London-based legal start-up community Legal Geek gathered more than 100 women – and a few men – to Balderton Capital’s offices in King’s Cross last week to continue the push to recognise, discuss, promote and increase the role of women in the development of legal technology (lawtech). Through networking, wine and pizza, participants heard from speakers and each other on the challenges and opportunities facing start-ups in the legal sector. Those present included legal start-ups, legal consultants, newly qualified and young lawyers, those responsible for implementing technology in law firms, and providers like Thomson Reuters.
Alex Ford, Vice President of Operations and Marketing at data visualisation wizards Encompass, recounted a start-up journey that took her from Sydney to Scotland. She had three key messages for women hoping to tread a similar path (commercially, if not geographically):
- Enjoy the ride – but make sure you’re on the right ride
The passion and energy that drove you to join or found a start-up is to be embraced and enjoyed on a daily basis, but it’s important to make sure that your growth is headed in the direction you want it to be. Make sure you have the long term goal in mind and make sure you pivot the direction of your solution if required.
2. Keep balanced
The start-up environment globally, and particularly in the legal sector, is littered with obstacles ready to push you off course and rock the boat and it’s tough to keep going – make sure you stay on an even keel and find space for yourself. Alex personally used yoga to keep her balanced.
3. Lean in
Alex referred to the advice from Sheryl Sandberg’s successful book, particularly that women should not ‘leave before they leave’ and work themselves out of an opportunity that presents itself because they are planning a family.
She also emphasised the importance of pitching, and pitching well – if you can’t explain your product and the need for it in a short sentence or two, then you need to rethink what you’re providing. Encompass focuses on education to make sure clients and investors understand its products and the technology behind them.
We also heard from Anna Boffetta, a venture capitalist at Balderton Capital. Participants at the meet up were keen to hear from the VC side of the table, and Anna provided great insights for the start-ups present. Balderton tended to focus on new companies with £1m+ turnover, which are identified either through existing networks, or through extensive research. That research is so thorough that there should be no start-ups reaching beyond £1m that remain off the radar of venture capitalists.
She sounded a note of caution by pointing out that although the prevalence of catalyst environments means that pitches are becoming more and more polished – and numerous – that doesn’t mean that the underlying businesses are necessarily better. The fundamentals are still crucial to VCs going forward.
Thomson Reuters is committed to partnering with start-ups in lawtech, with Pangea3 and Contract Express being recent examples. We’re also building on initiatives like our Legal Geek partnership, as well as our work making coding accessible through Coderdojo; the importance of female participation is a huge part of that, and we’re working to promote women in STEM through our LinkedIn forums and beyond. This meet up showed what an exciting time it is to be starting out in legal tech, and how women in particular can drive progress and change the industry for the better.
