I’m John Donboli (JD for short). I earned a J.D., run two businesses, and am preparing to begin an MBA. Put it all together and you get JDJDMBA. This is where I chronicle my journey from courtroom attorney to business owner to MBA and beyond. The short version of what I do today is on the Work page.

Education

I hold a Juris Doctor degree. I have been accepted to the MBA program at the University of San Diego and deferred my enrollment to take care of family commitments. I plan to begin when circumstances allow, and I will update this page the day I do.

JDJD Search

My main work is JDJD Search, a local search and conversion agency in Del Mar that works only with San Diego County businesses. It came out of a simple observation: I learned how Google Maps, search, and the new AI answers actually decide who gets the call by doing the work for my own businesses, and the local owners I talked to were paying remote agencies for dashboards nobody explained to them. So I built the agency I wanted to hire. We meet every client in person, we visit the competitors they lose to, and we charge flat fees for a short list of jobs: get found, get chosen, get booked, get the customer back. The legal training shows up in the unglamorous parts, which are clear agreements, plain-English reporting, and a refusal to promise what the data does not support.

Cabo360

The second business is Cabo360, a small advisory I own and run for American entrepreneurs who want to open a company in Los Cabos or elsewhere in Mexico and don’t know where to begin. I’m not their lawyer and I’m not their agent. What I do is simpler and, I’ve found, rarer: I explain the process in plain English, from entity choice to bank account, and then put them in the hands of independent, licensed Mexican professionals who do the formal work. Cabo360 came out of years spent in Cabo San Lucas, building relationships before I ever thought of building a business on them. It is also where the JDJDMBA project stops being theory. The things I write about here, such as evaluating a venture, structuring a deal, earning trust across a border, are the things I practice there.

My legal status

I am not currently licensed to practice law, and nothing on this site is legal advice. I mention my law degree because it is part of my education and my story, not because it authorizes me to represent anyone.

What I write about

The JDJDMBA series follows the path from a law degree to an MBA. My other writing covers the practical side of business: how I evaluate an early-stage startup, why power laws shape venture returns, how SAFEs, notes and priced rounds differ, and a first-pass due diligence checklist. I also write about brand building and working with creators.

Publications

Earlier in my career I wrote about cross-border business in the Middle East. Both pieces are from the mid-2000s and reflect the law and economies of that time. Summaries, citations, and links are on the Publications page.

• Doing Business in the Middle East: A Primer for U.S. Companies, 38 Cornell International Law Journal 413 (2005), with Farnaz Kashefi.
• Doing Business in the Middle East: A Guide for U.S. Companies (panel transcript), 34 California Western International Law Journal 274 (2004), with William Aceves, Ali Gheissari and Alidad Vakili.

In conversation

A free series for first-time founders

I also created The First Raise Series, a free six-part learning series on whether to raise money, what investors look for, and how a first raise works.

How to reach me

Use the contact page or find me on LinkedIn.