How LawDingo's CEO Moved In With His Ex To Keep The Company Going

How far would you go to save your company?

One of the problems with interviews — or any conversation for that matter — is that all too often you come up with a good response twenty minutes later, like George Costanza’s “jerk-store” comeback.  The conversations I publish here on ATL should, in theory, not have that problem because of their slow developing nature.  But last week, I totally missed the boat when LawDingo CEO Nikhil Nirmel dropped this little nugget:

I don’t know how saying this publicly helps me, but at one point fairly recently, I was entirely out of money. Like credit lines all maxed out, bank accounts overdrawn, collections agencies coming after me, and investors weren’t biting. I couldn’t afford rent, let alone payroll. Usually that would mean the company shuts down. A for effort. Post-mortem blog. But that’s not how I roll.

Instead I sold some furniture, laid off most of my staff, airbnb’ed my apartment, and moved in with my ex-girlfriend, who mistakenly thought I wasn’t using her for free rent and maybe we could work things out. Awkward.

But then I got my cashflow situation back on track, raised a bit of money, moved back into my home and averted death!

Here’s a link to the full conversation

Now, ideally, I would have asked natural follow ups like, “Were you able to hire any of your staff back?” or “How are things going now?” but was so shocked by his honesty that I just sort of, well, panicked. Slowly. (Update 9/3/15 2:24pm: Nikhil confirmed that there are 30 people working on LawDingos staff, although not all of them are full time.)

Some might look at this episode and predict a poor outlook for the Dingos — Law, Doc, Psych and Cash.  I don’t and here’s why.  Paul Graham, he of the Y Combinator that funded Nikhil, often describes good entrepreneurs as “cockroaches,” those who just stick around and refuse to go away.  The Airbnb guys? Classic cockroaches (as it happens, I used to work with some lawyers who were cockroaches).  Many founders, whether its startups or solo practices, will experience adversity, but it’s the ones who will find anyway to stick around that give themselves the best chance go the distance.

I’ve never met Nikhil in person — I know him only through our conversations here on ATL.  But he strikes me as having this cockroach quality.  And, while moving back in with his ex might make me think twice before setting him up on a date with friends, I read it as a positive sign for the future of LawDingo.


Sponsored

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.

Sponsored

CRM Banner