How To Leave Your Law Firm And Start A Startup

Be the kind of person that everyone wants to accommodate. It will help both transitioning out of law and in building your next venture.

Ed. note: This is the latest post by Above the Law’s guest conversationalist, Zach Abramowitz, of conversation platform ReplyAll. You can see some of his other conversations and musings here.

Since starting to write here on Above the Law, the question I get at least once a week by email or phone, and often from attorneys, is: “How did you leave your job and start a company?” Second most often is: “How can I leave my job and start a company?” The answer to the question of how I left my job is not as smoothly as I could have; and, as far as “how to leave your job,” the answer is I don’t know, but you can start by learning from my mistakes. Here’s the advice I give other attorneys who have been bitten by the startup bug.

Don’t leave your day job.

To start a company that grows, you will eventually have to leave your job. But starting companies has never been less expensive. To get the first version of ReplyAll up and running, we spent only $20K on development. It sucked and didn’t gain much traction, but it was something to work with and we were able to use the the first version to iterate and build something a little better. What this means for you is that you can keep your job while having a freelance technical team build a lean version of your idea that you can test on nights and weekends to see if your idea has legs.

Before you leave your job, speak to the lawyers at the firm.

I left my job in about the dumbest way possible. I just got an impulse one day, walked in, and told the hiring partner I was done. I had become obsessed with this idea I was working on, and didn’t want to be sitting around in ten years wondering, “What if?” There were partners I trusted who I could have approached and said, “I would like to see if I can work something out with the firm where I can work fewer hours or a more flexible arrangement. Ultimately, I think I can build a business here and would certainly use the firm as outside counsel.” There’s no guarantee it would have worked, but the worst case scenario is that they would have fired me and I would have gotten to start ReplyAll with some severance money.

Build something useful for the legal industry.

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If your company is going to need investors, particularly venture capital firms, you will make it easier to raise money if you can say something to the effect of, “I built this company to solve a problem that lawyers like me face everyday.” Many VCs will not be able to look past the fact that you’re a lawyer and they will only want to fund you if you’re doing something that fits your experience. Case in point: I had an investor tell me early on that we should change our idea to something addressing the legal industry because I was, well, a lawyer. It didn’t matter to this investor that I had worked for a year as a stand-up comedian or that I had spent most of law school working in radio. Many lawyers who contact me have groovy ideas for grocery store apps, e-commerce sites, web, and B2B. My advice: start something that will be easier to fund.

Work at a firm that works with startup clients.

Looking back, I regret not working at Orrick, Wilson, or one of the other firms that specialized in working with startups, and not simply because I would have learned that startups should organize as C-corps. When you work with startups, you can build a network of other entrepreneurs, VCs, and (if you work smart) tech press. These are very important resources if you’re going to start a company. Imagine being able to say to a client who you’ve been working with for two years, “I’m starting my own company, was hoping we could pitch your fund,” or to a founder who you helped, “I just raised a Series A, would like to speak to you about joining our company as CTO.” Do you need to have worked at a startup law firm to found a startup? No, but it makes it easier.

Before a startup, consider starting your own practice.

There are many reasons to start your own company, but many people who talk to me about leaving law to start their company list “I’m miserable” as one of their reasons. “I’m miserable” is not a bad reason to start a company, but it is a bad reason to start a startup because most startups (even good ones) fail. I always tell people that had I known just how much work it would be starting ReplyAll, I never would have done it. I’ve not a had a single weekend off or vacation day since leaving SRZ and I bring work home with me. I didn’t leave SRZ to start ReplyAll because I thought a startup would be a better lifestyle, I did it because I couldn’t get the damn idea out of my head. If all you want is more control of your life, a little more risk and the feeling of starting your own company, then start your own legal practice and hustle for clients. You’ll make more money sooner and you’ll be your own boss.

Sponsored

Conclusion

As Marc Andreessen, founder of the Netscape browser, famously said, “Software is eating the world.” It is only natural for ambitious lawyers to want in on the action. My advice: if you’re thinking about a startup, don’t leave your firm until you absolutely must, try to negotiate a flexible position at the firm, start a company that addresses a problem you face as a lawyer, work at a firm that works with startups and, before founding a startup, consider starting your own practice.

And then my final meta advice: be a great attorney and make sure everyone in your firm loves you (I could have done this much better). Be the kind of person that everyone wants to accommodate. It will help both transitioning out of law and in building your next venture.


Zach Abramowitz is a former Biglaw associate and currently CEO and co-founder of ReplyAll. You can follow Zach on Twitter (@zachabramowitz) or reach him by email at zach@replyall.me.