Marc Gottschalk
In my career I have focused on being an entrepreneurial, practically-minded advisor whether as a long-time partner at Silicon Valley’s premier technology law firm, as General Counsel and a business development leader at emerging growth companies and as a founder and board member of the non-profit Cleantech Open, the world’s largest accelerator for early stage clean technology companies. That approach has led me to co-founding and growing the Clean Technology and Renewable Energy Practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati, founding the Corporate Venture Capital practice at Sidley Austin and leading the highly successful government relations and business development efforts at Proterra, Inc., the Kleiner Perkins-backed leader in electric mass transit. Through the Cleantech Open and otherwise I have become a trusted business advisor and mentor to a large number of enterprises and currently serve on two Boards of Directors.
My portfolio of clients has covered a wide range of sectors from technology/cleantech, to biotech, food/agritech, fintech and material science. The facts of each may be different but the patterns of a growth enterprise all rhyme.
The joy of my practice has been to engage deeply with the entrepreneurs and executives at small and large enterprises, building meaningful and successful businesses and helping them navigate the challenges of fundraising, growth, competition and sometimes, most important of all, internal company structuring and personnel management.
All with a sense of humor - none of us get out of this alive so we might as well have a good time along the way . . .
A few of my other accomplishments:
Assisted with financing transactions for a large number of early to late stage private companies both with fundraising connections and legal negotiations including Proterra (EV/cleantech), Stack Labs (tech), Critical Ideas (fintech), ISOThrive (biotech), Klatt Works (tech), Improved Nature (food) and Dickinson Corporation (material science)
Led financing transactions for TD Bank, Synchrony Financial and USAA
Designed and led lobbying efforts and helped draft legislation resulting in the Low-No Emission Bus Grant Program under the Department of Transportation that has led to more than $100M in orders for Proterra
Led successful efforts to win a grant from the California Energy Commission to build the first off-grid solar to energy storage to electric tractor project at Joseph Gallo Farms for Dannar
Supported M&A transactions for a wide variety of large companies from HP to Sanmina Corporation and Micron Technologies
Supported the growth of the Cleantech Open into an organization that has graduated more than 2,000 new cleantech companies that have collectively raised over $2B in private capital.
Named inventor for patent “Methods and Systems for Electric Vehicle Charging” https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/ca/9c/ea/420e482918134a/EP2848457A2.pdf
Co-invented two bright, awesome little boys ages 13 and 7.