Gregory Miller
Attorney
Location / San Francisco, CA
Phone / (415) 738-8115
Email /
Admissions /
State Bar of California
State Bar of New York
State Bar of Washington
Gregory Miller is a Partner of VLP. At VLP, Gregory Miller works with entrepreneurs and the fast-evolving businesses they are starting, offering solution-based legal approaches aligned with business drivers. Greg is known among the Bay Area start-up engineering and venture communities as an entrepreneur who has built and led smart teams, as an effective problem-solver, and one who efficiently negotiates technology and business deals. Greg also counsels major and family foundations globally, and social entrepreneurs, with grants and mission-led investments. Greg thrives on using advancing technologies to lower transaction costs and client legal fees, and reducing latency often embedded in traditional legal practice. Today's technology start-ups need less money to build a product and prove it works before scaling the business, and so they require their attorneys be more efficient and business-minded, too.
In early 2006 Greg joined Google as Dr. Larry Brilliant's first key hire when launching Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org. Greg was Managing Director at Google.org through late 2009, leading its philanthropic investments, grants and legal teams. He was also chair of Google's philanthropic investment and corporate giving committees, and was CFO, Secretary and General Counsel of the Google Foundation. As a part of the executive leadership team, Greg helped initiate and develop Google.org's programs and funding initiatives addressing global economic development, global public health and climate change. During that 3+ year tenure, Google.org grew to 42 persons, awarded approximately $100 million with 120 grants, led 11 philanthropic investments, and was recognized in widespread news articles, blogs and conferences recognizing its data-driven, outcome-based approaches. As his "20% project," Greg led executive production of "The Final Inch", a Google.org film documenting current polio eradication efforts in India and Pakistan (2009 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary -- Short Subject, and winner 2009 Pare Lorentz Award from the Int'l Documentary Assn).
Prior to Google, Greg worked with start-up and public companies, principally with businesses competing in the emerging internet, network security, communications and software markets, including as a partner with Silicon Valley's Gunderson Dettmer venture law firm and Of Counsel with Latham & Watkins, and as Sonicwall's (SNWL) initial SVP & General Counsel. He was on the founding launch team of Cometa Networks, one of the earliest venture-funded 802.11b wifi deployment companies. He has closed over 100 significant transactions, including venture financings, public equity offerings (>$3.8 billion), debt financings (>$13.5 billion) and mergers / acquisitions (>$2.5 billion).
Greg is also the founder of AppsYard.org, helping to design and build engineering applications to address global challenges, and is an angel investor. Currently, he's a director of the American Himalayan Foundation and Presidio Graduate School, and a board advisor to FSG Social Impact Advisors, Joie de Vivre Hotels and a few venture-funded early stage technology and renewable energy companies.
He enjoys math and coding, has climbed in extreme mountain regions and kayaked rivers throughout the world, run several marathons, tracked snow leopards in the Himalayas, and plays mandolin and guitar. Greg lives in San Francisco, has a JD from University of Virginia Law School where he was Notes Editor of the Journal of Law & Politics, and has a BA in Economics and Philosophy from Colgate. He is admitted to the California, New York and Washington state bars.
Greg is an active TEDster, was on the launch team for TEDx Silicon Valley (Dec 2009 - Innovation in Social Change), and is the curator of TEDx Presidio Series.
linkedin.com/in/gkmiller
@gregorymiller