Our Approach
We are part of your team. Successful companies that change the world need tactical legal and business advice to propel them to the top. We provide strategic and business-focused legal solutions, crafted to conform to the highest legal and ethical standards, to brand our clients for what they are – industry leaders. We don’t partner with startups that are focused on mere survival. We work with entrepreneurs driven to change the world.
About Us
Townshend Venture Advisors, LLP (TVA) is a new type of corporate law firm launched in 2017, focused exclusively on the legal and business needs of high growth technology startups, investors and entrepreneurs. TVA is the brainchild of corporate attorney Peter Townshend, and the culmination of his long career as a senior partner for prestigious technology law firms in Silicon Valley and San Diego, most recently Perkins Coie LLP.
Peter began his career at Heller Ehrman in Palo Alto, California, where he helped to launch a string of successful tech startups including eBay, Interwoven, Portable Software and Alliance Semiconductor. Peter helped form Plaxo in 2002, then helped Plaxo raise venture capital financing from Sequoia Capital and others, close its partnership with AOL and sell to Comcast in 2008.
Peter has more than 20 years of experience representing startups, entrepreneurs, angel investors and venture capitalists.
Peter has since worked with a number of startups formed by “the Plaxo diaspora” (phrase credited to John McCrea) including BrightRoll (acquired by Yahoo), HipChat (acquired by Atlassian), Meebo (acquired by Google), MediaSpike, Ethereal VR, Dandelion Chocolate, Podhero and most recently Chroma Labs (acquired by Twitter) and Pipedream. Peter has also worked with a number of life science companies, including Atrionix (acquired by J&J), Appriva Medical (acquired by ev3), Adeza Biomedical (IPO), MitraLife (acquired by ev3), Chestnut Medical (acquired by ev3), Cathera (acquired by Medtronic), Abunda (acquired by Evolva), Companion Medical (acquired by Medtronic) and existing startups Avails Medical, ThrombX, Palmera, Luna Health and the incubator Alembic, LLC. Peter represented ConforMIS, a customized joint implant company, from its inception in 2000 through its IPO in 2015. Peter’s clients come from both industry and academia.
Peter’s practice includes angel, venture capital and other private equity financings; convertible equity instruments, SAFE, convertible notes and other bridge offerings; mergers, asset sales and acquisitions; public offerings; corporate governance; licensing, distribution, development, manufacturing, co-marketing and other commercial technology transactions; startup entity formation and organization; stock option plans and executive compensation; and venture capital, incubator and private equity fund formation. Peter has worked in a diverse array of industries including heavy doses of life science (medical devices, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals) and cutting-edge technology (social media, e-commerce, online advertising, crypto currency, gaming, software, hardware and telecom). He is a leading authority on topics relating to technology start-up companies, angel and venture capital, and technology start-up company mergers and acquisitions.
He has lectured at U.C. Berkeley, U.C. San Diego, UCLA, University of Wisconsin, Santa Clara University and San Jose State University, and has been quoted in numerous publications such as the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, TheDeal.com, Inc.com, Entrepreneur Magazine, Washington Post and Reuters.
Peter lives in Poway, California but travels regularly between San Diego and Silicon Valley. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation and President of the board of directors of the Country Montessori School.
Peter has a BA in English and Economics from Yale University, a JD from the U.C. Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law and an MBA from the U.C. Berkeley Haas School of Business.