Marc’s a mentor capitalist for innovative startups, veteran dealmaker, and prolific author and speaker. During an eclectic career (technology, venture, retail, real estate, and law) he founded and co-founded companies and venture capital funds. He’s The Mentor-at-Large for pre-seed and early stage investor (The House Fund) at UC Berkeley (100+ startups, primarily AI and robotics), and created and taught the “Street Smart Startups” course at Cal’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.
Besides being the first outside investor in LA-based Divergent 3D (Founder Kevin Czinger), Marc also served as D3D’s initial EVP for three years, and later as initial Senior Strategic Advisor. He was a founding stockholder and Senior Strategic Advisor for San Francisco’s LoungeBuddy (travel app founded by Tyler Dikman; sold to American Express), and has been a Director of numerous public and private companies including Unite Genomics (leading AI-powered health insights platform).
For three decades he was a nationally prominent corporate and securities deal attorney who served as CEO and Managing Partner of an entrepreneurial Midwest law firm before joining a national law firm as a West Coast Equity Partner.
Marc is a recognized thought leader, and authored the influential book The Soul of the Deal. The deal world as heard through a musician’s ears and viewed through a startup lens. He also published 30+ pioneering articles about startups, M&A, venture capital, and negotiating, and frequently speaks about those topics. Read Publications.
His observations have appeared in The New York Times, Bloomberg Deal, and Wall Street Journal. Read Media.
His 50 Morgenstern Maxims distill complex M&A and negotiating concepts into practical, memorable lessons. Marc’s maverick approach reflects the unusual breadth of his experience. He’s been a Founder, CEO, Managing Partner, Investor, Counsel, or Strategic Advisor in billions of dollars of deals, and dozens and dozens of startups. Read Select Deals.
He’s a passionate blues/rock keyboard player, and a lifelong Deadhead who brings an improvisational approach to business and deals.
Marc’s a long-time board member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (since 1994), and San Francisco’s Rex Foundation (founded by the Grateful Dead). He served on the Editorial Board of the Real Estate Securities Journal, Executive Committee of the SEC’s Small Business Capital Formation Forum, as well as the boards of the Cleveland Food Bank and Dean’s Technology Council of Case Medical School.
His B.A. from Yale is in American Studies (Social History), and J.D. from Boston University.