:38 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah, I think that's one of the things that a lot of people don't realize is that there's this. You mapped it out. You were saying you're making 140k then like there's probably one of those months that almost hits the same as like what your annual salary is. And then you're like, wait a minute.

0:14:54 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Yeah. What? Yeah.

0:14:56 - (Tawni Nguyen): Is that the breaking point for you to realize that you can be making more money like doing that? Is that when you decided to walk away from the law firm?

0:15:04 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Yeah. I mean, was that along with the realization like, wow, I can have my own company as long as I team up with an operations partner, which is what we did when we first started the cupcakes. And I was like, wait, so own. I could own multiple companies as long as I'm teaming up with operational partners, let's do that. It was just more fun. And so with the firm, my. I still have a really good relationship with my old boss from then, and he's actually now a United States bankruptcy trustee.

0:15:36 - (Lisa Song Sutton): So it's great from a real estate standpoint, deal flow standpoint, just to kind of keep a pulse on what's happening in Nevada and the economy and stuff. But yeah, I mean, I think of how different my life would be if I would have just stayed there working, you know, and I kind of worked my way up and made partner and, and that's fine. I have friends from school who have done exactly that and they live great lives.

0:16:01 - (Lisa Song Sutton): But yeah, I'm just, I'm so glad that I went entrepreneur.

0:16:04 - (Dave Burlin): So there's, there's a lot of things that have happened in between, but I do want to speak to the partner. Right. So as a, as a partner with the Veteran Fund, that was something that. How did that happen then? You know, where did you, you stood up for yourself and you said, no, no, I want to be, I want to be partner. So what was that experience? How did you get into that whole world?

0:16:25 - (Lisa Song Sutton): So with the VC fund, I had been angel investing for about seven years prior to that. And it was just, you know, angel investing is, it's small, early checks, right? You're, as an individual, you're writing 25k, 50k checks into very, very early stage companies, mostly just into founders that you really believe in and you like what they're building and you're excited about them and you're hoping that it'll go somewhere.

0:16:51 - (Lisa Song Sutton): After having done that for years, I was just like, how can I like diversify my investments? And so I was looking into venture and you know, I didn't know much about venture as a founder because I'd never raised money as a founder. I'd always self funded and then bootstrapped. And so with the venture, I was like, I want to learn about this. But it felt like a black box. But I was just like, I, I have to know about this.

0:17:18 - (Lisa Song Sutton): How is it like every person I know in private equity, in vc, they're like killing it. So I'm like, I need to learn about this and get involved. And so I started looking for VC funds that I could LP into, I could invest into as a limited partner and started conversations with them and started doing due diligence on who I wanted to invest in. And I mean, one of them in particular. I flew out to Park City, did dide on the fund there, met with their general partners, spent two days with them and I remember flying back to Vegas because I asked them when we were all together, I said, what else are we doing for these founders besides writing checks?

0:17:57 - (Lisa Song Sutton): And no one really had a good answer. It was more just like, get them to their next raise. Like, we're early stage, this is how it works. So I remember flying back to Vegas and I was just kind like, is that venture? Maybe it isuse, I don't know. And then not even two weeks later, Justin Nhama, who's now one of my partners in the fund, he and I knew each other previous, he called me and he was like, hey. He was like, so I've teamed up with two of my buddies and we've created this VC fund.

0:18:27 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Would love to talk to you about it. And I was like, that is so crazy. I had just put this out in the universe. And so we end up chatting. They tell me what they're building, what the veteran find. It totally resonated with me and I was like, I'm in. So I joined them initially as an lp, as an investor, and I called Justin back two days later and I was like, what is it going to take for me to be a gp, a general partner?

0:18:52 - (Lisa Song Sutton): And he was like, it's not really how it works. He was like'well, he was just like, we can't turn all of our LPs into GPS, you know? And I was like, look, I was like, it's fund one, it's early. I know you know me. But the other two guys, Mike and Ryan, at that time, I didn't know them well and they didn't know me well. We only met on Zoom. I was like, I'll fly out to California, let's all sit down together face to face and let's hash out what it could look like for me to join the GP team.

0:19:23 - (Lisa Song Sutton): One, I know I could bring another lp. Like I'll be a value add. I know I will be. I know I can bring another LPs, I know I can be a value add. But most importantly, I want to learn about venture. I want to learn about the fund and I want to get a chance to do it from the ground level and like the inner workings, right? Because staying on the outside as an lp, as an investor somewhere. You're still removed from it. Right. There's less risk on it, but you're still removed. And so I was like, I'm down to be in, in the trenches with you guys.

0:19:55 - (Lisa Song Sutton): And so he was just like, you're not going to let this go, are you? And I was like, no. So, yeah, I out there. We all met together and we worked out a deal and I just said, look, I was like, you guys, it's fund one. I was like, this is going toa work. So we're going toa be on a multi decade journey together. So I will take less in fund one and then we can talk about fun too and subsequent funds. You as like Equitable partners and they're just like, oh my God, yeah, this lady.

0:20:26 - (Lisa Song Sutton): But they've been amazing to work with and I truly feel like I have learned so much in the last two. I got a crash course in venture. Right. Because I get to be like on the inner workings of it.

0:20:37 - (Tawni Nguyen): Yeah. Like pre seed before series A and all that stuff that it kind of sounds like that's where you guys are headed or I don't know where you guys are at.

0:20:43 - (Lisa Song Sutton): That's the stage we invest in is pre seede. Yep.

0:20:46 - (Tawni Nguyen): Nice. Okay. And with that being said with entrepreneurship and like, you know, with us being like Asian women, sometimes we don't know what to say no to. And I know that you've said like yes to a lot of things and how do you differentiate that on yourself, on your like personal inner work to know, like, hey, this is what I want to lean into. This is what I have to say no to. This is what I'm super excited for.

0:21:07 - (Tawni Nguyen): Just because as an entrepreneur you have that itch. And sometimes, you know, it's either shiny or it's not. It money or it's not, it's feelings or it's not. And all of that gut feelings and all of the experiences and opportunities that are thrown at you like on the daily, like, how do you differentiate what opportunity fits for you and your calling and your vision and what you want to do with your life in the next season?

0:21:27 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Yeah, so that was something I struggled with for a long time, actually. I literally would just pursue everything and say yes to everything. A couple years ago, I did an exercise with one of my real estate mentors, Ken McElroy, and we sat down in his office and he rolled out butcher paper and he was like, write down all your stuff, lady. You know, he's like, write down all the stuff you have going on. So it's like, all the companies, all my investments, all the nonprofits, all the volunteer, all the boards you're on, like, everything.

0:21:57 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Write it all down. So I write it all down on this butcher paper that's across the desk. And he gave me different color markers, and he was like, circle the ones that make you money. So I'm like, okay, so I'm circling. There's a whole right side of the page that has no circles, by the way. I was like. So then he's like, circle the ones you could see yourself doing for the next 10 years. I was like, okay, I'm circling.

0:22:23 - (Lisa Song Sutton): And then he was like, circle the ones where the work that you do is, like, impactful, it's purposeful, it's meaningful. Like, you feel meaningful doing the work that you do with whatever that is, whether it's a business or nonprofit or whatever. So I'm circling. And that one exercise alone, it was so wonderful to have it in my face. Because after that exercise, there were several nonprofits that I came off their board, right, and told them I wouldn't be serving on the board moving forward.

0:22:57 - (Lisa Song Sutton): No hard feelings. It's just I didn't feel like I was adding value, right? That one exercise alone was what got me thinking about, what if we exited the cupcakes? What if we sold it? Because I had never thought of that up until that point, and yet I was so far remd. Both of us were so far removed from the day to day operations. It had been probably years since I had baked consistently. I'd help with events, we'd help with big events, or the big golf tournaments, or the celebrity stuff we would insert ourselves.

0:23:35 - (Lisa Song Sutton): But I was so focused on the real estate brokerage, the shipping stores, like, the other things I was doing that it was just so far removed for me. And the only circle it had was that it made money. I couldn't see myself doing it for another 10 years. I didn't feel like the work I was doing was, like, purposeful at all anymore. And so that was a really clarifying exercise. And I would definitely encourage anyone to sit down, ask yourself those questions of all the things that you have on your plate, and then any new opportunities that come your way, same thing, right? Like, ask yourself one, does it make money? Like, whether that's important or not, right? But, like, does it make money?

0:24:14 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Could you see yourself doing it for the next 10 years? And does the work that you're doing feel impactful? Does it feel purposeful? Or is it just like a fluff thing? Are you adding it to your resume. You re adding it to your LinkedIn, but it's not helpful. Right? You don't feel purposeful. You don't feel like you're adding value. I'd encourage anyone to ask yourself those questions.

0:24:36 - (Tawni Nguyen): Yeah, because I feel like that's a lot of things that new entrepreneurs, when they get into this town and they're excited, they want to do everything and anything with anyone. One, to make money, and two, it's just. It feels so good to, like, go on that chase, because until, you know, you don't really know what you're meant to do, and then you have to, like, start kicking different buckets. But the clarity and, you know, someone said something to me, like, a long time ago when I was, like, having all these hands in different pockets. They're like, you know, if you're everywhere, like, you're nowhere because you're just spread out so thin that you're just gonna hit walls and you're driving and, you know, like, when are you going toa change the tires because you're not taking care of what actually truly matters? So that's something I really want to ask, like, someone that's so active in the community, it's like, how do you choose that thing? And I know we struggle with that too. And a lot of other entrepreneurs listening to this podcast, they're gonna be like, oh, because it's fun to, like, collect accolades and all the fun stuff. Kind of like Mario Kart. Like, you're trying to get all the mushrooms and trying to level up, but, like, at the same time, like, any of this, like, really matters, right? Like, where are you actually going? Like, where are you setting the intention and GPS of where you want to direct your life? And how do you want to help other people? And, like, are you really helping other people, or are you just chasing the next thing, you know?

0:25:46 - (Tawni Nguyen): So, yeah, so that's something that I. I'm really curious about just on myself. And I know Dave and I have struggled with this, and we've had conversations about this where, you know, when we mastermind and hub and all that stuff, it's like, stop chasing new things. It's just like, pick something and then focus on that. And that's everyone else's struggles.

0:26:01 - (Dave Burlin): Well, yeah, even how you and I got connected, you had Mike Kim on your show, and one of the things that I saw early on was, like, one of his first presentations was influence, impact, or income. What's the most important thing? And every one of those will take you in a different path. And it Depends on where you are right now. Like, I've spent seasons where for me, it was. I was not going for influence. It was always going for more impact.

0:26:27 - (Dave Burlin): But a lot of times income was all the way at the back end, and then I would suffer from that. So thank you for sharing all that because you've always been an inspiration. And as you look, even like just last year, right, I joined the team at Vets and Tech. And then it was so great to be outside of this city and we got to, you know, hang out in San Francisco and just like, it was so unique to seeuse. I saw you on at one of the events a long time ago, and I've just followed your stuff ever since.

0:26:56 - (Dave Burlin): But it's been so great to work with you in that space and just to see you keep growing. You said something, though, that I wanted to touch on because you said, I just put that out into the universe earlier in the conversation. How real is all of this stuff, like manifestation? And you post a lot of very inspiring stuff. Where does that come from for you? Where did that. That ignite inside? And where did something just click where you're like, this is the truth. This is where we're going?

0:27:25 - (Lisa Song Sutton): I think just intentionality, right? I do think there's something real and very tangible about that intentionality of pouring your thoughts or your collective kind of wishes into whatever direction or pursuit is. Is important to you. And I think something is simple. I think most entrepreneurs I've met as well are. We're eternal optimists, right? We're always like, oh, my God, that's a great idea that's going to work.

0:27:57 - (Lisa Song Sutton): You have to be that way, though. I think. I think anyone who is successful has some base layer of optimism because you have to believe that something could actually work, even though you don't have the data in front of you right now, right? There's some sort of, like, optimism there that you're like, you're looking for the silver lining. You're looking for, like, what the possibility could be and what you could mold it into or what you could drive it into.

0:28:32 - (Lisa Song Sutton): So I just think that that intentionality and that kind of positive energy is so important. And the second that you don't have that and you feel unmotivated or whatever it is, that's where you feel yourself kind of start to sputter out. And you're like, o you. And everyone has that right. We call it the tropasarrows, where period of time, we're just like, this is terrible. I'm not Doing a good job. Yeah.

0:28:59 - (Lisa Song Sutton): And that's where the mental grit comes in. Right. Like, you have to have the discipline of being like, you know what? This is not great. And I feel very unmotivated. And I'm not excited right now, but this is the time that I have to dig in the most and keep consistent. Like, stay consistent and just see it through. Right? See it through. Because then you always come out on the other side.

0:29:24 - (Dave Burlin): I love that. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing it. Well, with your range of experience, not just from being in the legal field to bootstrapping your first businesses all the way now to being a partner in a venture capital firm, you've seen a lot of challenges and a lot of opportunities in Las Vegas in the time. I feel like so many things have changed since COVID Now as you're seeing all these other markets, especially with your venture capital hat on, but also being somebody who has bootstrapped a successful organization here, I couldn't wait to ask you this question. What do you see as the biggest challenge in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Las Vegas right now?

0:30:10 - (Lisa Song Sutton): I think the biggest challenge maybe is just, you know, I know in the city's done a good job with this, but they're always looking for, like, diversification, right? Like, they're like, oh, we're a hospitality town. Like, we need to diversify. We need tech, we need this, we need all these other things. And that's all true. But what I do tell young entrepreneurs or people just starting out, I'm like, let's get back to the basics.

0:30:32 - (Lisa Song Sutton): It's okay to start a business that's essential, right? Like a pandemic proved that. The mailbox stores, right? So as you know, I own independent mailbox rental, pack and ship stores. These are steady, boring businesses, right? There's nothing sexy about them. There's, you know, it's not venture capital, it's not million dollar housing, it's not celebrity golf tournaments with cupcakes, right? It's mail. It's literally mail and mailboxes and notary.

0:31:06 - (Lisa Song Sutton): You know what I mean? It's FedEx, it's UPS, and it's day to day. And it proved, because I started those stores in 2018, it proved to be pandemic proof. We were open the entire pandemic. And in fact, we had a better 2020 than 2019 because all the shipping, all the, you kind of increase in mailbox customers, all these things. And to this day, like, you know, sharing the sops with other people, you. For them to open up their Own store. It's crazy. Now there's.

0:31:38 - (Lisa Song Sutton): We have almost 40 people who have gone on to open their own independent store like all around the country. And it's just, I love that because one, I'm firm believer we need more small business owners just in America in general. But two, it's okay for your first venture or your tenth venture to be like a steady, stable, hyper, localc small business. Right. It doesn't need to be the next tech unicorn. It doesn't need to be the next mind blowing invention that someone else has not thought of or disrupt disruptor app that no one else has thought of.

0:32:18 - (Lisa Song Sutton): It's okay for it to literally be a mailbox pack and chip store that is part of the community and you'll be able to cash flow it for years to come.

0:32:28 - (Tawni Nguyen): That's like my favorite words. Because the saying business revenue is vanity, profit is sanity, but cash flow is reality. And a lot of these delusions in the entrepreneurship space is like, oh, I make 10 million revenue, 2 million revenue, whatever it may be. But like they're in the reds. They're still like getting lo.

0:32:47 - (Lisa Song Sutton): They're not profitable yet. Yeah.

0:32:49 - (Tawni Nguyen): And like no one talks about the space in between because social media made that type of information a lot more viral than like the things that we're focused on, which is like, how are you gonna pay your bills? What is the business that's gonna put food on your table so that you are, you know, surviving, you know. So I love that take on that. Like it's okay to go back to basic. It's okay to be boring. And it's like there's nothing wrong with traditions that's lasted like trades and anything that the young and the uncool TikTok, you know, culture doesn't want to touch. It's like those are the things that actually is gonna make the money to like keep you to go do the next thing.

0:33:28 - (Tawni Nguyen): So I love to take on that completely.

0:33:30 - (Dave Burlin): Well, yeah, and that, I mean it's, it's, that's got to be the reality, right? I call it the shark tank economy. That's really put this weird kind of jade jaded like vision over what it is. Oh, if your idea is good enough, then, then somebody will write you a check for a million dollars. And that's the game. Like that is not like they don't see behind the curtain. They chop that deal up into a million pieces and it's, it's not good.

0:33:55 - (Dave Burlin): And it's definitely not good for, for the, the community because then everyone's like, oh, it's. You got to work on the pitch. Everything you're working on is the pitch. And then you have all these people that are just working on their deck.

0:34:06 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Yeah. Like, not every company has to raise money.

0:34:09 - (Dave Burlin): Exactly, Exactly. Thank you. Say that again one more time.

0:34:12 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Yeah. Not every company has to raise money. And that's being said as an investor. Right. I love investing into companies's what the fund does, right. That's literally the job of the fund is to invest in great veteran led companies. Not every company has to raise money. It's a lot on founder. It's a lot on your cap table. It's something to consider. Right. And really, money is like jet fuel. So when do you need to be raising money? When you're building something that has to be built so fast, so quickly that you need the iterations because they're costing $600,000 every time you change the prototype. Right?

0:34:48 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Like, that's when you need to be raising money. You don't need to go raise money to open a mailbox store. You can start it yourself. Right? I opened two stores with less than $60,000. Like, you don't need a million dollar check. You don't need five fancy investors in suits. You don't need any of that. Because at the end of the day, if you're getting into entrepreneurship because you want to build something for yourself, you have to remember that if you go out and raise money, you are beholden to your investors, right? At that point. Now you have signed paperwork that makes it clear that you have fiduciary duty to your investors.

0:35:28 - (Lisa Song Sutton): So everything you're doing has to be like, in the best interest of the bottom line of the company. And it's just a different lens. Right. With the cupcakes, for example, we had the luxury of building slow because we bootstrapped. I didn't have investors breathing down my neck of being like, when are you opening? You know, the next location? When are you guys doing this contract? When are you whatever. We got to do it at our pace and at our leisure because we didn't o anyone anything on it.

0:35:54 - (Tawni Nguyen): Mmm. M.

0:35:59 - (Dave Burlin): Preach.

0:35:59 - (Tawni Nguyen): We're so excited about that sentence.

0:36:01 - (Dave Burlin): When's the book come out, by the way? No. So that takes me to one of my favorite questions, which I've been very excited to ask you this as well, because you just have such a well rounded understanding of all of it. And I do believe that you are one of the voices in this community that can change things. Right? You can change the way that people look at what's possible. You can change the way they approach to start businesses. You can change the way they approach growing their business.

0:36:32 - (Dave Burlin): So thank you for everything that you do. If you had a magic wand and you could add one thing to this city, to this community, to the valley, that would change things for the best. What would that be?

0:36:46 - (Lisa Song Sutton): I think just maybe more emphasis on like I know you touched on before, like trade and like these industries that I think kind of get pushed to the side in pursuit of like the shiny sexy unicorn tech, whatever, right? Because even cities are out there talking about how they want to attract tech into their city, right? They want to be a tech for city and all these things. And that's all important. But look, like the plumber, the electrician, the carpenter, these people are out there making money.

0:37:18 - (Lisa Song Sutton): They have a profitable small business.

0:37:20 - (Dave Burlin): They're hiring people.

0:37:21 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Yes, they are job creators. And look, we just went through a Vegas summer, right? Like, I don't know about you guys, but at one of my ship stores actually our AC went out. So like, you are so happy to see the H Vac guy. You know what I mean? Because I don't know how to fix H vac. Know one I know in my phone knows how to fix an H Vac, right? So you're like, this man could be Jesus, you know, I'll pay you anything. Yes. You are so excited to have him, like get him on the phone and then like he has time for you. You're like, I'll meet you at the store whenever.

0:37:55 - (Lisa Song Sutton): These trades, these kinds of things that are so crucial to any really business or home, Right. I think it's so important really for any community to I feel like be able to pour into that. Right? So whether that's advocating for that with kids and kind of young education, like it's okay for you to go to trade school and start an apprenticeship when you're in high school and like get out and then be working and learn a skill, Learn a trade that you will have the rest of your life that you could build into a business or you could just go work for a company that's also O K too. But it's okay. Like not everyone has to go be a sexy tech founder, TikTok influencer, Yeseah. Or build some digital product online.

0:38:45 - (Lisa Song Sutton): It's okay for you to turn wrenches and be a mechanic and crush it.

0:38:50 - (Dave Burlin): A fun fact. And that's. You're absolutely spot on. Most people do not know this. I'm an electrician.

0:38:57 - (Lisa Song Sutton): I didn't know that.

0:38:59 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah, I went to One year in high school, and I never thought I'd do it again. And then later in life, when I was working at a youth academy, I had four days off and people were like, oh my God, you have four days off. But like, I was speing like $12 an hour or something working for the state of Oklahoma, and I was like, oh, I'll do something else on the other four days. I was an electrician for four years and I was right there on the edge where I could easily go back, you know, take my journeyman's test and get the license, because I knew like, one day I might need to do this.

0:39:30 - (Lisa Song Sutton): It. I feel like it's good practical knowledge to have, right? Like, I'm sure the thousands of dollars you've saved yourself of doing whatever work for yourself, you know, like just skills like that, that like, I. I don't have the knowledge, right? And I realize very quickly how bad, like I said, you need that H. Vacat guy and you will pay him whatever it's going to take because you're just like, I have zero.

0:39:51 - (Lisa Song Sutton): I couldn't do this. I couldn't fit me.

0:39:53 - (Tawni Nguyen): I'm dying.

0:39:53 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah, please say us help with that. What advice do you have to anyone that's here that's looking to start? Or maybe they've been discouraged in the past because they just feel like something's up against them or they're just, maybe they're ready to take that leap. And it's also good advice to anyone that's coming to this city that might have an idea or an ambition of Vegas is the place where I'm going to do this. What advice do you have for them?

0:40:25 - (Lisa Song Sutton): So two things. One, especially if they're looking at Vegas or wanting to come here, I would advocate if you aren't set on what product or service you want to delve into, but you just know entrepreneurships on your heart, consider something that would cater to market. We have 50 million tourists that fly through our airport every year, right. Vegas is already doing the marketing for you. Folks are already coming and they're already coming with this mentality to spend even that old campaign of what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Whoever came out was genius because it planted this mental that we're just like, you know what?

0:41:06 - (Lisa Song Sutton): They're not going to buy or do these things at home, but they'll do it here. So one, you know, anything that could cater to a tourist market, I think if there's ever a test bed to try it, it's Vegas. Two, really just anyone and this is wherever you are in the journey. I read this months ago and it just really resonated with me. When you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.

0:41:36 - (Tawni Nguyen): Mmm.

0:41:39 - (Lisa Song Sutton): I'just going toa sit with that because that's real, right? When you are so tired and you are, like, unmotivated and you're just like, maybe I'm doing this wrong or like, I'm not the one or whatever it is. And you're just like, this is not working. Like, you have to take the time to, like, recalibrate because maybe you'll end up seeing it through a different lens. Right. And yet I think it's too easy for us to be like, this didn't work.

0:42:05 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Take it off the table, you know, pivot, whatever it is. And I loved that it was like, just a nice reminder because all of us go through it and it's like, learn, like when you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.

0:42:22 - (Dave Burlin): There it is. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Well, I want to be mindful of your time. How can people connect with you and what's next?

0:42:35 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Yeah, you can find me on social Instagram, all the things lisaongg, Sutton. And as far as what's next, we're getting ready to go into a heavy deployment cycle with the fund. So please, if you know a great veteran led company that's building in the tech space, send them our way. If we can't help them or invest in them, we have tons of resources and our team is really good about just making sure that they have the links for scholarships to Founder Institute, like really anywhere they are in the journey, we're happy to help provide resources for them. If we aren't able to invest into them, and that's the main thing, we'll be really kind of keeping our foot on the gas over the next kind of 18 months deployment cycle.

0:43:23 - (Dave Burlin): I love it. Well, thank you so much for your time. Thanks for being part of this and we cannot wait to have you back because trust me, you're coming back.

0:43:31 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Thank you so much.

0:43:32 - (Tawni Nguyen): I'm saying that on the camera, you.

0:43:34 - (Lisa Song Sutton): Have to be accountable.

0:43:36 - (Tawni Nguyen): Well, guys, thank you so much for joining us today. Please connect with Dave and I on Pursue Vegas or all over our personal Instagram and connect with Lisa directly and let us know how we can be of service to you, whatever you're at in your journey, how we can add value or connect you with somebody else that could help you.

0:43:53 - (Dave Burlin): Don't forget, we don't have to change the world. We just got to change the way the world looks at Las Vegas.

0:43:58 - (Tawni Nguyen): Wow.

0:44:00 - (Dave Burlin): And three, two, one.