About

David Muchow is Managing Partner, Muchowlaw, a serial entrepreneur, author, business consultant, and investor who helps companies grow from startup to exit. He has over 30 years of experience in U.S. and international energy matters, trade associations and foundations, corporate and Board of Directors matters, technology, media, software, military, intelligence, and government contracting, energy, (fuel cells, solar, wind, and other renewables and conventional energy) corporate law, M&A, social entrepreneurship, business plans, finance, and non-profits.
He is an Adjunct Professor in the Landegger Program, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. He lectures on corporate and startup law, business, entrepreneurship, and finance at programs including 1776dc, General Assembly, WeWork, MIT’s Entrepreneurial Forum (Member of the Advisory Board), and Cornell, and is a volunteer mentor to entrepreneurs.
Dave was a founder, inventor, and CEO of SkyBuilt Power (world’s first solar/wind plug-and-play systems for military, intel, and commercial customers); formerly General Counsel and Director of International Programs with the American Gas Association and helped create and was Vice President to a $1B publicly traded investment fund. He is general counsel to various companies and foundations and is on the boards and a mentor to tech and other companies and trade associations. His clients range from socially conscious companies to real estate developers military, intelligence, cyber, and other business interests in the US and internationally, and has been a foreign agent and lobbyist.
Formerly, he was with OMB, NSC, and was a trial attorney and Chief of the Special Activities Unit, and a Special Asst. to the Asst. Atty. General, US Dept. of Justice, and Chairman of the Federal Advisory Committee on False Identification. He received the US Attorney General’s highest award, the Special Achievement Award. He served with Smathers and Merrigan Attorneys and worked on Capitol Hill.
Martindale Hubbell Lifetime Reeminent Attorney, Associate Producer and Counsel for the movie "When My Time Comes," (Fab Films/PBS), co-editor and author of many publications, including Energy Law and Transactions (7 vols., LexisNexis), Regulation of the Gas Industry (5 vols., LexisNexis), The Energy Handbook, and The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success, (Kirkus Reviews Star) (SkyHorse/Simon & Schuster 2022), and holds numerous patents in technology, and energy, and is a Who’s Who Lifetime Achievement recipient, and Edison Awards winner; Georgetown Univ. (BSFS ‘66), Cornell Law and Georgetown Law (JD ‘71). dmuchow@muchowlaw.com, Arlington, VA, 703.625.4115.

Featured Work

The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success

2022

Finally, a new kind of business startup book—it’s fun to read and packed full of practical business and legal advice you can't get in business school or anywhere else!

The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success is the one book every entrepreneur should have. David J. Muchow, the award-winning, thirty-year serial entrepreneur and lawyer, gives you practical legal and business advice covering every aspect of entrepreneurship -- and it’s fun to read!

It includes all the basics of building and growing a business -- management, fundraising, marketing, intellectual property, and risk management -- plus much more, like how to avoid the hidden mistakes that cause “Startup Suicide” and kill 80 percent of startups in the first year. And there are model legal forms and charts along with fun-to-read stories and examples!

Author David J. Muchow, who teaches law, business, and entrepreneurship at Georgetown University, has advised hundreds of businesses on how to succeed.
• The book reveals key mistakes that can kill businesses. For example, blogging about your new products can prevent getting a patent. And giving away too much equity and picking the wrong partners can be fatal.
• At the macro level, the book describes why the US should create a National Ecosystem to Support Startups (NESS) to increase our competitiveness, which could take startups from a concept to commercialization in just ninety days and speed up the patent process.

This unique guide, which focuses on both the business and legal aspects of startups, is a must-have for every aspiring entrepreneur, small business owner, startup incubator, student, and for business and law schools.

In The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success, you will learn:
• How to cut legal expenses and manage lawyers
• How to fire employees and partners without getting sued
• Patent, trademark, and copyright strategies and tricks
• How to raise money without SEC problems
• How to avoid the financial “Valley of Death”
• What “to do” but also “what not to do" to avoid “startup suicide.”

Business books can be fun! Enjoy the many business stories, such as how Ivanka Trump was sued for trademark infringement over her Hettie Sandal design and Oprah Winfrey’s battle to protect her intellectual property for O Magazine. At the end of each chapter are examples, inspired by Muchow’s years as a foreign agent and federal prosecutor, which demonstrate the principles in that chapter. They’re told by Professor Scooter Magee, the Startup Expert, as he helps startups prevent Startup Suicide and achieve success while fighting the CIA and others. Think Professor Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark meets Bar Rescue or Silicon Valley!

So, read on and enjoy Scooter’s adventures while learning the critical real-life startup legal and business lessons that can help you be successful!

Other Works

  • Energy Law and Transactions (7 Vols.) LexisNexis

    2022

  • The Energy Handbook

    2003

Awards and Recognition

  • U.S. Attorney General's Special Achievement Award
  • Edison Award (Silver) for Best New Energy Product
  • Martindale Hubbell, Lifetime Preeminent Attorney
  • Who's Who, Lifetime Achievement Recipient
  • Kirkus Starred Review for The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success