Jack Newton from Clio

Jul 2, 2025

Jack Newton, Founder and CEO of Clio, discusses his journey in transforming legal technology. He shares the challenges of fundraising during a financial crisis and highlights the importance of perseverance. Newton delves into Clio's core values, emphasizing employee autonomy and a strong company culture. He explores how AI is reshaping the legal landscape, boosting productivity for lawyers, and discusses strategies for scaling while maintaining innovation. Lastly, he reflects on his 17-year commitment to building a lasting legacy in the legal tech space.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Startup Breakthrough From Spam Folder

Jack Newton and his co-founder Ryan discovered a legit investment email from Germany in their spam folder during the 2008 financial crisis.
They flew to Germany for less than 48 hours to meet the investor, securing Clio's first million-dollar check without missing the birth of Jack's first child.

INSIGHT

Draw The Owl Culture Value

Clio's core value "Draw the owl" means employees must take broad goals and creatively fill in the execution gaps.
This value has guided the culture from Clio's origins and emphasizes autonomy and problem-solving without detailed instructions.

ADVICE

Hire and Enforce Culture Early

Your company culture is shaped by the people you hire; the first 10 hires are critical to establishing it.
Codify your values, use them in hiring and promotion, and enforce alignment, including termination if needed.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Radical Candor

Be a Kick-ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity

Kim Scott

Radical Candor by Kim Scott offers a practical approach to management by emphasizing the importance of caring personally and challenging directly. The book argues that effective managers must find a balance between being empathetic and providing clear, honest feedback. Scott draws from her experiences at Google and Apple to provide actionable lessons on building strong relationships, giving feedback, and creating a collaborative work environment. The book introduces the concept of 'radical candor' as the sweet spot between obnoxious aggression and ruinous empathy, and provides tools and strategies for managers to implement this approach in their daily work[1][2][5].

No Rules Rules

Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention

Erin Meyer

Reed Hastings

In this book, Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer explore the counterintuitive management culture that has driven Netflix's success. The authors discuss how Netflix's approach, which includes no vacation or expense policies, generous severance for underperforming employees, and a focus on candid feedback, has led to unparalleled innovation and speed. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with current and past Netflix employees, the book provides actionable lessons for leaders on how to build and maintain a highly innovative and adaptable organizational culture.

Good to Great

Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

Jim Collins

In 'Good to Great,' Jim Collins and his research team investigate why some companies achieve long-term greatness while others do not. The book identifies key concepts such as Level 5 Leadership, the Hedgehog Concept, a Culture of Discipline, and the Flywheel Effect. These principles are derived from a comprehensive study comparing companies that made the leap to greatness with those that did not. The research highlights that greatness is not primarily a function of circumstance but rather a result of conscious choice and discipline. The book provides practical insights and case studies to help businesses and leaders understand and apply these principles to achieve sustained greatness.