Charles Smith: As both an attorney and entrepreneur Charles has guided a wide variety of early and mid-staged companies from the idea stage through to acquisition.
Prior to Fastlane Ventures, Charles
played founding and executive roles at a series of Bay Area technology
companies. As Founding COO and Legal Counsel at BTE Direct, Charles
guided the company from its early days when it operated out of
a home office through to its acquisition by eUniverse
(Nasdaq: EUNI) in 2002. Previously, Charles was VP of Business
and Legal Affairs at Gigabeat, a Kleiner Perkins-backed media
technology company that was acquired by Napster in early 2001.
Prior to working on the company-side Charles was an attorney with
private equity boutique Riordan & McKinzie (now Bingham McCutchen)
in Los Angeles.
Charles is active in the entrepreneurial
communities in both the Pacific Northwest and the San Francisco
Bay Area. As a member and contributor to Venture Oregon, the Oregon
Entrepreneurs Forum, the Software Development Forum and the Oregon
State Bar Mergers & Acquisitions Committee, Charles is involved
in defining, serving and representing the interests of entrepreneurs
and the industries that serve them. Charles holds a JD from Stanford
Law School.
Email Charles.
