Our Team

Our tech-focused advisors help founders and funders alike navigate legal complexities with a commercial-first mindset.

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Blake Ilstrup

I love working with entrepreneurs and innovators, because - like me - they are not afraid to tackle big problems and forge new paths. I relate strongly to this mindset, because I forged a non-traditional path to where I am now, having served as a US naval officer, as a lawyer in both boutique and large international law firms, and as an in-house lawyer and executive at a software and two different biotech companies (co-founding one of them). This experience - especially having been a “consumer of legal services” myself - gives me a unique, practical perspective that my startup clients seem to value.

Contact me Partner, Seattle [email protected] +1 206 839 4337

LinkedIn Full Bio

Tell us about a favorite client or project.

There is no way I can pick a single favorite client, but the clients who inspire me the most tend to be the ones pushing technological boundaries the furthest. For example, I have clients working on: data storage on DNA; nuclear fusion; novel antiviral therapeutics; and stroke recovery devices. This is what gets me out of bed every morning!
Where do you find inspiration in life?

My wife, my two twenty-something kids, and my clients!
If you weren't a tech lawyer, what would you do?

I would probably be an entrepreneur trying to solve big problems in biotech, arts & culture, and/or athletic performance.
Tell us something we'd be surprised to know about you.

I’ve got a few: I grew up on an alfalfa farm in Minnesota. I was the lead singer of a college band called Fornaka. I broke the sound barrier in an F-14.

Scott Iyama

I provide strategic legal business solutions for high growth technology and life science companies and have led clients through hundreds of financings and numerous mergers, acquisitions, public offerings and partnering transactions. I leverage my technical experience as a member of research teams at Genentech and the NASA Ames Research Center to provide a unique business perspective when working with founders, companies, and their investors.

Clients I've worked with: 64X Bio | CytoVale | Instagram | Mosaic ML | Virta Health

Contact me Partner, San Francisco [email protected] +1 650 614 7637

Full Bio

What inspires you about working with tech companies?

I have the privilege of working with an amazing group of leaders and innovators. It is incredibly rewarding and inspirational to play a role in the advancement of a client’s ideas to grow an industry or better the life of a patient.
If you weren't a tech lawyer, what would you do?

I would head back to the bench. I am fortunate to participate in the process of discovery and development in my current role, but I really enjoyed the day-to-day collaborations of working through novel issues in the lab.
What technology are you most excited to see develop?

I deeply believe that we are at inflection point for the intersection of technology and life science. I am excited to see how scientists and technologists apply artificial intelligence to the discovery and commercialization of new therapeutic models and applications.
What is your ideal weekend?

As a Bay Area native, I can be found rooting for my hometown sports teams or playing outdoors with my two boys.

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