BIOS
GERRY MURFITT JD/MBA, B.COM
Mr. Murfitt's primary focus and passion is advising entrepreneurs and investors with respect to all aspects of structuring, growing and selling private companies. Over a course of more than 20 years he has assisted clients raise billions of dollars of financing from a variety of top-tier investors. In addition, he has also advised entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists and boards of directors on hundreds of other transactions, and has extensive experience in all areas of startups and technology companies, including equity and debt financings, corporate governance, securities law, intellectual property / licensing, employment matters, equity compensation, commercial agreements, finance, IPOs, and M&A transactions.
Mr. Murfitt started his career during the Internet boom at the Sand Hill Road office of the preeminent firm Venture Law Group (VLG) which incorporated such well known household names such as Yahoo, Hotmail and PayPal. Following Heller Ehman's acquisition of VLG in 2003 Mr. Murfitt joined the Silicon Valley office of 1000+ attorney global firm Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP along with approximately half of the original VLG attorneys. The group formed Orrick's "Emerging Companies Group" which went on to represent many well-known companies such as Facebook.
Mr. Murfitt has personally incorporated and advised several startups from inception which have then ultimately grown into "unicorns" including Kraken (cryptocurrency exchange with a $20 billion+ valuation), Wrike (SaaS company sold to Citrix for $2.25 billion), Miro (SaaS company with a $17.5 billion Series C valuation) and Athletic Greens (health supplement). In addition, he has represented individuals such as Tim Ferris and acted as a mentor to entrepreneurs at the Founder Institute. He is also a limited partner in the Founder Institute and 500 Startups fund accelerators.
Mr. Murfitt received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degrees from the University of California where he received a merit-based scholarship. During his studies he received significant academic recognition including awards for being the top student in several classes important to private companies including contracts, corporations, finance and business strategy. As an undergraduate, he graduated summa cum laude at the University of Auckland, where he received a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) degree with majors in Economics and International Business. He speaks Spanish and in his spare time he has a variety of interests including traveling (over 100 countries to date), sailing (RYA licensed captain), motorcycling (proud Triumph Rocket TFC owner), cycling (former national representative), snowboarding, scuba-diving (advanced PADI certification), and wine-collecting.
Mr. Murfitt is currently a member of the State Bar of California.