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Shaun Sethna
Deputy General Counsel l SaaS l Legal Advisor for technology companies
Professional Background
Shaun Sethna has established himself as a highly qualified senior legal executive within the specialized realm of SaaS technology companies over the past decade. His rich experience includes significant expertise in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), having successfully led nine different negotiations that encompass all aspects of these transactions. Shaun's comprehensive understanding ensures that he effectively manages not just the legal frameworks but also SEC disclosures and filings to comply with complex regulatory requirements.
In his multifaceted role, Shaun oversees a multitude of business and legal affairs. This includes, but is not limited to, corporate governance, intellectual property (IP), data privacy, securities disclosures, and compliance. His ability to navigate these complex areas makes him an invaluable resource for his organization and its stakeholders.
Shaun is recognized as a proactive, growth-minded business partner. He is frequently engaged with the C-Suite, Board members, and departmental managers to provide strategic legal advice that supports the company's objectives. His approachable demeanor allows him to build deep and trusted relationships across the organization, fostering a collaborative culture that encourages innovation and goal-setting.
Shaun believes in the importance of being actively involved in discussions from the ground up. By ensuring he is part of the early stages of decision-making, he can significantly influence outcomes and support the company’s mission effectively. Shaun’s philosophy revolves around the idea that waiting for opportunities to be presented may inhibit his potential to create meaningful impacts within the business.
Education and Achievements
Shaun’s educational background lays a solid foundation for his successful career in law and business. He received his Juris Doctor (JD) from Columbia Law School, one of the nation’s top law schools, where he honed the legal skills crucial for effective corporate governance. Prior to his legal education, Shaun earned his Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Industrial Engineering from the prestigious Georgia Institute of Technology. This unique combination of engineering and law equips him with analytical problem-solving skills that contribute to his aptitude for navigating complex legal and business issues.
Professional Experience
Shaun's career path reflects his ongoing commitment to excellence and leadership in the legal field. As the Deputy General Counsel at Altisource, he has played a pivotal role in overseeing legal compliance and strategy. He previously served as the Associate General Counsel at Altisource, where he was instrumental in managing various legal affairs supporting the organization’s growth.
Prior to his time at Altisource, Shaun was the Chief Counsel for a start-up SaaS data analytics business at Pointillist, showcasing his versatility in handling legal matters in fast-paced, innovative environments. His earlier roles also include serving as Senior Counsel for Technology Services and Intellectual Property at Altisource and as an Attorney at Schlumberger. Additionally, Shaun began his legal career as an Associate at King & Spalding, where he built essential skills that would define his professional trajectory.
Mentorship and Team Development
Shaun places a high priority on coaching and mentoring his team, considering it an essential aspect of his leadership style. He is a dedicated manager who takes great professional satisfaction in helping others to learn new skills, expand their expertise, and advance their careers. Shaun actively encourages his team members to pursue growth opportunities, believing that a well-developed team contributes significantly to the success of the organization.
Connect with Shaun
A natural connector, Shaun loves meeting new people. His enthusiasm for collaboration and idea-sharing makes him a great asset to any organization or network. With a wealth of knowledge in legal affairs, business strategy, and team development, Shaun invites anyone interested in connecting to reach out and explore opportunities for collaboration.
Whether discussing new legal frameworks, collaborative business goals, or evolving industry trends, Shaun welcomes the chance to engage with like-minded professionals who share a commitment to innovation and growth.
Highlights
One piece of advice to law firms: If you have a former GC (especially a recent one) in your practice group, it helps tremendously to make that person visible in pitches to clients.
I can usually tell based on how a law firm partner is speaking if they were a former GC/in house counsel.
One time I asked someone if they used to be in house. They said "no" and I was surprised.
And then it turned out that their mentor/boss had been a GC for years.
It's not that I think ex-GCs are better lawyers or even better communicators.
But it's much easier for me to feel like they understand the challenges that I deal with.
And once I believe they understand those challenges, it's pretty easy to trust them quickly.
Which is one of the most important things you want in your outside counsel.
What do you all think - law firm partners and fellow in house counsel? Do you find this is true for you as well?
#law #inhousecounsel
"ABC Corp. (together with its affiliates, "ABC") and XYZ Inc. (together with its affiliates, "XYZ") enter into this agreement as of the date of execution below. ABC and XYZ (collectively, the "Parties") hereby agree as follows:"
I've never understood why some people like to define party names to include affiliates.
Especially all affiliates - current and in the future, which is what the above would do.
It's riddled with one #ContractTrap after another. Here are just a few:
1 / Is it even effective? If ABC Corp and XYZ Inc are not the ultimate parent entities, can they really bind their parent companies in the first place?
2 / Does every single entity in the organization own the obligations of the party? So if a contract requires notice to be provided - for example, to avail itself of indemnification remedies - does every entity have to provide notice, lest that entities' damages not be indemnified? What if there's a covenant to comply with the laws applicable to the Party - does that mean that US entities have to comply with the laws applicable to the EU entities?
3 / And how is M&A impacted? Does an acquiring company (or acquired company) automatically assume all of the obligations too? That could make a target far less appealing, particularly if there are non-competes or other material restrictions binding all affiliates.
What should you do instead?
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Always make sure that just one entity is the party (or if there are multiple that actually will operate under the agreement, call them out specifically by name).
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If all of your entities are going to be operating under the agreement and the counterparty wants to make sure you're not using your affiliates to breach, limit the contract party to one entity and include a clause like this:
"if an act or omission by an affiliate of a party would constitute a breach of this agreement if such act or omission would have been committed by such party, such act or omission shall be deemed a breach of this agreement by such party and such party shall be liable for such breach as if such party had committed such breach".
- And before binding future affiliates to anything, always make sure to think about the impact on future M&A activity before agreeing!
#contracts #law #inhousecounsel
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
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User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.