Advice for Legal Tech Start-ups from Seedcamp’s Tom Wilson
By Artificial Lawyer, November 19, 2016
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‘Law firms’ desire for risk is very, very low. So the sales cycle [for legal tech companies] is slow. This makes it harder for VCs to keep investing,’ Wilson explains.
He points out that investors want to see considerable improvement every 12 months. But, as anyone in the legal market can attest to, selling to law firms can often take 18 months or more to move from discussions to an actual contract. Moreover, because the tech here is so new, law firms will need to trial it and a trial does not mean a lasting contract will materialise.
Another factor is the number of law firms that a cutting edge legal tech company can sell to. How many law firms want to license the very latest AI technology? The answer is: a growing number, which is very positive. But compared to the global consumer market for general tech applications this is still a relatively small group of potential clients. Selling legal tech to corporate in-house teams is also not easy.
