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 $200MM+ of early stage venture funds at UC Berkeley (mostly 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, Marc served as their 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; sold to American Express), and has been a Director of 20+ public and private companies.
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.
He wrote the seminal Definitive Deal Dictionary (and 30+ other thought-leading articles about M&A, venture capital, negotiating, securities, and startups); and frequently speaks about those topics in business, academic, or professional events or podcasts. Marc also authored the influential book, The Soul of the Deal: Creative frameworks for buying, selling, and investing in any business – From Day One through Exit (Rodin Books). His observations have appeared in The New York Times, Bloomberg Deal, and Wall Street Journal.
Marc is widely regarded as a multi-dimensional thought leader due to his long-time emphasis on emotional intelligence, engaged listening, musical metaphors, and human-centered philosophy as the keys to creative selling and negotiating. “The deal world as heard through a musician’s ears and viewed through a startup lens.” A central Morgenstern’s Maxim is that “People (not spreadsheets or algorithms) are the epicenter of every deal.”
His 50 Maxims and maverick approach synthesize his nonconformist, 360 degree, music-fueled view of transactions reflecting the unusual breadth of his experience. He’s been the CEO, Managing Partner, investor, buyer, seller, lawyer, conductor, or strategic advisor in hundreds of deals involving billions of dollars. Marc is consistently noted for his creativity and ability to distill complex concepts into practical, accessible lessons resonating across individuals’ diverse backgrounds and domain expertise.
He’s a passionate blues/rock keyboard player, and a lifelong Deadhead who brings an improvisational approach to business and deals.
In the non-profit world Marc’s been a board member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 1994 (a year before the Museum opened), and a long-time board member of the 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. His personal life is joyously shared with his wife, adult children, grandson, and pianos.