Rachel Lee

Post-pitch story

Ramya Possett and Rachel Lee pitched BlueFoot with a number that made the investors flinch: a $30 million valuation for an AI-powered competitive intelligence platform that correlates patent, financial and market data for big companies. They left without a deal. They kept building anyway. BlueFoot, based in McLean, Virginia, has carved out a niche helping large companies understand what their competitors are doing by reading the signals hidden in patent filings and financial data — a quieter kind of intelligence work than the consumer apps the show usually sees. Both founders are still at the helm as co-founders, and in 2025 they were named winners of the AI & Cyber Leadership Awards by DCA Live, a nod from the Washington-area tech community. BlueFoot doesn't make splashy headlines, and its funding details outside the show aren't public, but nearly a decade after the pitch it's still operating with its original founders in charge. Not every win on this site comes with an acquisition headline — sometimes the story is two founders who believed their valuation, ignored the skepticism, and kept going.