General Counsel

Business-Aligned Legal Execution

I help investors, founders, and emerging companies structure, close financings, navigate governance, and execute M&A from formation to exit without unnecessary friction or cost.

Billions
Capital Invested
1,000s
Transactions Led
100s
Clients Helped
The Problem

Your legal counsel should be a strategic asset and add value.

Most people have experienced it: legal process that slows progress, adds cost, and doesn't connect to business outcomes. Fragmented counsel across business stages and operations means lost context, repeated ramp-ups, and governance gaps that surface at the worst possible moment.

It doesn't have to work that way.

Deals stall from legal friction

Time is a deal's worst enemy. Slow document turns, over-lawyered provisions, and process-heavy counsel kill momentum.

New counsel at every stage

Different lawyers for formation, Series A, governance, and M&A means repeating your story and losing accumulated context.

Governance gaps surface in diligence

Bad corporate hygiene can be the deal-killer you didn't see coming — and it always surfaces at the worst moment.

How I Work

Practical clarity. Efficient execution. From formation to exit.

One trusted voice across your full business lifecycle — with accumulated context that compounds over time.

01

Understand Your Business First

Before touching a document, I understand your objectives, stakeholders, timeline, and risk tolerance. Legal strategy follows business strategy not the other way around.

02

Anticipate Before Problems Surface

Good governance isn't reactive compliance, it's preventing deal-killers before they materialize. I help you build the right structures from day one so diligence is a formality, not a fire drill.

03

Execute with Precision and Speed

Clean closes. Fast document turns. Cross-disciplinary coordination. Collaborative execution that keeps your deal on timeline and your relationships intact.

Practice Focus

Deep specialization in the innovation economy.

Not generic corporate law. Fluency in the venture ecosystem, deal mechanics, and the specific challenges that companies, founders, investors, boards, and stockholders face at every stage.

Venture & Private Capital

Lead transactions from term sheet through close — equity rounds, SAFEs, convertible notes, preferred financings, minority investments, and strategic financings. Counsel to investors across the spectrum.

Series Seed–Late Growth SAFEs & Notes Preferred Stock Venture Debt

Mergers & Acquisitions

Execute M&A and strategic combinations for buyers and targets, including cross-border and multi-stakeholder transactions. From LOI through post-close integration.

Buy-Side & Sell-Side Cross-Border Strategic Combinations

Governance & Board Advisory

Counsel boards and management teams on decision-making, risk calibration, fiduciary duties, protective provisions, and information rights. Prevention-oriented governance that protects your exit path.

Board Process Fiduciary Duties Protective Provisions

Company Formation & Operations

Structuring, formation, onboarding, and commercial contracting. Build the right legal and operational foundations from day one so you scale without rework.

Entity Structuring Commercial Contracts Cap Table IP/Employment
Selected Experience

Pattern recognition from hundreds of closings.

Representative transactions across the venture lifecycle. Each one built accumulated context that informs the next.

$1B–$2B+
Strategic Investments
Multi-billion dollar strategic investments by venture capital, corporate venture capital, family offices, sovereign wealth funds, and institutional investors into category-defining technology platforms.
Investor Counsel
$100M–$250M
Series A & G+
Late-stage venture rounds for high-growth AI, enterprise software, and e-commerce companies at scale.
Lead Investor Counsel
$50M–$150M
Growth Equity & M&A
Growth-stage financings and strategic acquisitions in biotech, fintech, and developer tools. Buy-side and sell-side representation.
Company & Investor Counsel
$10M–$50M
Series A & B
Mid-stage venture rounds led by institutional VCs and corporate investors in cybersecurity, defense tech, healthcare, and deep tech.
Company & Investor Counsel
$1M–$10M
Seed & Series Seed
Early-stage equity rounds, SAFEs, and convertible notes from VC funds, corporate venture capital, and angel syndicates across tech, AI, and industrial innovation.
Company Counsel
$100K–$1M
Pre-Seed & Angel
Formation-stage companies raising initial capital via SAFEs and convertible notes from angels, accelerators, and micro-funds. Structuring, formation, and cap table setup.
Company Counsel

Investor types I've worked with include: venture capital funds, corporate venture capital, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, private equity, angel investors, and institutional investors across AI, biotech, fintech, cybersecurity, and healthcare.

Discuss Your Transaction
Time is a deal's worst enemy. Your lawyer should provide value to your business, not hinder it.
Brian Slough
BPS
About Brian

General Counsel for Investors & Emerging Companies

I help investors, founders, and innovative companies structure, close financings, navigate governance, operate, and execute M&A without unnecessary legal costs and obstacles.

My work includes navigating and executing legal decisions in key business areas, including: structuring, formation, onboarding, and separations/exit; raising and investing capital from pre-seed to late growth, including economic, minority, strategic investments, and recaps; company, stockholder, board, and other stakeholder governance; portfolio company matters and company operations; and M&A transactions for buyers and sellers.

Clients engage me when they need a lawyer who can quickly understand business objectives, develop clear practical strategies, and drive execution efficiently while strengthening relationships.

I serve as general counsel and deal counsel to innovative companies, founders, angels, venture capital, corporate investors, PE, family offices, and strategic investors. I advise clients from industries including technology, software, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cybersecurity, fintech, retail, finance, and healthcare.

🎓

Syracuse University College of Law

Juris Doctor
📈

BS, Accounting

University of Delaware

Bar Admissions

New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey
📍

Based in Philadelphia & New York

Global service
Insights & Thought Leadership

Practical guidance for the innovation economy.

Actionable insights on venture capital, governance, and M&A — not academic abstractions.

M&A

Preparation Is Key When Selling a Business: What to Know

Thoroughly preparing a business for sale establishes a strong foundation for negotiations, reflects well on the company, and streamlines due diligence for potential buyers.

Family Offices & Capital Deployment

Deploying Capital for Family Offices: Current Outlook

Family offices are navigating a dynamic investment landscape in 2025 — from diversification across alternative asset classes to evolving regulatory, tax, and cybersecurity considerations.

AI & Venture Capital

AI Deals in 2025: Key Trends in M&A, Private Equity, and Venture Capital

AI now commands more than 50% of global VC funding. How the deal landscape is shifting from foundational models toward enterprise adoption — and what it means for deal structuring.

Get in Touch

Let's talk about your next transaction.

If you are getting started, financing your company or investing, navigating decisions, entering into a key legal relationship, or considering an acquisition or sale, I'm available for an initial conversation to understand your situation and identify how I can help.

Start a Conversation

Tell me about your situation. No commitment, no billable clock.

This is an initial inquiry, not an engagement. Attorney-client relationship requires formal agreement.