Mike LaPlante is a partner in the San Francisco office of Morrison Foerster and a member of the firm’s Emerging Companies + Venture Capital Group.

Mike has spent more than a decade acting as a trusted strategic advisor to hundreds of entrepreneurs and the startup companies they have built. He has developed one of the fastest growing startup practices in the Bay Area and has established a reputation as a practical, but strategically aggressive advocate for his startup clients and their founders.

Mike has helped to form and advise innovative startup companies on a wide variety of matters at all stages of their lifecycle - from nascent pre-incorporation planning to late-stage, multibillion-dollar private companies. He has advised his clients through countless fundraising rounds, from pre-seed to pre-IPO, with an aggregate deal value in the tens of billions of dollars. He also has advised his clients through scores of both public and private mergers & acquisitions.

Mike’s clients include innovative startups in diverse tech sectors including enterprise software, AI, consumer products, Web3, hardware, digital media, virtual healthcare and health tech, social media, new space, professional sports, education, and other technologies.

He holds a J.D. from the UCLA School of Law, where he served as Editor in Chief for the UCLA Journal of Law and Technology.

Community Involvement

• UCSD Health System, Women and Infants Services, Volunteer
• John Wayne Cancer Institute, Volunteer
• UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Volunteer