Interview with Renata Hesse from WSGR

Renata Hesse from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR) is with me for this interview about US antitrust law. Renata is a high-powered antitrust attorney who has been in the middle of some of the biggest antitrust cases in US history including the massive Microsoft antitrust case of the 1990's. I have found WSGR to be a great law firm to work with and they have helped me on a number of critical issues. My brother Matthew, who some of you have met, works for WSGR also on antitrust issues as in-house counsel at Google. I'm often surprised by seemingly smart internet companies making a lot of money have really poor legal representation. I think its a competitive advantage to have a great law firm on your side like these guys. They can be difficult to be accepted as a client (they normally represent companies like Google), so if you do want to switch your law firm and you know me personally, drop me a line and we can talk offline. Antitrust can come across as dry and boring - but in fact it can be a great way for a small company to beat a larger company in the market. Netscape vs Microsoft is obviously a case where it didn't work too well for Netscape, but there are many examples of smaller companies beating larger ones using antitrust law. Although I've talked with my brother about antitrust over the years, I didn't really understand how it could apply to someone like me - living in the Caribbean - and be an effective business tool - until after this interview. Renata explains how an antitrust investigation can be started for only $20,000 to $50,000 instead of the millions it can cost for a lawsuit - and how you gain tremendous leverage by having the US Government on your side against your competitors. If you are interested in keeping bigger companies from threatening you, protecting your company and staying competitive, this is a must read interview.