Ep 026 Interview with Kevin Miller, CEO of LegalSifter

With this episode of the Legal Tech StartUp Focus Podcast (www.legaltechstartupfocus.com/podcast), your host, Charlie Uniman, welcomes Kevin Miller, CEO of LegalSifter (www.legalsifter.com). According to its website, LegalSifter " . . . fixes many of the pre-signature contract challenges [its customers] face. It reads contracts and gives in-context advice. It's fast, easy-to use, and is configurable for [the customer's] organization." LegalSifter's website also describes its post-signature contract management tools where "[LegalSifter] keep[s] track of [a customer's] contracts using A.I., easy-to-use contract software, attorneys, paralegals, and a passion for technology and service."

 

Kevin begins by describing his professional journey, first, acquiring a JD, next undertaking a brief stint in legal practice, then on to getting an MBA and working as a senior manager at growth-stage companies outside the legal tech sector. This description leads to the story of how Kevin became the CEO, about five years ago, of LegalSifter, a startup squarely in the legal tech vertical.

 

Charlie follows up with questions about LegalSifter's product offerings and we learn that LegalSifter offers both pre-signing and post-signing contract analysis and management services. As Kevin describes those offerings, his company uses natural language processing technology (its "legalsifters") to surface ("sift" out), and give advice concerning, key provisions in contracts. Kevin also describes his company's "Concierge" services where, AI and related technologies, together with LegalSifter's personnel, an enterprise can have LegalSifter act as the enterprise's "contract librarian" to assist with post-signing contract management.

 

Kevin next offers some helpful "words to the wise" advice for fellow legal tech startup leaders. First, Kevin emphasizes the importance of post-sale customer nurturing and the how even very early-stage legal tech startups should target hiring people whose talents are particularly geared to post-sale customer success. Kevin then notes that a well-designed and ongoing "land and expand" strategy (i.e., growing the number of users at an existing customer) is an oft-neglected path to solid sales growth. Kevin concludes by talking about a realization that came to him only after several months of leading LegalSifter. This is when Kevin came to understand that managing a startup did not mean tearing up the big company "playbook" that he had developed in previous roles, but instead that leading an early stage company meant just the opposite; namely, calling on that playbook's management strategies to manage a startup like LegalSifter.