General Counsel, Fund Manager and Partner
Binary Venture Partners
مجموع سنوات الخبرة :16 years, 5 أشهر
Provide a full range of venture capital, legal, business development and technology development and commercialization services to start-ups in South Africa and the Silicon Valley, USA. BVP founded by ex-Google emplyees. Identify and guide global and local start-ups with commercialization potential. Act as strategic business adviser and general counsel to VC portfolio companies, including cloud-based e-commerce and electronic payment entities. Currently, over $50 million invested in a range of technology ventures. Successfully built bridge to the Valley for numerous African start-ups. Informed several developing company’s short and long-term business strategies, including target market identification, market entry strategy, revenue models and exit strategy. Built IP portfolios. Provide guidance on IP protection issues, trademarks, copyrights, business strategy and partnering, including cooperation and alliance-type transactions. Set up, negotiated and drafted software licenses and other IP agreements.
Also guide start-up CEO’s and advise on corporate formation and structure; on intellectual property matters, including licensing (in/out) and other IP agreements; and also on advertising, privacy, sales, distribution and other business contracts. Draft standard corporate rules and procedures that are compliant with Federal, State and country or market specific regulations to minimize company liability and govern corporate behavior. Provide legal assessments on business risks, in plain English, to enable entrepreneurs to make informed decisions and understand potential consequences of decisions. Raise venture capital from network and intermediate sources. Negotiate with third party financiers and investors on funding and finance arrangements. Structure financing deals and manage due diligence and other processes to maintain good relations between parties.
Special focus on intellectual property protection and building IP plans to protect, leverage and monetize IP, including software licenses, trade secrets and patents. Handle some tax and compliance matters, FCPA education and related compliance issues.
Oversight over revenue models and the development, negotiation and closing of joint-venture, alliance and partnership deals, as well as defining and implementing privacy, marketing and compliance standards.
Conduct outreach and training on various regulatory and compliance requirements to portfolio companies and employees, especially cross-border business development and sales teams.
Currently guiding non-profit medical technology initiative TOMPSA to protect IP and monetize Triage application and Platform.
Advise Ministries (Communications, Trade and Industry, Science &Technology, Health) on ICT policy, laws and best practices.
Advise regulator ICASA and parastatal entities (government owned utility and transport entities) on a range of ICT related policy and legal issues and their ramifications in South Africa and internationally.
Provide written input and attend policy discussions to influence ICT policies, with a view to avoiding technological bets, unless the risk to do so is calculated and understood.
Currently working with DS&T, DTI and VC incubators in South Africa to bridge tech companies to Silicon Valley and NY funders for US-market entry.
Create and provide tailored education modules to executives and senior teams on sector specific policies to influence decision-makers-especially with regard to adopting international standards and accepted corporate governance and accounting standards.
Manage outside counsel in various countries for clients.
Represent various entities at technology, business and sectoral conferences to discover local trends while influencing thinking and approaches to IT and intellectual property-related issues.
Member of the Platform (OS) group’s strategic unit, which accounted for over 90% of company revenues
•Handled sensitive outreach, relationship building, business development, licensing (in-out), agreement structuring and compliance matters with numerous small and medium enterprises
•Outreach integral to anti-trust settlement between company and plaintiffs in Federal and State courts
•Worked on strategic initiatives with cross-functional business development teams evaluating acquisition of early-stage companies, licensing of technology or decisions to develop products internally.
Responsible for general corporate transactional work, with prime responsibility for IP protection issues
•Negotiate and drafting software licenses, including end-user license agreements
•Tasked with licensing-in of technology and administration of company's technology partnership programs
•Advise executives and contracts negotiators on legal and intellectual property issues arising in the licensing out/sales of company's software.
•Lead attorney on business development team tasked with negotiating and closing strategic partnership, alliances, joint-venture and small M&A deals.
•Responsible for corporation’s SEC compliance, including periodic securities filings such as the 10K, 10Q and proxy statement and providing guidance on securities issues as they arise.
•Provide guidance on employment matters and legal risks.
•Managed outside counsel as required.
Responsible for analysis, determination and disposition of complex mergers and acquisitions involving domestic and foreign companies. Drafted merger guidelines to direct attorneys and practitioners on implementation and interpretation of merger law, based on USDOJ guidelines. Conducted detailed analysis of proposed mergers and prepared cases against anti-competitive transactions. Argued the first merger case ever before the Competition Tribunal. Provided training in due diligence and M&A to junior lawyers and economists. Drafted policy papers to assist Parliament with improvement of the Competition Act. Led cross-functional legal, business and economic teams to analyze and prevent anti-competitive mergers
Involved in a variety of commodities brokering projects from procurement to sales and match-making.
Worked on a variety of business litigation matters and transactions, including anti-trust and complex contract issues. Drafted memos, pleadings, discovery and other motions. Took depositions.
Firm engaged primarily in family law and business litigation.
Advocated on behalf of poor, homeless and low-income families.
Defended motions to dismiss charges or suppress evidence.
Tutored disabled students in legal research, writing and oral advocacy.
Academic Assistance Program.
Tutored first-year students in Contract Law. Moot Court Tutor. Taught basic legal research and writing skills, legal analysis and oral argument to first-year students. Provided academic support and instruction in written and oral advocacy. Judged Moot Court Competition.
Wrote for several newspapers and was Managing Editor of the Spartan Daily. Also interned at the Palo Alto Weekly and was appointed Editor-in-Chief of La Voz Weekly. Garnered numerous writing and editing honors, ranging from the Gordon Grebb Award for best persuasive and editorial writing to a merit award for Newspaper Editing.
Political Science, Pre-Law. Gordon Grebb Award for Research and Writing OECD Competition & Regulation Masters Course
One-year). Kaufman Fellow
courses: Admitted to the California Bar, July 1995 (Bar No: 181856)
Diploma in Chinese Law and Chinese legal systems, with concentration on Chinese commercial law.