Introduction: 0:00

• Lawtrades Co-founders Raad Ahmed and Ashish Walia join the podcast live from New York.
• Starting their company in 2015, going through the 500 Startup accelerator, raising 9.7 million in venture-backed funding, and growing their business to 12 million dollars in annual recurring revenue.

Why two start-up founders went to law school: 2:04

• Raad on choosing not to be a pharmacist.
• Leaving law school during a market downturn.
• Ashish on preparing for public service and business careers.
• Meeting through their fraternity at St. John’s University.

Deciding to go all in on your start-up: 5:46

• Raad on launching an early Facebook app.
• Trying to leverage his law school education
• Making legal services more affordable and accessible.
• Ashish on a bad law school internship.
• Messaging Raad about his legal business idea.
• Raad on taking the first step to make a startup real.

Participating in the 500 Startup accelerator: 10:49

• Raad on efficiently connecting people to lawyers.
• Growing when they targeted business owners.
• Getting rejected by 500 Startups.
• Ashish on building community at a coworking space.
• Reapplying to 500 with recommendations from their network.
• Raad on joining accelerators before they were mainstream.
• Filming a music video to get an accelerator’s attention.

Pivoting your business model to match talent with legal departments: 17:58

• Ashish on starting from the ground-up.
• Raad on making three business pivots.
• Moving your business forward with clarity and purpose.

Is gig work good for workers?: 20:33

• Raad on evolving the gig economy to include white-collar workers.
• Disrupting legal, finance, accounting, management, and consulting.
• Replacing the need for a 9-to-5 job.

Cultivating a diverse and gender equitable talent pool: 25:18

• Ash on offering options to lawyers who want to control their careers.
• Creating opportunities for entrepreneurial lawyers.
• Raad on removing the barriers to work at really good companies.
• Democratizing high-value opportunities.

Removing administrative burden for independent legal professionals: 28:17

• Ashish on offering free services for payments, insurance, and time-tracking.
• Raad on de-risking legal entrepreneurship.
• Ashish on building strong client relationships.

Changing course and enduring layoffs: 30:09

• Raad on the hard truths of running a business.
• Understanding the importance of costs.
• Eliminating unnecessary expenses every week.
• Ashish on changing your mindset.
• Growing transparently and authentically.

Getting buy-in from team members and investors: 35:30

• Raad on finding serious long-term investors.
• Being transparent about difficult business cycles.

Managing stressful times in business and coming out the other side: 39:56

• Ashish on supporting each other during crises.
• Maintaining a routine.
• Raad on showing up and doing the work.
• Ashish on taking the long view.

What’s next for Lawtrades?: 43:34

• Raad on maintaining a fun experience.
• Exploring possibilities with AI.
• Ashish on plans for growth.

Rapid-fire questions: 46:36

• Raad and Ashish’s favorite parts of the day-to-day.
• Professional pet peeves.

Book recommendations: 50:13

• Ashish recommends Shoe Dog by Phil Knight.
• Raad recommends Nexus by Yuval Noah Hariri, The New Tao of Warren Buffet by David Clark and Mary Buffett, and anything by Jed McKenna

What you wish you’d known as a young founder: 53:19

• Ashish on staying patient.
• Raad on being kinder to yourself.
• Viewing your career as a journey.

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