If youa4ぎa4вe running a startup, you probably have to wrestle with plenty of legal questions, but hiring a law firm may be beyond your budget. Thata4ぎa4г why a startup called LawPivot offers entrepreneurs a place where they can get their questions answered confidentially and for free (at least for now).
Google Ventures, Googlea4ぎa4г startup investment arm, seems to think that the site is filling a real need &8212' it just led LawPivota4ぎa4г $600,000 seed round. LawPivot is also moving into the Google Startup Lab in Mountain View, Calif.
To use the service, startups just write their question, identify relevant legal keywords, then choose which lawyers to send the question to. Today, LawPivot is also unveiling its new recommendation algorithm, which takes data about users and trends to recommend which lawyer might be best suited to answer each question.
Q&'A seems to be a hot area for startups right now, especially with the growing popularity of Q&'A startup Quora. LawPivot isna4ぎa4д shy about riding on Quoraa4ぎa4г coattails, calling itself a4ぎAQuora for legala4ぎ, but the LawPivot model is actually pretty different. Where Quoraa4ぎa4г Q&'A pages are open to the public, all your correspondence on LawPivot is private and confidential.
Ita4ぎa4г pretty clear why a startup might want to use the site, but why are lawyers giving free advice Vice president of business development and co-founder Nitin Gupta said ita4ぎa4г because theya4ぎa4вe finding that the traditional ways for lawyers to network, such as speaking at conferences, are becoming less effective. Lawyers use LawPivot as a way to connect with potential clients, he said.
And thata4ぎa4г also where the startup might make money in the future. Like I said, the site is free for now, but Gupta said it might eventually charge both startups and lawyers. The startups might pay per month or per question, while lawyers might either pay to get into the service or for premium features.
LawPivota4ぎa4г angel investors include Allen Morgan (formerly managing director of Mayfield Fund), Deep Nishar (a former Google executive whoa4ぎa4г now at LinkedIn, plus a founding partner at AngelPad), Richard Chen (another former Google executive whoa4ぎa4г a founding partner at AngelPad), Chris Yeh (an executive at PBworks), David Tisch (the managing director of TechStars NYC), and others.
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Companies: Google, Google Ventures, LawPivot
People: Allen Morgan, Chris Yeh, David Tisch, Deep Nishar, Nitin Gupta, Richard Chen
Companies: Google, Google Ventures, LawPivot
People: Allen Morgan, Chris Yeh, David Tisch, Deep Nishar, Nitin Gupta, Richard Chen
Anthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.
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