Bio

Whit Bissell is a Partner at VLP and focuses his practice on the representation of emerging growth companies, entrepreneurs and investors primarily in the areas of corporate, securities and M&A. Whit also counsels his clients in the areas of technology and commercial transactions, intellectual property and employment and equity compensation matters. Whit represents companies in all phases of their life cycle, from formation to exit across a wide variety of market segments. This includes representation of private companies in hundreds of financing transactions, including early-stage convertible debt financings, SAFEs and bridge loans as well as angel and venture capital led preferred stock financing rounds. Whit also represents companies in M&A transactions, including mergers, stock sales and asset sales with private and public buyers. In addition to company representation, Whit represents angel and venture capital investors in financing matters. Whit acts as a day-to-day advisor to clients, providing strategic and tactical guidance related to legal business issues and guiding clients with respect to corporate governance, securities compliance, team and inter-founder issues as well as other general legal matters. Prior to joining VLP, Whit spent many years in private practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto and San Francisco. Whit earned his J.D from the UCLA School of Law in 1998 and his A.B. in Economics from Middlebury College in 1993, where he graduated cum laude.