General Counsel for Venture Capital

Our small but mighty firm is looking for our first General Counsel to join our team. The role can be remote within San Francisco Bay Area with travel as necessary.

You should come to us with extensive experience providing strategic legal counsel and operational guidance at high-growth technology companies or investment firms. This role is designed for a GC who understands the full arc of company growth and wants to apply that expertise to support firm operations and a portfolio of deep tech companies investing in the built environment which usually means hardware investments. Hardware is hard, and hardware is capital intensive so someone who comes from purely a software company background would likely not be the best fit.

The position encompasses two core responsibilities: (1) serving as a value-creation resource for portfolio companies as they scale and commercialize, including strategic guidance to pivot or restructure when market or operational challenges arise and (2) managing legal matters for fund operations and investments, including developing strategic governance frameworks that protect both investor rights and portfolio company flexibility. The GC will be expected to know when to address an issue directly and when to bring in specialized outside counsel, with a focus on practical judgment, speed, and value creation.

What you'll own – the details

• The GC will deliver high-impact legal support across the portfolio, cultivating relationships with specialized outside counsel, regulatory experts, and service providers to maximize value for portfolio companies. The role requires spotting issues across multiple legal domains and either addressing them directly or engaging specialists, managing multiple companies simultaneously while prioritizing effectively and anticipating issues to drive solutions in resource-constrained, fast-paced environments.

Understanding portfolio company context

• Review governing documents, understanding the balance of power among founders, investors, and board members.
• Prioritize, scale, and tailor legal support to company’s maturity level, resource constraints, and financial viability as set against other portfolio companies.

Strategic commercial counsel

• Design template agreements and negotiation tactics for initial commercial relationships—OEM partnerships, pilot-to-production pathways, supply agreements, offtake arrangements—creating repeatable frameworks and decision trees to elevate key issues.
• Create playbooks for government contracts and incentive programs (IRA tax credits) with compliance checklists and standard approaches to maximize benefits.
• Provide strategic "quarterback" support on high-stakes negotiations and complex commercial deals, coordinating with company counsel and specialists as needed.

Regulatory compliance

• Educate companies and develop compliance roadmaps across sector-specific regulations, environmental permitting, and cross-border expansion.
• Support portfolio companies in identifying and engaging specialized regulatory counsel for complex compliance matters.

Manufacturing scale-up & operations

• Help develop playbooks for facility development (lease negotiations, permitting, zoning), helping companies avoid commitments that create unnecessary long-term costs and liabilities.
• Create templates and best practices for supply chain agreements with critical suppliers, particularly for commodities subject to price volatility or tariff exposure.
• Support implementation of quality management systems, workplace safety programs (OSHA), and product liability risk mitigation strategies.
• Provide strategic counsel during financial crises, helping companies and boards develop and evaluate value-preserving options, including restructuring or spinouts of business units, IP monetization, and pursuing Chapter 11 or ABC strategies.
• Guide companies through product recalls, safety incidents, environmental releases, and regulatory investigations.
• Support internal investigations, whistleblower complaints, and governance breakdowns.

II. Investment support

Portfolio company financings

• Develop investment and governance playbooks that balance portfolio company operational flexibility with investor protection and governance rights.
• Design defensive mechanisms in investment documentation to protect portfolio companies and aligned investors from aggressive or misaligned co-investors whose actions could harm company prospects.
• Review and analyze term sheets, investment purchase agreements, investor rights agreements, and voting agreements, coordinating with outside counsel on complex securities structuring.
• Support due diligence for investments across deep tech sectors, assessing IP, regulatory, commercial, and governance risks.
• Create standardized approaches to common investment issues while maintaining flexibility for unique situations.
• Provide ongoing counsel to portfolio company boards where firm team members serve as directors or observers.
• Monitor portfolio companies' significant corporate actions including subsequent fundraising, M&A discussions, and material commercial agreements.
• Support follow-on financing rounds and exit planning including M&A transactions and IPO preparation.
• Navigate conflicts of interest, co-investor dynamics, and complex stakeholder alignment issues.

What we're looking for

• JD from an accredited law school and active membership in good standing in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
• 12+ years of relevant legal experience, including meaningful in-house leadership experience as a General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel, senior in-house counsel, or equivalent senior legal advisor.
• Experience supporting high-growth technology, industrial or manufacturing companies, investment firms, or other complex operating environments.
• Strong experience with venture financing, corporate governance, commercial contracting, and managing sophisticated outside counsel.
• Comfort advising founders, executive teams, boards, and investors on high stakes matters with incomplete information and competing priorities.
• Deep tech, manufacturing, regulatory, restructuring, or other relevant sector experience is strongly preferred, but breadth of judgment and operating experience matter more than expertise in every area.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, strong commercial judgment, and the ability to operate effectively in resource-constrained, fast-moving environments.