Jon has nearly 40 years of experience with venture capital, leveraged acquisitions, and emerging technology companies, particularly in software, information technology, telecom, biotech and life sciences and clean technology. He is a frequent lecturer at national and international conferences on entrepreneurial venture finance, the venture capital industry and the life sciences capital markets and related transaction structures, strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions.
Notable Experience
· Jon has represented several start-up companies which have outlicensed some intellectual property from The Scripps Research Institute, through its new campus in Palm Beach County, Florida.
· Jon often counsels early-stage and start-up enterprises and management teams, as well as VC fund investors, on organization, structure, equity incentive planning and financing strategies as well as capitalization structures in fields as varied as new drug development, wireless broadband access; pharmaceutical therapeutics and diagnostics; machine-to-machine (M2M) database information collection, communication and analysis; Web 2.0 social networks, user generated content and other consumer facing web publishers; environmental monitoring services; alarm and reporting enterprise software for healthcare monitoring; wireless transmission; and electronic diagnostic and therapeutic procedures for vision impairment.
· Jon is regularly involved in the representation of both Angel investors and professional venture capital funds in investment transactions as well as single purpose and institutional fund formation matters.
· Jon and a team of colleagues represented an executive group in the $250 Million-plus equity capitalization of a start-up company that has concluded a high 9-figure acquisition transaction of an existing portfolio of proprietary therapeutic products.
· Jon was hired to represent a small publicly-traded multi-faceted optics company through turn-around strategy in connection with an equity infusion from a private equity group. Over a period of 15 months, he supervised a team handling the sale and restructuring of multiple operating units, a refinancing of debt and the ultimate 10-figure sale to a global optical network company.
Recent Speaking Engagements and Publications
Jon is often asked to speak at various conferences and seminars on a variety of private equity and venture capital related topics including life science investing; early stage investments, venture finance and IP-based start-ups, structuring and valuation considerations in VC investments, and capital raising and compensation planning for Biotech executives.
Jon and partner Les Croland co-authored the article "Scripps Is Catalyst for Florida's Life Sciences Industry" which appeared in the March 2005 issue of the Venture Capital Journal.
In 2002, Jon's article, "Down Rounds - To Succeed You Must Survive," was published in London in Venture Capital 2002 (Euromoney Institutional Investor) and in the United States in The Journal of BioLaw & Business. In addition, Jon's article entitled "Structuring Venture Capital Investments" has been published inPratt's Guide to Venture Capital Sources for seven consecutive years.
Jon's recent speaking engagements include:
· "Structuring Exit Strategies," speaker, 2010 Americas Venture Capital Conference - Latin America: The New Mainstream, Miami, FL, November 17 - 18, 2010.
· Early-Stage Venture Investing: How to meet investors, pitch them, and what it really takes to get them to write you a check!, panelist, Coral Gables, FL, February 25, 2010.
· "The Role of Directors in Venture-Backed Companies", panelist, National Association of Corporate Directors program, Miami, FL, May, 2008.
· "Value Creation in Venture Investing; The Realities", panel presentation, Thunderbird School of Management Global Private Equity Conference, Phoenix, AZ, April, 2008.
· "Valuations in an Uncertain Economy," panel moderator, Florida Venture Capital Conference, St Petersburg, FL, February 2010.
· "Convergence: Private Equity meets the Hedge Fund", panel presentation, Thunderbird School of Management Global Private Equity Conference, Phoenix, AZ, March, 2007.
· "Venture Capital in 2006," panel member, Opal Alternative Investment Conference, Laguna Niguel, CA, December 2005.
· "Advising Start Ups and Entrepreneurs," panel moderator, AeA Venture Conference, Roswell, GA, March 2005.
News & Publications
February 10, 2010, EAPD Client "Consult A Doctor 24/7" Closes $5 Million VC Round
May 19, 2008, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge Moves To New Office Space in Fort Lauderdale
April 11, 2008, "The Times They Are A- Changin... "Florida's Future As A Life Science Center
South Florida Business Journal
February 28, 2008, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP Hosts Nonprofit Pediatric Biotech Institute in Florida
2008, Structuring Venture Capital Investments
Private Equity and Venture Capital: A Practical Guide for Investors and Practitioners
October 30, 2007, EAPD Attorneys Named Super Lawyers 2007
March 23, 2007, Top Dealmaker of the Year Award in South Florida Recognizes Five EAPD Attorneys
March 26, 2007, Virtual company making $875M pharma purchase existed only on paper
Daily Business Review
March 2005, Scripps Is Catalyst for Florida's Life Sciences Industry
Venture Capital Journal
January 28, 2005, Venture Capital Rouses Investors
The Tampa Tribune
January 25, 2005, Venture Capitalists to Hear 19 Pitches
Bioscience still lags tech at Orlando Event
Sun-Sentinal
August 25, 2003, Private Equity Attorney Jonathan E. Cole Appointed to Steering Committee for VisionBroward
Edwards & Angell, LLP
October 16, 2002, What's up with Down Rounds?
AltAssets (on line 2002)
December 18, 2000, Goals, Risks Can Help You Decide Legal Structure
USA Today
The Tie that Binds: Noncompete Agreements
NetOp-tix: Refocus of Business and Successful Sale
Before Edwards Wildman
Jon is a "lifer" at the Firm, having joined the Providence office immediately after his graduation from Harvard Law School in 1971. He has been deeply involved in the Firm's strategy and expansion over the past 37 years, serving nearly 20 years on the Firm's management committee, founding the Firm's Palm Beach office in 1981 and the Ft. Lauderdale office in 2001 and organizing and leading the Firm's Private Equity Practice Group for over a decade until 2002.
Besides Edwards Wildman
Jon has been active in a number of charitable and civic organizations over the years. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Town of Palm Beach United Way (where he has served as Vice Chair, Treasurer and Campaign Chair) and the Paragon Foundation of Palm Beach County, Inc., (http://www.paragonpbc.org/index.html), a non-profit fund created to invest in minority-owned enterprises in Palm Beach County. He is also a Director and Founder of New World Angels, Inc., a Florida-focused angel investment group, as well as a member of a Limited Partner Advisory Board of an established venture capital fund When not enjoying time with his wife, Patricia, and their grandchildren, Jon devotes his energy to golf, Asian/Latin fusion cooking and fly-fishing. He has also raised a French Brittany puppy, Lily, to be a first-class upland bird dog.
Events
November 17 - 18, 2010, Miami, FL, 2010 Americas Venture Capital Conference - Latin America: The New Mainstream
February 25, 2010, Coral Gables, FL, Miami VC and Angel Event
Early-Stage Venture Investing: How to meet investors, pitch them, and what it really takes to get them to write you a check!
February 1 - 3, 2010, Champions Gate, FL, 2010 Florida Venture Capital Conference
March 21, 2006, AeA Venture Forum - Investment, Technology, Success
December 4, 2005 - December 6, 2005, 8th Annual Alternative Investing Summit
Industries
· Life Sciences
· Energy, Infrastructure & Cleantech
· Healthcare
· Technology
Memberships
· American Bar Association, Business Law Section
· Vision Broward, Steering Committee
· Business Development Board of Palm Beach County, Inc.
· Enterprise Development Corporation of South Florida, Director and Past Chair
· Florida Bar Association, Business Law Section
· Florida Venture Forum, Inc., Director and Past Chair
· National Association of Small Business Investment Companies
(Also at Fort Lauderdale Office)