Attorney, Member of the Firm
Email: bheller@outsidegc.com
See Brian's blog posts
Brian Heller has over 20 years of experience as a lawyer and business development executive in Digital Media, SaaS, Ad-Tech, Cloud Services, Online Advertising, e-Commerce, Streaming Media, Social Media and general Tech, including work for Shearman & Sterling, Akin Gump, AOL, and private equity owned startups.
Brian’s clients at Outside GC include, among others:
- ZyLAB (SaaS and on prem eDiscovery software)
- Nate.tech (AI based e-commerce solutions & fin tech)
- FiscalNote (political media and information services)
- Idio (cloud based content management tools)
- Axios (digital media & ad tech)
- Messari (crypto currency news, indexes and tools)
- Amadeus / TravelClick (cloud based, data driven travel solutions)
- Revulytics (b2b data analytics and piracy detection software)
- Pivotal Software (cloud based big data tools)
- MEDNAX (a national leader in medical services)
- Urgent.ly (the Uber of roadside services and towing)
- Centerline BioMedical (cutting edge medical devices)
- CDN Publishing (price guides for rare coins and collectibles)
- ParkJockey (parking revenue management)
- Brookfield (renewable energy)
- Ascena (retail & e-commerce giant, including Ann Taylor)
- Gannett (digital media & ad-tech; USATODAY.com & 250+ local news sites)
Brian’s work includes drafting and negotiating a wide variety of agreements related to:
- SaaS / PaaS
- Ad-Tech
- Digital Media, Streaming & Social Media
- Online Advertising & e-Commerce
- Crypto Currencies
- Software Licensing (inbound & outbound)
- Content Licensing (inbound & outbound)
- Data Licensing (inbound & outbound)
- Cloud Services
- Mobile Apps
- Virtual Reality (VR)
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Renewable Energy
- Terms of Use / Terms of Service (TOS) for mobile apps & website
- Privacy Policies
- GDPR (DPAs)
- Consulting
- Marketing
- Reselling
- Affiliate Marketing
- Distribution
- Hosting and Development
- Other Technology Agreements
Before joining Outside GC, Brian was in charge of all legal and corporate/business development matters for GlobalSpec, a private equity owned b2b web business, where he served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Business Development. Brian left the company after successfully helping GlobalSpec find a buyer and sell for $135mm.
Prior to GlobalSpec, Brian worked for AOL for 12 years in senior legal and business development roles. As Assistant General Counsel at AOL, he managed a team of 6 attorneys and 4 paralegals responsible for negotiating and drafting all advertising, e-commerce and search related transactions, worth approximately $1 billion in annual revenue. As VP Business Development at AOL, he managed a team of 13 people that supported all transactions for all of AOL’s web content properties, negotiating and closing over 400 deals per year for over 75 different websites & brands.
In 2005, while at AOL, Brian was first to patent the idea of customizing video football highlights to each user’s fantasy football roster (US 07988560) (see: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7988560)
Before AOL, Brian worked as a corporate lawyer for Akin Gump in Washington, DC, doing general corporate transactional legal work, including IPOs, debt offerings, joint ventures, and a wide variety of commercial transactions.
Brian started his career as a corporate lawyer at Shearman & Sterling in NYC, where he specialized in drafting and negotiating project finance transactions and multi-bank syndicated loans up to $1 billion, including a loan to Michael Jackson to finance production of certain MTV videos.
Brian has an MBA from the University of Michigan and a JD from Boston University, where he graduated cum laude in the top 10% of his class.
Brian is originally from Shaker Heights, Ohio (near Cleveland), and has lived in Michigan, Boston, New York City and Washington, DC. He now lives in Vienna, Virginia with his wife, Stacey (who is also a lawyer for Outside GC) and their two kids. He spends his free time serving as an advisor to several startups, ventures and non-profits. One of these non-profits, Chess 4 Charity, Inc. (www.Chess4Charity.org), was created by his children, so he holds the unenviable position of working for his kids!
