BH

Bob Holmen

Investor Counsel

Orange County, California

Invests in

Stages:

Locations:

  • Min Investment:

    $1,000,000.00
  • Max Investment:

    $3,000,000.00
  • Target Investment:

    $2,000,000.00

Skills

M&A experience
Commercialization
Change Management
Budgets
Venture Capital
Start-ups
Entrepreneurship
Corporate Development
Mergers
Strategic Partnerships
Due Diligence
Business Strategy
Strategic Planning
Financial Modeling
Private Equity
Strategy
Business Development
Angel Investing
Product Management
Mergers & Acquisitions

Work Experience

Investor Counsel

2016

  • Principal

    2016

    Investor Counsel exclusively represents security holders and investment funds. We focus on structuring transactions, negotiating investments, maximizing recoveries, resolving disputes, overseeing distributions and otherwise protecting shareholder rights. We have extensive experience in fund formation, investment and sale of securities, mergers and acquisitions, escrows, milestone payments and earn-outs. Investor Counsel serves as regular outside counsel to security holders represented by Fortis Advisors, a leader in post-closing shareholder representation in major merger and acquisition transactions, with an emphasis on the venture capital and private equity markets.

  • Managing Director

    2001

    Miramar invests in early- and mid-stage technology companies, with an emphasis on Southern California opportunities. I am an investment partner in Miramar's fully invested funds (Miramar I raised in 2001 and Miramar II raised in 2008), and served on the Board of Directors of current and former Miramar portfolio companies including Fastsoft (acquired by Akamai), Matrix Sensors, and Silicon Systems (acquired by Western Digital Corporation). I also have served as Chief Operating Officer (legal, financial and investor relations) for Miramar I and Miramar II since inception, and provide on-going financial and legal consulting and support to the related Miramar Digital Ventures family of funds.

  • Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship & Expert in Residence

    2012

    I have taught an MBA-level course on "Investing in New Ventures" seven different semesters as part of the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies (Spring 2012 - Spring 2014; Fall 2021 - Spring 2022). Currently I serve as an Expert in Residence at the Lloyd Greif Center, advising students and working with USC start-up companies on fundraising, term sheets, valuation, exit analysis and the investor mindset. I also co-taught "Venture Initiation" Spring 2014 as part of USC's Masters in Business for Veterans program.

Holmen Ventures

2013

  • Principal

    2013

    Holmen Ventures offers Board of Directors, General Counsel and strategic financial consulting services to early-stage companies. Current clients and Board memberships include the following companies: Act One Ventures (www.actoneventures.com) - I provide legal and financial consulting services to Act One Ventures, a community-focused, early stage venture capital fund leading pre-seed and seed rounds in eCommerce infrastructure, vertical SaaS and fintech. Life College (www.lifecollegeoc.org) - I serve on the Board of Directors and provide General Counsel services to Life College, a non-profit post-secondary school focused on enabling young adults with intellectual disabilities to transition to independent living and employment. Sensei Biotherapeutics (www.senseibio.com) - I serve on the Board of Directors of Sensei Biotherapeutics (Nasdaq: SNSE), a developer of medicines designed to fulfill the substantial potential of the immune system to defeat cancer and other diseases. H&S Ventures - I serve as business and legal consultant for H&S Ventures, LLC, focused on social impact investing to accelerate the development and market introduction of new technology discoveries associated with healing, wellness and well-being, with an emphasis on cancer treatment.

ACM

2015 - 2016

  • General Counsel/Special Counsel

    2015 - 2016

    I served as General Counsel (June 2015 - January 2016) and Special Counsel (February 2016) for Aequitas Capital, a private equity firm.

2014 - 2014

  • Law School Lecturer

    2014 - 2014

    I taught "Venture Capital Law" to 2nd and 3rd year law students.

  • Vice President, General Counsel

    1999 - 2001

    First Consulting Group (NASDAQ: FGCI; later acquired by CSC) was an information technology consulting firm focused on the health care market. I worked with the CEO and Board on all major corporate matters, was responsible for all SEC filings, provided primary legal support for all corporate functions (including HR) and served as lead counsel in the negotiation and consummation of multi-year, multi-$100M outsourcing agreements with major hospital chains.

CoCensys, Inc.

1997 - 1999

  • Vice President, General Counsel

    1997 - 1999

    CoCensys, Inc. (NASDAQ: COCN until it was acquired by Purdue Pharmaceuticals) was a venture-backed biopharma company that developed drugs for central nervous system disorders. I worked with the CEO and Board on all major corporate matters, was responsible for all SEC filings, served as primary counsel on technology licensing matters, and served as Acting CFO 1998-99, overseeing all finance, accounting and audit functions.

National Education Corporation

1994 - 1997

  • Corporate Counsel

    1994 - 1997

    National Education Corporation (NYSE: NEC until it was acquired by Harcourt General) was an international provider of educational products and services. I worked with the CEO, CFO and General Counsel on all major corporate matters, had primary responsibility for all SEC filings, was lead counsel in the disposition of the company's vocational school subsidiary (consummating the sale of 28 schools in seven separate transactions) and managed all litigation.

  • Associate

    1992 - 1994

    Major matters included SEC and M&A counsel for a large home health care company, M&A counsel for a major computer manufacturer, underwriters' counsel for the IPO of a software company, and due diligence, negotiation and consummation of multiple corporate finance transactions.