Dan Wadkins is a Business and Intellectual Property Attorney at Lee & Hayes, PLLC. In his “day job”, Dan advises a wide variety of businesses, from startups to well-established companies, in the areas of corporate, securities and financing, mergers and acquisitions, trademark and brand protection, intellectual property protection and commercialization, wine and alcohol beverage law, and commercial transactions.
But, as Dan says “the most fun thing I get to do is work with startups.” He finds the passion of the entrepreneurs he works with contagious, and his passion for working with and supporting entrepreneurs and the startup community in the region mirrors theirs. Dan is an avid supporter of the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem and can be found at supporting or participating in numerous events and programs including Startup Weekend Spokane, the Northwest Entrepreneur Competition and the WSU Business Plan Competition where he serves as a mentor, judge and resource night educator.
Dan is passionate about entrepreneurial education and can be seen many-a-night during the school year in various campus classrooms guest lecturing in entrepreneurship classes including SCC’s Business Model Canvas Workshop, Whitworth’s Entrepreneurship class, Gonzaga University and Ignite Northwest. Dan is also on the Advisory Board for Gonzaga’s New Venture Lab.
Dan says the main reason he stayed in Spokane after graduating law school was “how much opportunity and possibility I saw gathering inertia in our area; with Startup Spokane and Startup Weekend and everyone coming together I see nothing but opportunity for Spokane to care out our own entrepreneurship niche.”
