In 2014, Chris Handman became the 55th employee at the burgeoning startup Snapchat. When he left his practice at Hogan Lovells to create the legal department of the social media company, he said half of his colleagues never heard of Snapchat and the other half thought it was a bad idea.

Their words did not deter him. Handman, who is now the co-founder and chief operating officer of Los Angeles-based TerraTrue, said he wanted a new challenge that law firm life had not presented him.