Zachary D. Bahorik
Partner | Co-Group Leader, Venture Law
Zach serves as Co-Group Leader of Ulmer’s Venture Law Practice Group. He focuses his practice on the corporate and transactional needs of venture-backed companies, investors, and investment funds.
Zach has experience working with founders at all stages, from forming and structuring entities to be ready for future investment, to executing fundraising rounds and exit transactions. He also helps guide founders through all of the operational issues that come up in between, including preparing incentive equity plans, providing board and governance counsel, and negotiating and preparing various kinds of agreements and contracts.
Zach also has experience with all aspects of forming and operating investment funds. For six years, Zach served as fund manager of a series of funds that invested in early stage companies through a Cincinnati accelerator. This gives Zach experience on both the company and investor sides of fundraising and exit transactions. Zach uses this experience to assist investment funds with fund formation, due diligence of potential portfolio investments, and analysis and negotiation of potential investment deals. Zach also works with individual investors and investor syndicates to execute deals as well.
Education & Admissions
Education
- Indiana Wesleyan University
(B.S., 2005)
- Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
(J.D., 2009)
Admissions
- State of Ohio
- Commonwealth of Kentucky
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky
Experience
REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE
- Provides legal counsel to individuals and business clients of all sizes with corporate formation, capital raises, entity structure, governance, and transactions.
- Served as counsel to a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company from its formation through several rounds of investment financing and ultimately to its exit more than six years later.
- Formed and counseled an investment fund that made capital investments in more than 40 early stage tech companies.
- Represented the owner of a veterinary practice in the sale of his business, which included real estate and non-traditional business assets for a purchase price of more than $2 million.
- Organized and executed a complete restructuring of a registered investment advisory firm, overseeing a transition from one single entity to a collection of subsidiaries dedicated to different lines of business.
- Negotiated and recovered more than $130,000 of severance and benefits prior to the filing of a lawsuit for an individual who was terminated by his company allegedly for cause.
- Raised and operated three investment funds to support the participants in the OCEAN Accelerator, and provided assistance to portfolio companies with financing, governance, and growth post-graduation.
Involvement
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
- Ohio State Bar Association
- Cincinnati Academy of Leadership for Lawyers (Class of 2020)
- Cincinnati Bar Association (Young Lawyers Committee, 2010-2011)
- Kentucky Bar Association
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
- Volunteer Lawyers Project (Pro Bono Attorney, 2009-present)
- Lawyer-to-Lawyer Mentoring Program (2021)
- Pleasant Ridge Montessori Baseball and Soccer (Coach, 2019-present)
- Oak Hills High School Mock Trial Team (Legal Advisor, 2011-2017)
- Girls on the Run of Greater Cincinnati (Board of Directors, 2013-2016; Chairman of the Board, 2015; Vice Chairman of the Board, 2014; Chairman of the Board Governance Committee, 2013-2015)
Honors
- Named to the Ohio Super Lawyers list of Rising Stars (2017-2019, 2021-2022)
- Cincinnati Business Courier “Forty Under 40” Award Recipient (2022)