Canadian Lawyer

March 2018

The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers

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18 M A R C H 2 0 1 8 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m In talking to these entrepreneurs and others that I follow (like some kind of groupie), I realized that the journey is not only highly unique for each person but at the same time follows a familiar pattern of highs and lows, stops and starts, tears and laughter. I've picked just three that stood out for me during these conversations. An idea with wings! As Sahil Zaman of Closing Folders says: "It's not just about having the 'A-ha' moment." The idea is most certainly not fully formed in that eureka shriek. It is fleshing that idea out into something that people will buy that's the hard part. But the idea is where the journey begins. The shape that the idea stage takes is different for many. And, indeed, how long that shaping stage takes and how many pivots one might make dur- ing it is wildly different for those that have taken this path. This thinking stage, pondering dif- ferent ideas, concepts and business models, was more than six months for Noah Waisberg of Kira Systems — part of that while still at Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP. Others, such as Aaron Wenner of CiteRight, had a shorter ideation stage and got to a prototype that he could show lawyer friends ear- lier than that. But it will be two years in development by the time Wenner launches his winning product this year. Giving an idea wings requires both time and creativity. Entrepreneurs need to "Think Different" about the prob- lems in front of them and that requires focused time. This isn't completely alien to lawyers, but both creativity and find- ing the time to draft something non- conforming and innovative seems such a luxury at the early stages of a lawyer's career. Patience and perseverance The second common thread with all of those I spoke to was the need for both patience and perseverance. That jour- ney of one step forward and two steps back requires tenacity in what you're trying to achieve. The entrepreneurs I spoke with admitted to a number of pivots during these early idea stages (even changing the complete solution idea!) in response to initial feedback and after further thought. That requires a commitment to the process and a belief that it will all work out in the end. Pivoting from an original idea is sometimes referred to as "failing often and failing fast." This kind @k8simpson L E G A L I N N O VAT I O N N O W O P I N I O N n my last column, I discussed the disruptive mindset needed to face the oncom- ing challenges to our profession. In preparing for that article, I spoke with a number of entrepreneurs. All of them were founders of exciting Canadian-based legal tech disruptors that firms and in-house legal departments are beginning to licence and use. I wanted to get a sense from those entrepreneurs of what it takes to pivot away from a stable(-ish) career in law to one without guardrails, a reliable income and needing a completely different skillset. It is one thing to have the "there has to be a better way to do this" thought that most of us have when we are doing some tedious repetitive task at work. It's quite another to pursue that thought day in and day out to figure out how to build an entire business model around it, let alone then persuade enough people to pay for it! How to be a legal entrepreneur Lawyers have many helpful attributes, but their aversion to ambiguity needs to be overcome By Kate Simpson I

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