Marc H. Morgenstern
Marc’s an entrepreneur and mentor capitalist for innovative early stage companies. During an eclectic career (technology, venture, retail, real estate, and law) he Founded/Co-Founded companies as well as venture funds. He’s the Mentor-at-Large for UC Berkeley’s $100MM seed venture fund and taught “Street Smart Startups” at Berkeley’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.
< ...- Books
- The Soul of the Deal
Marc's episode appearances
Episode 216: “What The Grateful Dead and Successful Dealmakers Have in Common” with Marc Morgenstern
Backstage with Bill Walton In this episode I compare notes and share stories with veteran dealmaker and entrepreneur Marc Morgenstern. In today’s polarized world, where people seem intent on not agreeing, Marc has had a long and successful career helping opposing sides come to agreement. He’s completed billions of dollars of M&A transactions, buying, selling, and financing businesses as a managing partner of law firm Kahn Kleiman and as a venture capitalist. Marc’s new book The Soul of the Deal: Creative Frameworks for Buying, Selling, and Investing in Any Business creatively reframes and radically changes how we can approach dealmaking of any type. Marc is a brilliant synthesist who weaves in, for example, what he’s learned as a successful door-to-door encyclopedia salesman, as a leader of several rock bands in college (Yale) and as a lifelong fan of The Grateful Dead. He’s come to believe – and I think this is right – that much of the conflict in dealmaking comes from seeing the other side as an opponent. They’d do better to listen like musicians rather than as lawyers. […]
about Marc
Marc’s an entrepreneur and mentor capitalist for innovative early stage companies. During an eclectic career (technology, venture, retail, real estate, and law) he Founded/Co-Founded companies as well as venture funds. He’s the Mentor-at-Large for UC Berkeley’s $100MM seed venture fund and taught “Street Smart Startups” at Berkeley’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.
In addition to being the first outside investor in LA-based Divergent 3D (software solution revolutionizing automotive manufacturing), Marc served as their EVP for three years and then as Senior Strategic Advisor. He was a founding investor and Senior Advisor to San Francisco’s LoungeBuddy (travel app; sold to American Express), and has been a Director of public and numerous private companies
For three decades he was a nationally prominent corporate and securities deal attorney who served as CEO/Managing Partner of an entrepreneurial Midwest law firm before joining a national law firm as a West Coast Equity Partner.
He wrote the Definitive Deal Dictionary (and other articles about deals, negotiating, venture, and startups), and frequently speaks on those topics on podcasts, radio, or events. Marc also authored The Soul of the Deal: Creative frameworks for buying, selling, and investing in any business (Rodin Books; 2022). His observations have appeared in The New York Times, Bloomberg Dealnewsletter, and Wall Street Journal.
In the non-profit world he served on the Editorial Board of the Real Estate Securities Journal and Cleveland Food Bank, and remains a long-time Board member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well as Rex Foundation (founded by the Grateful Dead).
His B.A. in American Studies/Social History is from Yale and J.D. from Boston University.