Client references

(As required by the California ethical rules governing lawyers, please be advised that any testimonial or endorsement on this page does not constitute a guarantee, warranty, or prediction regarding the outcome of your legal matter.)

I love Matt and if you can get on his client list, I would recommend it.

— Matt Mullenweg, Founder of Automattic / WordPress

Over the past year and a half that I have been involved in running startups, I have already had a half a dozen experiences with lawyers of all shapes and sizes (immigration lawyers, incorporation lawyers, trademark lawyers, financial regulation lawyers.. you name it).  Generally speaking, the experiences have been abysmal …. That being said, there are exceptions and our current lawyer is one.  Matt Bartus, of Cooley LLP  is the best startup lawyer in Silicon Valley. Period.  Yes, over all the celebrity startup lawyers from top firms out there…. [read more]“

— Evan Reas, Founder of Hawthorne Labs and likealittle.com

Matthew is my company’s legal counsel, and has proven himself to be a trusted advisor with the utmost integrity. There are a lot of values that Matthew brings to the table, but the traits I would highlight are:

- Familiar with startups: this has been crucial in all of my company’s dealings. Matthew knows what it’s like to work in a startup environment, how much things change on a daily basis, and how precious (and limited) our resources often are. Because he shares this perspective, it feels like Matthew is another member of our tight-knit team.

- Impeccable integrity: I cannot emphasize enough how much this matters. As with any startup, my company has seen a lot of unexpected situations, difficult decisions, and unusual circumstances. Having legal counsel that I can trust implicitly has reduced a lot of stress from these situations and allowed me to act with confidence amidst difficult circumstances.

- Legal and company expertise: Although Matthew is obviously of vital importance in handling all of my company’s legal representation, I’ve also learned to rely on his sound advice for many business situations. Matthew adds a valuable perspective to a lot of the business decisions I make, and has the rare ability to know when that perspective will add the most value. He also does an exceptional job accessing company priorities, and knows which areas to optimize and spend time on, and which areas are not as crucial. In a service known for high rates, this is a crucial and much appreciated skill set that allows us to conserve as many resources as possible, while still addressing the most important tasks at hand. His foresight also addresses many issues as soon as possible, to prevent them from becoming cumbersome or more time intensive down the road.

I’ve enjoyed all of my interactions with Matthew, and would not hesitate to recommend him to any entrepreneur.

— Justin Nassiri, Founder/CEO of VideoGenie

“…not only is he strategic and shrewd as a chief counsel, but he has honestly become one of our most important advisors and a true friend of our team… I’m certain Matt only bills 1/5th of the hours he invests in us.”; “I’ve worked with Matt on a number of transactions as an investor and entrepreneur and he’s always been blindingly quick to respond, shrewd in his analysis, and an all around good guy.”

— From Great Web Startup Lawyers

“Matt has been a tremendous resource for our start-up, helping with everything from incorporation to intellectual property. He’s a creative and strategic thinker, and his legal guidance and business insights have been invaluable.”

— John Tayman, Founder/CEO of MotorMouths

“I’ve worked with many of the law firms who serve startups in the Valley, and recently started working directly with Matt after seeing the work he’d done with some of our portfolio companies at Alsop Louie. I have found Matt’s work to be outstanding! He doesn’t miss any of the details, and he’s creative and pragmatic in coming up with solutions to legal issues as they arise. I’m amazed by the latency of his response time – he’s available regardless of the time of day or day of week. He’s also a really fun guy to work with, and I strongly recommend working with him if you get the chance.”

— Corey Reese, CEO of Trumpet

“Matt has become a key member of our team. As a first-time founder of a company, Matt has been invaluable guiding me through the details and mechanics of the process. He provides keen insight from multiple perspectives enabling me to weigh the tactical against the strategic and to move the company forward. He also efficiently rallies resources to be applied to specific projects in a cost-sensitive fashion. Smart, humble, and with a great sense of humor, he’s a pleasure to work with and I highly recommend him.”

— James Colgan, CEO of Xuropa

“Matt has become a key part of our team. Early on, he went beyond the typical legal ‘dog and pony’ and took the time to really get to know our business and our team. Over time, he has become a close mentor and trustworthy advocate. He is efficient with billable hours and exceptionally accessible and responsive, even at crazy hours. Finally (and importantly), his demeanor is humble yet confident, which has made him fun to work with – even at those crazy hours.”

— John Anderson, Founder/CEO of GroupCard

“NotchUp is my first venture starting a company from the ground up as a founder. Matt started to help my co-founder and myself get our company launched at an early stage of development. We just finished a highly successful first investment round. Matt was instrumental in helping us plan our investment strategy, making introductions to top VC firms in the valley, and guiding us through the maze of options we had to fund the company.”

— Jim Ambras, Founder/CEO of NotchUp

“Matt served as outside counsel at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison for WageWorks from the company’s founding in 2000 until he left the firm (the corporate practice of which by then had folded into Morgan Lewis) in early 2007. During that time, Matt and I worked together on four corporate acquisitions, four equity financings and a debt financing. Matt also supported several of our board committees. I have worked with many other lawyers for both these and other firms. The areas where Matt excels are easy to see. – Matt is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, worker of legal documents I have ever seen. Frequently, Matt would attend a negotiating session on a document and have written the relevant document or document modifications in his head or on a PC before the meeting had ended. His capacity to turn documents quickly frequently stunned opposing parties and counsel. Both his time (and as a result my time) were used efficiently. – Matt is very current about what terms will fly in mid-sized M&A and in venture and private equity financing. If opposing counsel is equally informed, Matt has the capacity to work independently with counsel to hammer issues out, again, making very efficient use of the client’s time for business issues… I would hire Matt again unreservedly.”

— Jon Kessler, Founder of WageWorks

“Matthew Bartus is an outstanding corporate attorney for emerging companies like Multispan. During Multispan’s 3-year amazing journey of fast growth, from being a technology and a business plan to a recognized industry leader in GPCR drug discovery research, Matt has provided numerous valuable advices, from company’s incorporation, to VC and debt financing, to board governance. We plan to continue engaging Matt as our corporate consul for many years to come as Multispan enters new phases of business growth.”

— Helena Mancebo, Ph.D., Founder/CEO of Multispan

“I worked closely with Matt when my employer was acquired in early 2007. Matt was an instrumental member of our outside firm due diligence and deal team. His dedication, legal expertise and sound business judgment helped us successfully complete the $1.33 billion dollar transaction in an amazingly efficient 2 & 1/2 month timeline from signing the deal to closing.”

— Samanthe Beck, Corporate Counsel at Digital Insight (acquired by Intuit)