Bio

John Leonard helps businesses at all stages of development from launching and expansion, to general operational issues, and ultimately mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and dispositions. He excels at helping businesses, including software and technology growth companies, that are financed and grown from operations, as well as those that are angel, venture capital, or financed by other outside investors. John also helps clients grow from operations and by M&A, and his focus in each representation is on assisting companies that want to grow or raise capital. When serving as outside general counsel for technology companies, John partners with clients to address all of their day-to-day legal needs, including in debt/equity financing, intellectual property strategy, growth strategies, C-level retention and bonus programs, and exit strategies. A frequent speaker on the topic of M&A, John helps clients negotiate sell-side and buy-side M&A letters of intent, stock, and asset M&A agreements. While John works with clients across a range of industries, he most frequently works with technology and software growth companies. He also frequently assists companies involved with Artificial Intelligence regarding intellectual property protection, licensing, and export matters. Outside the office, John is on the board of Innosphere, a science and technology incubator that helps Colorado-based startups and scale ups. In that role, he is active in Innosphere’s Scale Up Academy that works with growth companies. He also serves as a Fellow at TrueSpace Accelerator, an incubator for growth companies. In both roles, he works to help make connections between new and established businesses and a broad network of advisors and the larger infrastructure within Denver that supports emerging companies.