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LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/edgrapenutzimmerman
Follow Ed on Twitter: @EdGrapeNutZimm
Ed’s Mostly Paris/Music Focused Blog: http://edgrapenutzimm.blogspot.com
Ed is a venture lawyer. He represents start-ups and growth companies in raising money, selling the company or cashing out the founders, and depending on market conditions, public offerings. He puts his money where his mouth is (he’s angel invested in more than 30 companies and invested as an LP in several venture funds). One of his VC clients called the companies Ed likes to help “tinkertoy internet companies” (as opposed to heavy core tech and drug discovery companies) and that suits Ed fine. Adtech, e-commerce, social media, fin tech, digital media, SaaS, cloud/virtualization, and enterprise software are, apparently, all tinkertoys.
Growing up, Ed never got invited to the cool parties, so now he throws his own parties…which means founding a bunch of stuff including: www.FirstGrowthVN.com (an accelerator for start-ups which doesn’t charge or take equity), the Tech Group at Lowenstein Sandler, www.AngelVineVC.com (which, to be honest, struggled with its identity but now has found product market fit and kicks serious butt), www.HoopAPaluza.org (a charity for kids that Ed & his wife co-founded, which has given away a ton of cash and which enables parents to team up with their own kids to do hands-on charity work), and www.GrapeArborVC.com (through which he makes his angel investments – some on the positive and others on the negative side of his personal balance sheet). He teaches VC & Angel Investing to MBA candidates at Columbia Business School (his son thinks that’s cool because Lou Gehrig went to Columbia; they don’t really dwell on Lou’s dropping out) and has lectured at Harvard Business School, Wharton, and Paris-based Sciences Po. (Ed is obsessed with Paris. His friends call him pretentious. He’s been called worse.)
Despite looks which left him date-less in high school (his personality probably didn’t help), Ed actually appears on TV from time to time. Here are some links to Ed pontificating on air (appearances to the contrary, he does own more than this one lucky blue shirt): http://bloom.bg/yBovdN and http://wapo.st/IyjAL0.
Ed has been named to a bunch of lists which have almost impressed his mom (she’s never forgiven him for not applying to med school). Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business gave Ed the highest ranking in Corporate & in M&A, noting:
"One of the best venture capital lawyers in the country - period," is how clients describe Edward Zimmerman; with a practice covering the East and the West Coast, Zimmerman enjoys a superb reputation across America, and has also worked on deals abroad. "A great businessperson's lawyer..." "He knows how to get deals done in a way that best serves the interests of his clients while at the same time fostering good working relationships with the other side." (2007 edition)
Anyone who has spent any time with Ed knows that he really likes to talk about and drink wine -- so much so that Ed was the host of Radio Uncorked, a wine radio show produced by Infinity Broadcasting and aired on KYOU Radio. In June 2007 at the Chateau du Clos de Vougeot in France, Ed was inducted as a Chevalier in the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, where he is a member of (but can't necessarily pronounce) the Chapitre de la Vigne en Fleur. Ed has worked harvest (briefly) in California and France and been involved in (didn't screw up) the vinification of a wine granted a perfect 100 point score by Robert Parker. These adventures, and Ed's unhealthy obsession with wine, are the subject of the opening pages of In Search of Bacchus (by James Beard Award Foundation Finalist George Taber).
Ed serves on the National Venture Capital Association's Model Documents Project, where, every spring, he is part of a select team of VC lawyers revising the industry standard VC deal documents and drinking bad coffee in dark conference rooms. Despite having been fired for cause from numerous jobs before working as a Lowenstein Summer Associate in 1991, Ed has maintained this job for a really long time. He is, however, totally open to offers, particularly if they involve making wine in Burgundy or being the front man for the Replacements or the Jam.
Since 1994 Ed has been pro bono counsel to, and (for a while) a board member of, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Ed graduated from Haverford College (Phi Beta Kappa 1989) and U Penn Law (1992). He speaks one language, doesn’t golf but, at least for now, can still crush his adolescent children in basketball. (Ed’s favorite punctuation mark is the parenthesis).
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Ed Zimmerman, Chair of Lowenstein's Tech Group & active angel investor quoted by Reuters on Facebook's mergers and acquisitions strategy and the Facebook/Instagram deal.,
Reuters, April 11, 2012
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Gary Wingens, Kathi Rawnsley and Ed Zimmerman discuss the strategic growth of Lowenstein Sandler's Palo Alto office.,
Daily Journal, June 16, 2011
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Lowenstein's Tech Group Chair, Ed Zimmerman, is profiled in Legal Bisnow for his work with venture funds and rapidly growing startup companies in NYC and Silicon Valley.,
LegalBisnow, February 15, 2011
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University of Pennsylvania School of Law
(J.D., 1992),
Comment Editor, Journal of International Business Law
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Haverford College
(B.A., 1989),
Phi Beta Kappa, John P. Garrett Prize
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New Jersey
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New York
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Hoop-A-Paluza, Inc., Founder and Chairman of Board of Trustees Click here to view the article in The Star-Ledger about the charity Ed Zimmerman founded.
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Rutgers University, Equity Portfolio Committee (only non-Rutgers employee on the committee) New Jersey Technology Council -- Board Member & Chair, Governmental Affairs Committee -
Saint Barnabas Medical Center Foundation, Board Member
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Rutgers Venture Advisory Council, Founder & Co-Chair
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Rutgers University School of Law - Newark, Adjunct Professor of Venture Capital (1994-2004)
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Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Board Member (1997 - 2003), currently Advisory Board
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Millburn Coop Nursery School, Chairman of Board of Trustees (2003 - 2004)
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