Practices Areas
- General Corporate Representation
- Startups / Venture Capital
- Commercial Licensing and other Technology Transactions
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Software as a Service (SAAS)
- Robotics and Machine Learning
John Dugan is a highly experienced corporate attorney with the instincts and practicality of a businessman.
Based in Silicon Valley, he enjoys helping young technology companies structure themselves properly, find the right investors on the right terms, go to market with strong licensing agreements and find liquidity through a company sale or public offering. John’s experience includes:
- General Counsel and VP of Business Operations of Kiva Systems, a multi-robot solution to automating distribution centers purchased by Amazon for $775m. John built and ran the finance, human resources and legal departments as sales scaled from zero to over $95m and learned the importance of structuring complex licensing agreements to achieve strong margins, healthy cash flow and timely revenue recognition. He also learned how to help drive sales and early customer success through pilot agreements with highly defined milestones and customer commitments.
- Corporate / Securities Attorney at Orrick (top 5 technology law firm) and Venture Law Group (corporate boutique on Sand Hill Road). John directly represented over twenty venture capital-backed companies through all stages of growth and outcome as well as several top-tier venture capital firms and investment banks. John is very process oriented and developed comprehensive checklists and drove efficiency as he and his team structured, negotiated and closed numerous company critical transactions including venture capital financings, licensing revenue deals, public offerings and both private and public mergers and acquisitions.
- Member of the Band of Angels and an active angel investor in young technology companies that have demonstrated product-market fit. John has made several angel investments and has learned the importance of upfront and clear negotiations on all matters and how a great company culture is a strong marker of future success.
- Real estate developer who has redeveloped over 160k square feet of distressed urban property into profitable Class-A commercial, mixed-use and self-storage assets. By developing for his own account, John has learned the importance of strong relationships, efficient execution, attention to detail and healthy cash flow.
Earlier in his career, John led artillery units as a Captain in the U.S. Army and worked as an operations manager at Stryker Endoscopy, a medical device company. John holds a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a J.D. from Stanford Law School. He is admitted to practice law in California.
John is also a lucky husband and proud father of three. When not working he enjoys landscape photography, running, skiing and the occasional game of poker. John has also coached youth football and was elected in 2020 to the San Carlos City Council.
