Michelle Branch

Venture Partner & Legal Counsel

Michelle Branch is a San Francisco-based attorney with over 20 years of experience advising venture capital funds, early- to mid-stage companies, and founders.

Michelle gained her foundational legal training at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati’s Palo Alto campus as a corporate securities associate representing pre-IPO Google and numerous other technology startups in venture fundraising, M&A, and IPO activity. Subsequently, she founded a boutique law firm that advised Twilio from inception through its Series A financing, and later Founders Fund III and IV as the fund’s interim General Counsel.

Training the next generation of attorneys, she taught for several years as a professor of legal practice at New York University Law School. Michelle holds degrees from the University of California, Berkeley (United States History Ph.D.), Stanford Law School (JD), and Stanford University (AB American Studies with honors). 

For 2019-2021, Michelle serves as the Chair of the Women United Global Leadership Council for United Way Worldwide. Michelle is proud of her track record of counseling and mentoring a wide diversity of founders and funders, including those who are women and people of color.