How To Pitch Your Legal Services To Startups

How can you get legal work from startup companies? Zach Abramowitz, a Biglaw associate turned startup founder, shares his insights.

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.

About once a month, I get approached by a lawyer or a law firm offering legal services. There are really good reasons to want to do legal work for startups, especially if you have your own practice or work at a midsize firm. The clients are often more appreciative, the actual legal work is easy to learn, and you get to (rightly) feel like you’re a part of their growth. Let’s be honest, JPMorgan is going to be just fine no matter how you decide to draft that clawback provision, but for many startups, getting the right lawyer can be the difference between success and failure. Here’s why: a good startup lawyer is less attorney and more Sherpa.

I only do some ancillary legal work for startups, but I’ve spoken with many startup founders who are frustrated by lawyers who they feel aren’t going to help them with what they really need.

Here is the following verbatim pitch that you should use when you speak to startups: “I love what you’re doing, I can make introductions to angel investors and seed funds, and I’m going to do the initial work on a deferred basis plus do everything I can to keep costs low.”

Here is why each of those elements is so important:

1. I love what you’re doing: Entrepreneurs are usually a (toxic) mix of super cocky and insecure because, while confident, they usually hear “no” much more than “yes.” They invest in their startup because they think they know something that everyone else does not, so if you say you love what they’re building, they will think that you’re smart and want to work with you.

2. I’m going to make introductions to angel investors and seed funds: Startups need money and they’re not going to get their initial cash from big Series A round venture capital firms or private equity firms. Don’t waste time networking with big VCs who will not help your clients. If you’re going to be my lawyer, I want to know that you’re plugged in with angel investors and seed funds, preferably in the same city as me, and I want to know that you’re going to make introductions and get me meetings. You would think good entrepreneurs can get their own meetings — and some can — but most investors expect for lawyers to bring them hot deals. Angels typically put in between $50K-200K per deal, seed funds put in $250K-2M, but the real key is that they’re usually investing pre-revenue or pre-1M users. Once your client has angels and seed funds backing them, your role as “introducer” is over and you can start putting money in your pockets from the angel and seed round documents, not to mention other legal work that your startup can now afford.

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3. I’m going to do the initial work on a deferred basis plus do everything I can to keep costs low. Early-stage companies don’t have much money, and what they do have they got from friends & family. The last thing they want to do is spend that money on lawyers. Plus, they want to know that you meant it when you said “I love what you’re doing.” Some lawyers ask for warrants or options in the company and my experience is that most startups find that request flattering. If someone wants equity in my company, it’s because they believe in the idea and the team.

In future posts, I hope to discuss how to actually work with startups and how to make sure your startup clients aren’t wasting your time. If you’ve got any questions you’d like me to address, shoot me a Tweet or an email.


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.

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