Sheryl Hunter

Overview

Sheryl Hunter is a shareholder in the firm’s Business Transactions Group where she continues to operate The Entrepreneur’s Law Firm to serve entrepreneurs. For over 25 years, she has represented hundreds of growth-focused entrepreneurs and their business enterprises, from start-up to exit. As a corporate and securities attorney, Sheryl provides a wide range of advice to emerging growth and middle market companies. Sheryl also represents venture capital firms and angel investors who invest in early-stage companies.

Sheryl’s practice focuses on meeting client’s needs in each stage of a company’s life: start-up, growth and sale. Services include business formation and entity selection, intellectual property protection, contract drafting and negotiations, shareholder and operating agreements, compensation and equity arrangements, capital raising transactions, including private placements of debt and equity and venture capital, growth through mergers and acquisitions, and ultimately sale transactions.

Deeply committed to Florida’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, Sheryl has served for several years on the board of Synapse, is a frequent speaker at innovation events, and mentors students and interns. She is also the chair of the advisory board for Transitions Candles, a social enterprise of Girls Empowered Mentally for Success (GEMS), and in 2022 established the Think Business Scholarship, for future business owners and lawyers, offered through the nonprofit Think Big for Kids.

Sheryl was named on the list of Legal Elite 2022 representing the top 1.4% of Florida lawyers, selected by peers and published by Florida Trend Magazine.  She was also identified on The StartUp Weekly’s 2021 Women in Business to Watch list, was selected by her peers for the 2020 Top Lawyer edition of TAMPA Magazines and was honored as the 2016 Businesswoman of the Year for Legal Services by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Sheryl is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and George Washington University and lives in Tampa with her husband and two children.

Representative Matters

General Corporate Representation

• Represented bartering technology company with divestiture from an international parent company.
• Represented Sarasota-based educational technology company in a $500k series seed financing round.
• Represented Sarasota-based company in a $1.2m buyout of minority owners from whom the clients had made a technology acquisition.
• Represented a restaurant franchisee in negotiations of commercial leases in multiple cities.
• Represented a purchaser of St. Petersburg, Florida-based restaurant for over $1m.
• Represented a restaurant owner in the structuring of strategic agreements and financing.
• Represented client in a dispute with and separation from co-owner of a fitness studio.
• Represented angel investor fund in $1.5m investment into an early-stage cannabis-related marketing company.
• Processed over 50 trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for 40+ companies.
• Represented a blockchain educational and coworking company in a $1M convertible note private offering.

General Counsel Representation

• General Counsel to multiple franchisees providing fire and water cleanup, and restoration services.
• General Counsel for a Tampa-based investment company with both a crowd-funding platform and a $18M venture fund dedicated to investing in Florida-based early stage companies; assisted with over 35 investments in over 25 companies as well as three funding rounds for the company since 2014.
• General Counsel for a Fort Myers-based direct marketing and database solutions provider specializing in the energy, broadband and telecommunications industries.
• General Counsel for Tampa-based mobile platform provider which turns sports and entertainment venues nationwide into smart spaces to improve and innovate the guest experience.
• General counsel to consumer products manufacturer distributing millions of dollars of sold products internationally each year.
• General counsel to three executive and board coaching and training companies.
• General Counsel to Tampa-based automotive equipment management firm with operations throughout the Southeast.
• General counsel to salon suites company.
• General counsel to a commercial real estate company, including handling of all leases.

Intellectual Property

• Drafting and negotiating various technology and intellectual property agreements, including confidentiality, noncompete, tech development, software as a service, licensing, invention assignment, work made for hire, and joint venture agreements.
• Advising businesses on the availability and proper use of trademarks, and assisting clients in obtaining federal and Florida trademark registrations.
• Drafting and compliance with terms of use, privacy policies, and other click-wrap policies and agreements for websites and mobile apps.

Securities – Early Stage Capital Raises

• Educating founders on options for funding early-stage companies with private security offerings.
• Advising clients about and preparing SAFEs (simple agreements for future equity), convertible note and priced round (equity) security offerings, and guiding clients through investor relations and paperwork.
• Advising clients on federal and state securities laws compliance, including filing notices of exempt offerings in connection with private placements and complying with state Blue Sky laws.

Recent Representative Securities Transactions:

• Capital raise (SAFE) offering for startup video technology company, Spring 2022
• Capital raise (convertible note) for startup construction management technology company, Spring 2022
• Capital raise (priced equity round) for blockchain company, Blockspaces, Fall 2021
• Seed capital raise (convertible notes) for wellness vacation company, Vacayou, Spring 2021
• Series A capital raise (priced equity round) for healthcare technology platform company, Spring 2021

Private Equity/Venture Capital

• Represented most active VC firm in the State of Florida since 2014, on over 40 investments.
• Formed and structured VC Fund focused on seed stage start-ups.

Mergers & Acquisitions

• Preparing clients for sale of their business through a multi-stage program to maximize value developed by Sheryl Hunter called the M&Aximizer™ Program
• Drafting and negotiating investment banker and M&A advisor agreements
• Performing due diligence
• Drafting and negotiating Letters of Intent, Asset Purchase Agreements, Stock Purchase Agreements, Seller notes and ancillary documents associated with transaction
• Performing closing and post-closing transaction related work

Recent Representative Purchase & Sale Transactions:

• Sale by sole owner of restaurant to operating employees, May 2022.
• Sale of InSync Healthcare Solutions, one of Tampa Bay’s largest software firms and a leading provider of EHR and practice management software plus revenue cycle management services for behavioral, medical and rehabilitative professionals, to a portfolio company of private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC, December 2021.
• Purchase of engineering company by long term executive employee, April 2021.
• Sale of 180byTwo, a leading Account-Based Marketing Technology, and Audience Solutions Company based in Clearwater, Florida, to a private equity backed, out of state buyer, November 2020.
• Purchase of dog daycare and boarding business, October 2020.
• Sale by founding shareholder to successors of surveying business, August 2020.
• Sale of engineering business, June 2020.
• Sale of a Tampa Bay area commercial roofing company to a private equity backed, out of state buyer for an undisclosed amount, April 2020.
• Negotiated the six-figure settlement of a disputed M&A Advisors fee associated with the sale of a business.
• Represented a Clearwater-based direct-to-garment apparel printing and fulfillment company in $30M sale to a publicly-traded company.
• Represented a national signage company in sale to national competitor.
• Represented bartering technology company with divestiture from an international parent company.
• Represented Sarasota-based company in a buyout of minority owners from whom the clients had made a technology acquisition.
• Represented a purchaser of St. Petersburg, Florida-based restaurant.

Honors and Distinctions

• Tampa Magazine’s Top Lawyers List, 2024
• Selected for list of Legal Elite 2022 (top 1.3% attorneys in FL), Florida Trend Magazine – Business Law
• The StartUp Weekly’s, Women in Business to Watch, 2021.
• TAMPA Magazine, Top Lawyer in Business Law, 2020.
• Listed as one of the Top 3 Business Lawyers in Tampa, FL by ThreeBest Rated in 2020.
• Tampa Bay Business Journal, Top 10 People to Watch, 2018.
• Tampa Bay Business Journal, Business Woman of the Year for Legal Services, 2016.

Professional Involvement

• The Florida Bar
  • Business Law Section
• Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Tampa Bay

Community Involvement

• Synapse – 501(c)(3) dedicated to the fostering of the Florida entrepreneurial ecosystem;
  • Board Member and Chair of Governance Committee, 2018-2019
• Girls Empowered Mentally for Success (GEMS); Mentor and Chair of Advisory Board for Transitions Candles, GEMS’ social venture, 2017-present
• Women Ambassador Forum (WAF) event sponsor, January 2019
• Best Buddies – Champion Fundraiser/Sponsor, 2018 Gala
• Investor Participant, Uberpitch Tampa, October 2015
• Member, Advisory Board and Research Foundation Committee of the National Stuttering Association, 2013-2018
• Chair of the Board of Directors, National Stuttering Association, 2012 to 2014.
• Co-Chair, Family Programs, National Stuttering Association, 2010-2012. Founded and hosted NSA Family Radio, an online support group for parents of children who stutter, and kids who stutter.
• VIBE, BVG Incorporated January 2007-2008. Founded corporate social responsibility initiative (VIBE) and chaired its volunteer board of BVG employees. VIBE provided support and services to Faith Café and Habitat for Humanity.
• Tampa Crossroads, Inc. Board of Directors, 1998-2004. Board President 2001-2002. Provided leadership and active board participation to nonprofit serving criminal offenders who have re-entered society. Spearheaded social entrepreneurship initiative to promote greater capacity to self-fund and eventually provide employment opportunities to graduating clients.
• National Association of Women Business Owners, Tampa Bay Board member, 2003-2004. Community Liaison Committee member, 2001-2002; Chair 2003-2004.
• Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers (HAWL) Board member, 1996-2001. Chapter Representative to and served on the board of the Florida Association of Women Lawyers, 1999-2001. Chairwoman of Community Outreach Committee, 1996-1997. Editor of Newsletter, 1997-1999. Volunteer, Domestic Violence Injunction Project.
• Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence/Women in Prison Project/Pro Bono Service Summer 1993; 1995-1999.
• Advocate for battered women. Coauthored report on domestic violence and the criminal justice system and developed materials for an expert witness training seminar. Successfully argued before Governor Chiles and Cabinet for the early release of incarcerated abuse victims.
• Tampa Connection 1998 graduate of Tampa community one-year leadership program for professionals.
• Helping the Elderly with Their Legal Problems (H.E.L.P.); Pinellas Branch 1996-1998; Co-coordinator of volunteer program to make attorneys available to indigent elderly on monthly basis at Senior Center.
• Women’s Peacepower Foundation Advisory Committee Chairwoman, September 1995-2001. Analyzed and evaluated grassroots organizations and individual activists dedicated to bringing peace to the lives of women, families, and communities.