Zachary D. Bahorik
Partner | Co-Group Leader, Startups & Emerging Growth Companies
Zach serves as Co-Group Leader of Ulmer’s Startups & Emerging Growth Companies Practice Group. He focuses his practice on the needs of venture-backed and growth stage companies as well as established businesses in a wide array of legal areas. His specific experience includes capital raises, fund management, business formation, operations, intellectual property and asset protection, financing, and transactions. He advises business owners and executives on planning for the long-term growth and eventual succession or acquisition of their businesses. He also has experience counseling companies through commercial disputes, including pursuing and defending claims related to employment, intellectual property, breach of contract, and commercial torts.
Zach is also highly involved in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Greater Cincinnati. He represents founders and companies at all stages, from initial concept to exit. He also works with investors and investment funds. He has worked closely with OCEAN, a local high-tech startup accelerator, and served as the fund manager of its dedicated investment fund.
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)