Jim CookMy Epsilen Consulting InterestsI’ve been practicing law for about 30 years, and most of my work has been with entrepreneurs who are starting or building companies. Many of the successful entrepreneurs with whom I've worked have done well financially by selling their companies. Some have gone public. And, of course, it’s exciting when the company is generating operating profits on a regular basis. Much of a business lawyer's advice certainly involves legal considerations, but it is also important to try to help a company think through its business plan, challenge its assumptions, and make connections with peers and others who can be helpful. In advising a young company, I want to understand the company's growth plans and explore how the founders intend to realize their objectives. High-growth companies need access to significant working capital and, for young companies, that often requires equity investment. So, it is also important to help make connections with angels, venture capital firms, and other investors. I enjoy working with people for whom the glass is half-full, and doing what I can to offer suggestions and provide assistance. As a personal perspective on entrepreneurship, my partners and I opened our law firm in 1996. Not only did we need to make sure that we had plenty of work to keep us going, we also needed to deal with all of the nuts and bolts of opening and operating a business. We learned a lot, and gained a much better appreciation for what our clients were going through in getting their ventures off the ground. Starting a business is a full-time endeavor! I've got a bit of a background in technology. My B.A. was in math/computer science from the University of Iowa. During my senior year, I received a letter from my uncle. He was both a missionary and a Professor in the Physics Dept. at the University of Legon in Ghana (West Africa). Certainly an unusual combination. He had been asked to start a one year certificate program in computer science for students who had their bachelor degrees. Knowing that his nephew was getting a CS degree, he asked if I'd be interested in coming over to be an instructor. My answer was easy - a big yes - but finding a way to get there took a while. The Peace Corps. was a possibility, but they wanted me to go to the Fiji Islands. Eventually, I found a computer group who was willing to sponsor me. So, the summer after graduation, my wife and I were married and 3 weeks later we were in Ghana. We spent two years there. It was definitely an adventure, and opened my eyes, in all kinds of ways. And the teaching had a certain edge to it, as I had to learn the material before I could teach it and was usually no more than a couple of weeks ahead of the students. Long story short - I'd do it all over again.