George Grellas Lawyer Profile | FizzLaw

George Grellas
GEORGE GRELLAS
George Grellas

We are a 6-attorney Silicon Valley boutique firm specializing in early-stage and small business representation, including company formation, IP protection, founder arrangements, funding rounds, M&A, licensing and distribution, trade secret matters, and the whole range of deal matters that businesses tend to encounter, including commercial disputes.

I have worked extensively with founders and their companies in Silicon Valley since 1984. My style is direct and practical but also strategic (no nonsense). I have represented everything from small solo-founder companies (a lot of them!) to startups that have grown to greater than $1B market cap. The norm for my practice is an early-stage startup with a few founders whose main goal is to build value while deferring (or even avoiding) VC funding. Thus, many of my clients aim (at least initially) to self-fund, to use F&F help, or to do angel rounds (typically up to $2M but often for $200K or so). I am a versatile lawyer who works well with such companies. Unlike larger-firm lawyers who tend to specialize heavily in a given niche area, I can guide and advise clients through all manner of corporate and related entity (e.g., LLC) issues, IP issues, licensing and distribution arrangements, founder deals, bridge funding, preferred-stock funding, business tax matters, M&A issues and strategy, and litigation and commercial disputes as various as corporate fights, trade secret fights, contract disputes, fraud and fiduciary claims, trade libel, and a whole host of others. I am supported in these efforts by 5 other lawyers, each of whom has at least 10 years experience.

I have a reputation as a "founders' lawyer." This does not mean that I sell out company clients in order to favor founders. It simply means that the founding teams that have come through my office in the last 25 years and more have not been simply been "grist for the mill" for VCs or other investor groups. Rather, they are the people with whom we have the primary relationships, and we do not have conflicting relationships in representing VCs (we don't represent VCs). The client is the company, however, unless we are representing a founder in his individual capacity concerning another company we don't represent.

I have also represented many traditional small businesses of broadly varying types over the years.

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Location

George Grellas & Associates 20400 Stevens Creek Blvd. Suite 280 Cupertino CA 95014

Areas of Focus
  • General Business and Corporate Law
  • Intellectual Property - Copyrights
  • Intellectual Property - Trademarks
  • Internet, Data Management & Privacy Law
  • Litigation & Alternative Dispute Resolution
  • Startup Law
  • State & Federal Tax Law
Keywords
  • Bridge Funding
  • Business Formation
  • Business Taxation
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Contracts
  • Distribution
  • Early-stage
  • Fiduciary Duty
  • Founder Arrangements
  • Funding
  • Licensing
  • Llc
  • Preferred Stock
  • Trade Secret