Everlaw CEO AJ Shankar on how AI is accelerating legal tech

Everlaw is a legal tech company started in 2011 that helps law firms and corporations run what’s called “e-discovery”— essentially a process of investigating often massive piles of documents to find the key pieces of evidence, the smoking gun, and then to construct a narrative from it. Last valued at over $2B, Everlaw has over 1,000 customers over the world.  

In this episode, Sandhya Hegde chats with AJ Shankar, CEO and founder of Everlaw.

Join us as we discuss: 

00:00: The vision for Everlaw 

0:36 Introduction to Everlaw

1:45 AJ Shankar's Journey to Starting Everlaw

4:43 The Vision and Early Years of Everlaw

6:41 Challenges in Fundraising and Building the Early Team

9:56 Understanding Customer Needs and Building Authenticity

11:38 Product Development and Technical Skills

16:22 Impact of Everlaw on the Legal Industry

20:36 Fundraising Challenges and Success

23:59 Adoption of Generative AI and its Implications

29:30 The Future of Everlaw and the Legal Industry

35:51 AJ Shankar's Evolution as a Founder and CEO

Sandhya Hegde is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in modern SaaS companies with a focus on AI. Previously an early executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at sandhya@unusual.vc.

AJ Shankar is the CEO and founder of Everlaw.

Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building the next generation of software companies. Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Webflow, Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, and Harness. Learn more about us at https://www.unusual.vc/.