Douglas Park

Doug's Bio:

Douglas Park is the founder of Park Legal, PC. He advises innovative companies that operate in challenging business and legal environments. Doug applies his business and legal acumen to help companies and individuals tackle issues in blockchain, cryptocurrency, decentralization, sustainability, investments and startups.

His expertise is in corporate and securities law, corporate governance, complex financing and business transactions, and business strategy. Using his unique combination of academic, business and legal experience, Doug delivers uncommon, high value ideas and solutions.

Before becoming an attorney, Doug was an Assistant Professor of Management at the School of Business and Management, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He has taught Starting Startups, Mergers and Acquisitions, Strategy and Organization, and Using the Law for Competitive Advantage at HKUST and Stanford University.

Doug is regularly invited to talk about starting startups, corporate and securities law, venture capital investment trends, and blockchain and cryptocurrency. Doug was also the Director of Legal Policy and Outreach at the Sustainability Standards Board (SASB, now part of the Value Reporting Foundation), where he led SASB’s efforts to socialize regulators such as the SEC, boards of directors, in-house counsel, accountants, and non-governmental organizations to support SASB’s standardized sustainability accounting and reporting approach.

Doug has been named a Rising Star in Corporate Governance, selected several times to the Super Lawyers list in Business/Corporate, and chosen to America’s Top 100 Bet-The-Company Litigators.

He is the past President of the Harvard Club of Silicon Valley, the club’s General Counsel, and an interviewer of applicants to Harvard College, and a member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Asian Alumni Association. Doug serves as pro bono counsel to non-profit organizations.

Doug received his A.B. magna cum laude with highest honors in Sociology from Harvard College, where he was awarded the Albert M. Fulton, Class of 1891, Prize for outstanding senior thesis in Sociology, his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he received a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship and an AACSB Portable Fellowship (one of twenty recipients), and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.

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Doug's Tess-timonial:

"I have known Tess since 2018 when we both advised a company in the blockchain and IoT spaces. From our first meeting, I could tell that Tess is sharp, high energy, and  positive. In subsequent meetings, Tess showed her uncanny ability to think ahead and  foresee business and social trends. This ability enables her to pick companies to invest in based on which market they are in and their position within that market. Tess can  quickly assess a person’s and a company’s strengths and weaknesses, thus helping her  to decide who to work with and how to best help them succeed. On the company side,  she has advised and substantially contributed to startups on operations, business  models, and investor relationships. I have observed her formidable leadership and  managerial skills. Many people have one skill, but not the other.

More notable than Tess’ business and investment acumen is her extraordinary ability to build and mobilize relationships. Her web of relationships is both deep and broad,  spanning industries, functions, and countries. Tess has incredible relationships within  the Stanford GSB, entrepreneurial, and angel and VC communities. She taps her  relationships to make better decisions. Moreover, Tess uses these relationships to help  others. For example, she introduces people to business partners, career opportunities,  service providers, and investment deals.  

Tess goes to bat for people. Her introductions are carefully crafted. Tess spends a  tremendous amount of time giving everyone insights into the other people to set the  foundation for a strong relationship. She helps people prepare for meetings and phone  calls so that they get off to a running head start. Tess follows through on both sides to  help them build and continue the relationship. In the parlance of network analysis, Tess  is the central node who brings together others from different social worlds. While the  common recommendation is to keep different social worlds apart and leverage them  against each other for personal advantage, Tess connects people in disconnected  social circles so that everyone gains something, not only transactionally but also  relationally. Unlike many people in Silicon Valley, Tess bridges and helps others not  solely for her own instrumental purposes, but because she cares about other people’s  professional success and personal well-being. The way that Tess feeds and cares for  people in these relationships is one in a million.

Where does Tess’ approach to relationships come from? It comes from her acute sense  of observation. It comes from her high emotional intelligence. It comes from her sincerity  and authenticity in her relationships.  

Tess’ sincerity and authenticity in her relationships is connected to another quality that  she possesses: integrity. In my many interactions with Tess, she has been honest,  open, and trustworthy. Despite all of the time she spends taking care of business and  helping people, Tess somehow manages to take care of her son and her family as a  single mother. This is the definition of integrity in business and in life.  

No description of Tess would be complete without noting that she works tirelessly to  make things happen. And she makes things happen both effectively and efficiently. A  focus on results explains Tess’ imperative to make things happen. In conclusion, Tess is someone with whom you want to do business."