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Gunderson Dettmer<\/a>\u00a0is the law firm a good\u00a0majority of tech startups turn to in the Valley for fundings, mergers, licensing and other deals\u00a0and it\u2019s been in the business of offering tech companies\u00a0everyday legal advice to everyone from Oracle to DoorDash since the dot-com boom. It was ranked the \u201cmost active law firm globally\u201d in\u00a0PitchBook\u2019s\u00a0recently-released first quarter 2017 Global Venture Capital League Tables<\/a> and closed more than 1,200 VC financing deals last year \u2014 so what advice does it have for Richard Hendrick\u2019s character in HBO\u2019s Silicon Valley right now?<\/p>\n I don\u2019t want to give away any spoilers for those who haven\u2019t watched the latest episode but I did sit down with Gunderson partner Ivan Gavira<\/a> to get his take on the Pied Piper saga, his craziest deal and why Silicon Valley continues to turn to him for tech legalese.<\/p>\n IG: The way we look at the world is startups are about money, people and ideas and we do all of those things. The whole firm was built from the ground up with the sole goal of being the employer of choice for high-growth, venture-backed technology companies.<\/p>\n SB: At\u00a0what stage do you get involved? You have some pretty high-profile companies you work with.<\/em><\/p>\n IG: That\u2019s what you see in the news. You see the DoorDashes, the Palantirs, the Warby Parkers and what not because they have name recognition. But we actually start with companies at the very beginning. We spend a lot of time and energy working with brand new startups, incorporating them, helping them with their seed financing, their first rounds and so forth. It\u2019s quite common we often meet with entrepreneurs sometimes before they\u2019ve even decided to form\u00a0a company.<\/p>\n SB: What\u2019s been your most thrilling deal?<\/em><\/p>\n IG: So I work with DoorDash and the way I met them was\u00a0because I was volunteering for an investor friend who teaches a startup class at Stanford and at the end of his class there was a little panel discussion and several\u00a0students in the class were the original founders of DoorDash. That\u2019s how I met them!<\/p>\n SB: You see all these deals. Have you ever wanted to create your own startup?<\/em><\/p>\n IG: (laughs) That\u2019s the fun thing about Gunderson. This place is a startup, too.<\/p>\n SB: Hmmm\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n IG: But I have to tell you I have so much respect and admiration for startup founders. I guess I\u2019m just not that bold. Everyone talks about the one\u2019s that succeed but when you\u2019re a startup lawyer you know that for every one of those there\u2019s 10 or 15 that didn\u2019t make it where people really gave their blood and their sweat and money.<\/p>\n SB: Do you ever see a startup idea and just\u00a0cringe? Like a really terrible idea?<\/em><\/p>\n IG: Yes!<\/p>\n SB: Do you ever want to tell them to just not waste their time and money?<\/em><\/p>\n IG: Maybe it\u2019s to my detriment but I\u2019m okay with telling them that.<\/p>\n SB: Okay. I\u2019ll be honest I didn\u2019t think Twitter would be a thing and now here we are.<\/em><\/p>\n IG: That\u2019s why I\u2019m not a VC.<\/p>\n SB: What happens when someone like me or someone on my team breaks a story and<\/em> its a deal you are working on? What happens inside Gunderson Dettmer?<\/em><\/p>\n IG: There\u2019s often a call that comes from someone in\u00a0the company and they\u2019re trying to figure out how did [the deal details] get out. And the market has become so sophisticated so often when we get the call we\u2019ll say \u2018hey, it\u2019s because we filed something.\u2019 But a lot of firms have become a lot more thoughtful and careful about that sort of thing. But sometimes it\u2019s hard to break the reality to people which is\u00a0folks in this town love to chat.<\/p>\n SB: \u00a0Yes, they do \ud83d\ude42<\/em><\/p>\n IG: I\u2019m blown away sometimes at the accuracy of the reports, whether it\u2019s TechCrunch or some of the other sources. It\u2019s like how did they know that? We just filed that last night!<\/p>\n SB: Do you\u00a0watch HBO\u2019s Silicon Valley?<\/em><\/p>\n IG: I do! I love that show. You know what\u2019s crazy about that show, and I\u2019m sure you know this as a TechCrunch reporter but there\u2019s no doubt in my mind a significant number of the story lines are lifted from actual events that have happened in Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n SB: I wouldn\u2019t be surprised. So, what advice do you have for Pied Piper founder Richard Hendricks right now?<\/em><\/p>\n (Caution, if you\u2019re not caught up on this season, there is a slight spoiler ahead so don\u2019t read if you don\u2019t want to know anything about this season\u00a0yet).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n IG: I haven\u2019t caught up on the latest episode but the last time I was caught up he was leaving to start his new internet thing but he hadn\u2019t actually done it.<\/p>\n SB: Ya, you\u2019re pretty much there.<\/em><\/p>\n IG: Well, if I were advising him the cool thing is he\u2019s been through the ringer and now he\u2019s not a first-time entrepreneur anymore so it\u2019s like \u2018hey if there\u2019s any way you can finance this thing and hold off on raising money for a longer period of time.\u2019 And I\u2019m sure VC\u2019s don\u2019t like to hear that but the longer you can stay independent the more leverage you have.<\/p>\n SB: Well thanks for talking with me and offering your advice. By the way, if you feel like sending me any deals that just happened or that you know are going to happen, feel free. I\u2019m on Signal.<\/em><\/p>\n IG: Uhhh, not one of our clients\u2026but I\u2019ll keep that in mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/05\/section_homepage_bg_2.jpg?w=680\")
Gunderson Dettmer is the law firm a good majority of tech startups turn to in the Valley for fundings, mergers, licensing and other deals and it’s been in the business of offering tech companies everyday legal advice to everyone from Oracle to DoorDash since the dot-com boom. It was ranked the “most active law firm globally”… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
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