Gary Sangha
The second annual Above The Law Academy for Private Practice (APP) had a definite “startup” vibe, resonating to the 2016 theme: “Building a Boutique Firm.” The two-day event started off Thursday at the University of Pennsylvania Law School for an afternoon that included advice on dealing with the media and the alt.legal Innovation Awards competition, then moved Friday to the Hotel Monaco in the charming “Old City.”
The opening keynote was presented by Gurinder “Gary” Sangha, who wears many titles. He teaches at Penn Law, he’s a Fellow at Stanford Law School’s CodeX, he’s an attorney, and last but not least, he’s a “serial entrepreneur.” Sangha is the founder and CEO of Lit IQ, “which uses advances in computational linguistics technology to help lawyers draft precise and error-free legal documents, such as patents, contracts and regulations.”
Celebrating the sale of Intelligize with Gary Sangha.
Sangha previously was the founder and CEO of Intelligize, which helps business professionals research SEC filings. The company was recently sold to LexisNexis, making Sangha and his investors very, very happy. Sangha practiced at White & Case and at Shearman & Sterling before becoming an entrepreneur.
Sangha should have failed, he insisted to the packed room. “I’m a lawyer who succeeded in business,” he said. “When I started I had no business experience whatsoever. I’m a Canadian, and I didn’t even have a work visa.”
Perhaps worse, Sangha confessed, “I was and still am an extreme introvert, and never very good at sales.” On top of that, “the sector I entered — SEC filings research — was a mature market. The SEC was offering this stuff for free! I was going against the market leader, Thomson Reuters, which had a 100 precent share of the Am Law 100.” And that’s not all: his first two hires quit.
And forget the old saying, timing is everything: “I closed my first venture round a week before Lehman blew up. Folks, if there was ever a sure thing in the world, it would have been me failing as an entrepreneur,” he said.
But he didn’t fail. Why? Sangha shared what he learned with the audience:
• Life is sales and sales is life.
“I cannot emphasize enough the importance of sales and marketing,” Sangha preached. You can’t just focus on your product or service and assume that “if I build it they will come.” Learn sales, he insisted. It can start with small talk, he suggested. Understand how to address your potential customer’s objections. “If they’re not objecting, they’re not interested or your price is too low.”
Be careful with marketing, Sangha warned. But do it: Start blogging. Write articles. Prepare client memos. “Social media is your friend,” he said.
• Know how to pivot.
“One of the hardest things for me was figuring out if I was on the right or wrong track,” he recalled. Things may naturally take time; learning curves may be slow. “How do you get the right data to make decisions?”
“The only truth in the world is when you ask for business.” If they say no, ask them why.
• Deal well with setbacks.
Ask yourself, “Is it really a setback, or are you just impatient?” The average legal tech company is ten years old at the sale, he reminded the audience. Check your ego—employees, customers and investors can screw you.
• Technology must serve a purpose.
Technology lets you do things that you otherwise couldn’t afford to do. It should help you make more money, cut costs, or reduce risk.
LOOKING AHEAD
Sangha wrapped up this keynote by looking to the future of legal services.
There is a lot of disruption going on in legal services, he observed. “It’s really, really good for all of you in this room,” he assured the audience. “The era of Biglaw firms is coming to an end.” The top twenty or so firms will continue and survive, but “client loyalty is no more. Partner loyalty is no more.” The future, he predicts, is “custom services. Firm brand is irrelevant—only the lawyer matters.”
Earlier: A Case For Great: Casetext Wins alt.legal Innovation Awards
Making Corporate Law Great Again: Intelligize Sold, alt.legal Entrepreneurs Cheer
Monica Bay is a Fellow at CodeX: The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics and a columnist for Above The Law. She also writes for Bloomberg BNA’s Big Law Business and is an analyst and consultant. A member of the California Bar, she frequently can be found at Yankee Stadium. Email: [email protected]. Twitter: @MonicaBay.
