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This content is sponsored by Shulman Rogers.

Before Vennard Wright launched his own company, he was well into a successful technology career that spanned both public and private sector organizations.

When Wave Welcome opened for business in 2020 鈥� to offer a unique blend of business process reengineering, technology and digital career pipeline support 鈥� Wright felt confident that he had the business and technology acumen and experience he鈥檇 need from the get-go.

Almost three years in, with growing and expanding, Wright still feels that confidence but has also gained perspective on his own knowledge gaps.

鈥淢ost small business owners, and I鈥檓 certainly no exception, wear probably a dozen hats. We鈥檙e doing HR. We鈥檙e doing contracts, finance and administration. And I do have experience in a lot of those areas,鈥� the Wave Welcome CEO said. 鈥淏ut legal is something I don鈥檛 have a lot of experience in, so I knew that that was a gap for me.鈥�

Tapping into legal expertise

At the beginning of 2023, Wright filled that gap when he received a year of legal services from Shulman Rogers. He applied for the program at the end of last year after the law firm announced plans to provide free legal support to a local Black-owned business.

Wright had known about Shulman Rogers from acquaintances and also had heard a lot about its startup practice, NEXT.

鈥淚 was very intrigued by working with Shulman Rogers,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 saw this opportunity and was very excited about it 鈥� and just thrilled to be the company that was selected.鈥�

Wright said that the partnership has already proved instrumental in helping him plot out what he called an aggressive growth strategy for the months ahead.

鈥淢y company has developed a product that we鈥檙e raising capital for right now. That is certainly an area where I don鈥檛 have any experience,鈥� he said, adding that the relationship with Shulman Rogers 鈥渋s paying dividends immediately because there were things they noticed I should be doing differently.鈥�

He also expects that Wave Welcome will benefit from advice as it leases new offices in the coming year and in human resources as it grows its employee base.

鈥淵ou should have certain things in place, like an employee handbook, policies and procedures, cyber risk insurance,鈥� Wright said. 鈥淏ut if you don鈥檛, if you鈥檙e not aware that those things exist or that you need them, you feel like you can skate by for longer than you should.鈥�

Sharing what he learns

Wright also thinks that working with Shulman Rogers will provide him insights and perspective that he can share with other businesses and organizations that he interacts with as chairman of the Prince George鈥檚 County Tech Council.

Wave Welcome has its headquarters in the county, in Oxon Hill. Wright is on a mission to help make Prince George鈥檚 the wealthiest minority county in the country by 2030. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a designation we had enjoyed for decades until Charles County overtook us as of the last Decennial Census,鈥� he said.

He sees the challenges close up for Black-owned businesses like his own in the county. 鈥淗istorically, black businesses start with less capital than other firms. That leads to trying to pursue outside funding. But as you go out to get outside capital, that creates additional complexities that we just simply don鈥檛 have the knowledge to address. So that鈥檚 one,鈥� he said.

Another challenge? Access to large successful businesses that can serve as mentors and offer advice on scaling a company. 鈥淚n Prince George鈥檚 County, there aren鈥檛 many companies that are above $100 million in revenue,鈥� Wright said. 鈥淏ut you look at neighboring counties, there鈥檚 no shortage of companies that are above $100 million. If you鈥檙e a company who鈥檚 looking to get to $100 million, you don鈥檛 have access to people who can really talk you through that process.鈥�

Helping expand the types of businesses that make their home in the county is one of the reasons his company has made building a digital career pipeline a business line in addition to technology services.

鈥淲e want to make sure there鈥檚 more diversity in the career pipeline. In my earlier jobs, I saw that there wasn鈥檛 a lot of diversity at the top levels. I wanted to make sure I addressed that by working very closely with colleges and universities and other groups to really cultivate greater diversity in that pipeline,鈥� Wright said. He added that diversity does not just focus on race but also gender, age, neurodiversity and many other things.