Heli Rodriguez Prilliman is an entrepreneur, investor, writer, and experience designer with over 10 years of experience in the Silicon Valley startup scene. 

 

Heli is the founder and CEO of Lacquerbar U, an ed-tech beauty startup venture-backed by Backstage Capital, Precursor Ventures, Pipeline Angels and Founder Gym. Out of +1900 applicants, Lacquerbar U was one of the first 24 startups selected to participate in the inaugural Backstage Capital Accelerator led by Arlan Hamilton. She is also a founding team member at Fivestars (YC 2010), which Y Combinator listed as one of their Top 100 YC Startups. As their 11th (and first female!) team member, she helped scale Fivestars from 25 clients and ~15,000 users to +20,000 clients and +50M users across the US and Canada. Heli is the daughter of a previously undocumented Mexican immigrant business owner, the granddaughter of Pauline Valenciano, a Fort Worth civil rights activist, and a graduate of Texas A&M University. 

 

While taking advantage of remote working, Heli, her husband John, and her 1-year-old baby Ashby are bi-coastal! Based in the Northern California Bay Area and Fort Worth, Texas, Heli loves mentoring young entrepreneurs, brunching with friends, snowboarding, and scrolling on Reddit into the wee hours of the night. 

 

Featured in Girlboss, Beauty Independent, Fast Company, Nail Pro Magazine, Domino, BobCut Mag  //  Follow Heli on Twitter & Instagram