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Damian Guzman
Expert General Corporate and Commercial Counsel for Startups and Small Businesses
California
CA, NY
About
Damian has served in various high-level in-house counsel roles, including as Director and Senior Legal Counsel for Visa, Head of Legal at Solid Financial Technologies, and Senior Legal Counsel for the Americas at Airwallex.
Before going in-house, Damian was a Senior Corporate/M&A Associate at K&L Gates, where he advised on… read more M&A, technology, and debt and equity finance transactions. He also served as an M&A/Finance Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, and a Labor and Employment Associate at Littler Mendelson.
Damian, having founded a SaaS e-commerce platform aimed at solving the ‘fit problem’ of buying apparel online, thinks like an entrepreneur, and understands modern technologies and the mechanics of running businesses built on them.
He holds a J.D. from Columbia Law School and a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations with a Concentration in Law & Society from Cornell University, where he was on the Dean’s List, a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society and the recipient of several academic scholarships.
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"I enjoyed working with Damian Guzman. We had a time sensitive matter he was helping us with and he got it across the finish line for us."
Work History
Solid Financial Technologies, Inc.
Head of Legal
Dec 2022 - Jan 2023
Served as Solid’s general counsel, advising on its collective business and SaaS/BaaS payments platform.
Airwallex US, LLC
Senior Counsel for the Americas
Jul 2021 - Jul 2022
Served as general counsel for the Americas, advising on product and feature launches, including risk, terms and conditions, and regulatory advice, and on commercial and partnership agreements with fintechs and banks. Supported approximately 50 sales, marketing, compliance and strategy personnel as legal generalist.
Visa
Director and Senior
Dec 2016 - Jul 2021
Served as general counsel to Visa’s global issuer processor business unit, Visa DPS, supporting its approximately 30 products and services and over 200 employees, representing over $300 million in annual revenue. Advised Visa DPS on multiple legal fronts, including product and regulatory matters (pre- and post-launch), and drafted and negotiated its global and domestic commercial contracts.
K&L Gates
Senior Corporate/M&A Associate
May 2014 - Aug 2015
Advised on M&A transactions, debt and equity finance transactions, technology transactions (including cryptocurrency coin offerings and software licensing agreements), corporate governance issues, and entity formation.
Morgan Lewis
M&A/Finance Associate
Oct 2010 - May 2014
Drafted and negotiated merger agreements, stock and asset purchase agreements, credit agreements, and intercreditor agreements, and prepared related documentation; supported various corporate transactions, including IPOs.
Sesame Workshop
Legal Associate
Sep 2009 - Oct 2010
Assisted the legal team, such as drafting licensing agreements, advising on risk concerns and negotiating agreements.