Stephen Candelmo has over 28 years of experience representing private and public companies in all stages of growth as a corporate attorney, advisor, entrepreneur, board member and investor. Stephen has over $3 billion in transactional experience representing companies in all phases of growth, including IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, private equity, venture capital and traditional debt transactions.

He is named as an inventor on two patents and was a co-founder of both Fedbid and Synapsify, two venture backed software firms. As a result, he is well versed in the business, financial, and legal issues facing emerging companies and their investors. Stephen has served and currently serves as outside general counsel for a number of private technology companies and serves as outside general counsel for Azafran Capital Partners, a venture fund focusing on deep technology innovation. Stephen is often a guest speaker at technology industry events. Mr. Candelmo is the author of several published articles on a wide variety of legal and business issues facing technology companies, including licensing and development, venture capital fundraising and software company exits. Stephen is a graduate of the University of Maryland (College Park), University of Akron School of Law and Georgetown University Law Center.

He is currently (i) the Founder of Paralex AI, an AI powered software application that helps startup founders and small business owners with their legal informational needs, and (ii) the author of “The Knowing Road,” a newsletter that is focused on self discovery and improvement.