Corner office podcast: Kirupa Pushparaj, general counsel at Step

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Corner office podcast: Kirupa Pushparaj, general counsel at Step

kirupa-podcast-art.jpg

Kirupa Pushparaj talks about his move to a fintech start-up focused on young-person financial independence, career progression and start-up IP needs

Kirupa Pushparaj made the leap to general counsel last August, having previously worked as deputy general counsel and intellectual property lead at the Jack Dorsey-owned fintech firm Square in San Francisco.

In Managing IP’s latest Corner Office Podcast, the now Palo Alto-based general counsel and corporate secretary for Step – a fintech start-up focused on developing tools to help young people attain financial independence – says the move turned out to be an interesting career shift.

“In a more IP-focused role, you are the subject matter expert and point of contact for anything on that specific topic. But in a general counsel role, you’re obviously taking on many more legal functions.

“You have to go in with humility, knowing there are a lot of topics you’ll be new to. Anyone who thinks they’re an expert in every legal topic there is either lying to themselves or is a superhero.”

Pushparaj adds that the best advice he could give to IP counsel looking to set themselves up for a similar move is to make it known that that’s what they want to do.

“No one is going to find you any less of an amazing IP counsel because you’ve expressed an interest in wanting to do more. Talk to whoever you work with and allocate some time to take on new things.

“You want to take on privacy or tech transactions? Do that, while making sure you’re still dedicating most of your time to your current role.”

Moving on to the subject of start-up IP needs, Pushparaj points out that Step is very much in the start-up stage and much smaller than Square, employing around 130 people. As general counsel he is much more involved with product design and IP.

“IP protection is commensurate to and parallel to the design of the product in a start-up like ours,” he says.

He adds that start-up counsel have to be very tied into their organisations to make sure they’re validly protecting IP.

Here’s the podcast:


 

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Exclusive data and analysis reveal why clients feel external legal teams aren’t providing business-centric advice
The head of the soft IP team at engineering group Sandvik, winner of the in-house team of the year award, reveals why a flurry of M&A activity led to a busy 2024
Lawyers at Herbert Smith Freehills outline what rights owners should be doing ahead of sweeping changes to EU design law
Deals between five more law firms and President Trump and an antitrust lawsuit against Amgen were also among the top talking points this week
US counsel explain how they win new cleantech IP business and how they’re navigating the industry’s challenges
Leaders at the IP firms, which have joined forces with backing from a PE investor, share their vision of building the number one pan-European IP practice
Firms will steer clients towards other ways of getting quicker examinations, but fear the ramifications of the USPTO’s decision
Melissa Haapala added that returning to client advocacy and the chance to work on patent litigation were reasons for returning to private practice
Michelle Clark, who has a generalist litigation background, plans to focus on IP disputes at Alston & Bird
Philips and Vivo have entered into a licensing agreement, putting an end to a five-year-old telecom SEP dispute in India
Gift this article