General Counsel · Corporate Secretary · Board Advisor

Raj
Kumar.
Counsel
& Capital.

Over twenty-five years at the intersection of law, capital, biotech, and software. I help founders, boards, and investors make consequential decisions and build the professional infrastructure to execute them.

Learn more →
$57M
Institutional Capital RaisedClinical-stage oncology, committed and placed
$230M+
Patent Portfolio OverseenStrategic IP management and monetization
$500M
Family Office AdvisedMulti-asset, Silicon Valley, ongoing since 2015
2025
CA Supreme Court PrecedentEpicentRx, Inc. v. Superior Court

The case for a different kind of advisor.

Most advisors give you one perspective. A lawyer sees the legal risk. A banker sees the deal. A consultant sees the process. Raj Kumar gives you all three simultaneously — because for over 25 years, he has operated at the intersection where law, capital, biotech, and software collide.

Trained at Genentech, seasoned through co-founding two operating companies, and tested by a decade of high-stakes advisory work, Raj brings something rare to every engagement: the ability to build and direct the full professional team a complex situation requires. Big Law partners, investment bankers, CPAs, regulatory specialists — each with their own institutional interests. Getting them aligned toward a single client outcome is a discipline in its own right.

His clients have called it a virtual large firm. A better description is senior judgment without institutional overhead. The right specialists, briefed precisely, moving in the same direction.

As Board-appointed Corporate Secretary at a clinical-stage oncology company, Raj participated in all Board meetings including Executive Sessions — a level of governance access that is rare for non-director officers and reflects the trust built over five years at the table. He advises on a selective basis: boards, capital allocators, and founders navigating something that requires more than one lens.

Evidence before conviction.
Structure before momentum.

01
Build the evidence stack first.
Every assertion requires an artifact: signed contracts, clean cap table snapshots, regulatory correspondence. Contemporaneous documents beat memories. Clean artifacts beat compelling narratives. The best outcomes start with an honest inventory of what you actually know.
02
Set the burden of proof before the debate.
Small bets clear a lower bar. Pivotal decisions require corroboration from independent sources. The threshold gets set before the conversation begins — so the goalposts don't move with the room's energy. This prevents the most common and most costly mistake: mission replacing measurement.
03
Orchestrate the right team around the problem.
Complex situations require multiple disciplines: legal, regulatory, financial, governance. The value isn't in the individual specialists — it's in briefing them precisely, managing their competing incentives, and translating their outputs into decisions you can act on.

Where the framework lives on the page.

The best way to understand how Raj works is to read how he thinks. These pieces are working frameworks applied to real problems in capital allocation, governance, and institutional decision-making.

Explainer · Capital Markets
The Restaurant
Picture a city. Every restaurant on every block. From the nineteen-year-old in the apartment kitchen to the hedge fund manager at the bar. The entire ecosystem is how capital works in the real world.
Read →
Tribute · Investment Philosophy
The Bronx Investor
He grew up in the Bronx, dressed like a professor, and thought like a prosecutor. He had a strong New York accent he never lost. What a founding partner at a Menlo Park venture firm taught me about discipline, restraint, and saying no.
Read →
Essay · Governance
The Higher Calling Trap
The drug developer saving lives. The software founder democratizing access. These are not cynics or frauds at the outset. They are people answering a higher calling. That is precisely what makes them dangerous.
Read →
Essay · Capital Strategy
Where Counsel Meets Capital
The cap table was clean. Then someone checked the footnotes. Unassigned intellectual property. That oversight killed a $196 million exit. On the two lenses most investors carry separately, and why that gap kills deals.
Read →
Essay · Corporate Governance
Effort Is Not a Defense
A general counsel asks a question nobody wants to hear. A VP of Finance builds a beautiful spreadsheet. The spreadsheet cannot answer the question. On why fiduciary duty runs to the outcome, not the effort.
Read →
Explainer · Corporate Law
The Shift
Ask someone to picture a great lawyer. They will describe a fictional character. Every time. On the difference between the TV surgeon and the ER doctor, and why nobody makes a show about the one who keeps everyone alive.
Read →

Services

How to engage.

I.
Board & Advisory Roles
Available for director and advisory board positions in life sciences, technology, and family office contexts. Brings capital markets judgment, governance experience, litigation oversight, and 25 years of biotech sector expertise.
II.
General Counsel as a Service
Senior legal and strategic oversight on an engagement basis. Manages the full professional team — Big Law, boutiques, CPAs, investment bankers — around your specific situation. Available for time-limited engagements, extended retainers, or crisis response.
III.
Capital Strategy
Financing roadmap preparation, investor materials, capital structure analysis, and placement support for growth-stage and clinical-stage companies. Draws on direct experience raising $57M in committed institutional capital.
IV.
Transaction Tools
A growing library of professionally drafted contract templates, due diligence frameworks, and governance documents — built on institutional standards, available for direct purchase and immediate use.
V.
Introductory Consultation
A focused 60-minute engagement to assess your situation, identify the highest-leverage issues, and map a clear path forward. Concrete analysis, unbiased perspective, and a defined set of next steps.
VI.
Investment Thesis Development
For family offices, emerging managers, and principals building an investment practice. Applies the evidentiary framework to develop a defensible, differentiated thesis grounded in your actual track record.

If you're navigating a financing, a governance crisis, a board transition, or a transaction that requires more than one professional discipline — let's talk. Initial conversations are confidential and without obligation.

Phone
650.815.8002
Location
Santa Clara, California