Tristan Kaisharis is a corporate attorney who represents founders, startups, private equity and venture capital investors who are driving innovation and building high-growth businesses. Tristan provides strategic legal counsel on every stage of the growth cycle–from formation through venture financing, growth transactions, and navigating successful exits. In addition to domestic transactions, Tristan has significant experience handling cross-border mergers and acquisitions and investments across Europe, South America, Australia and Asia, helping clients navigate complex international legal, regulatory and cultural landscapes to maximize value and achieve their strategic objectives.
Tristan regularly counsels founders, venture capital, and private equity firms on seed and venture capital financings, term sheet negotiations, equity structuring, and corporate governance across technology, energy, healthcare, consumer products and other innovation-driven sectors.
Known for his pragmatic and results-driven approach, which benefits both entrepreneurs and the firms that invest in them, Tristan works closely with clients as a strategic legal partner—helping them navigate fundraising, scaling challenges, and complex transactions while keeping the focus on building great companies. Investment firms value Tristan’s ability to anticipate risks, structure deals efficiently, and deliver solutions that protect their investments while enabling portfolio companies to thrive. Founders rely on his collaborative and strategic guidance to overcome challenges, scale effectively, and build businesses that attract top-tier investors.
In addition to his legal practice, Tristan serves as an Adjunct Professor at Baylor Law School where he teaches venture capital and emerging company finance to help train the next generation of startup lawyers and founders. He is also a member of The Hellenic Initiative, an international group of like-minded Greek and Philhellene professionals who actively believe in investing in the future of Greece through direct philanthropy and economic revitalization.
Representative Experience
Venture Capital Financings
- Represent a Dallas-based investment firm in its $5M Series A Investment into a Silicon Valley startup at a $140M valuation
- Represent an Austin-based operating company in its investments and acquisitions of consumer products
- Represent a biotechnology company in its $15M preferred stock financing
- Represent a biotechnology company in its $2.5M convertible note conversion to preferred stock
- Represent a venture capital firm in its investments into research university backed start-ups
- Represent a consumer products operating company with various investments ranging from $2.5M to $10M
Mergers and Acquisitions
- Represent a beverage manufacturer that has a leading national brewery valued at $57.8M with its stock exchange and reorganization
- Represent a retirement plan servicer in its $50M sale to a Houston-based private equity firm
- Represent an Austin-based private equity firm with various software acquisitions valued between $1M and $25M
- Represent a private equity firm in its $85M rollover acquisition of a sports technology SaaS company
- Represent a Silicon Valley-based private equity firm in its $83M rollover acquisition of a Polish SaaS company