Decoding Vertical SaaS: Jack Newton on Transforming the Legal Industry

What does it take to instigate and implement digital transformation in a vertical that’s slow to change? Jack Newton founded Clio, a legal-tech SaaS company, with the idea of revolutionizing legal services through cloud-based technology. 13 years later, Jack is the CEO of the billion-dollar company, an author, and seen as a thought leader in the legal-tech space. In this episode, he shares the obstacles he faced along the way and what the legal industry’s future looks like.

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The One-Vendor Advantage

“We could go really deep on a vertical like legal, even though on the surface it looks like a niche opportunity almost. If you provide true and deep value to that vertical, you're going to have an unreasonable right to win categorically, in that vertical... customers really want a vendor of record. As much as possible, they want to be able to buy all of their technology, all of their services, from one vendor.”

Why DIY Integrations Are Not Ideal

“Even though integrations between products are possible, at the end of the day there are very few customers that want to figure out how do I cobble together 15 different products into one through a number of integrations, and maybe a bunch of duct tape, when they can have one cohesive experience in one product?”

Becoming Client-Centric

“[T]here's a whole new way of thinking about legal services, in a way that is client-centered. If you embrace this client-centered thinking, you embrace this new way of thinking about the way you can design, price, and package your legal services. There's an enormous opportunity to drive massive competitive differentiation.”