Comment by eries
6 hours ago
I got so frustrated that this is so difficult for people at the early stages to do with most law firms that I actually helped start a new law firm (called Virgil) to do it properly.
Virgil is an AI-powered law firm, but it doesn't let the AI do the legal work for you. It actually hires and trains human lawyers to become AI-powered superhumans. It handles lots of the really unpleasant back-office crap that early-stage companies absolutely hate dealing with, from payroll to compliance and a lot of finance stuff.
Of course it also does full-service legal work. Because I'm involved, it is specialized in setting up mission protective structures for startups. We have worked really hard to drive the cost of such structures down.
In fact, many of the implementation guides that you can access from the book if you scan the various QR codes were developed in partnership with Virgil. If you want to DIY it, I think we've given you enough information to do so, including sample templates, term sheets, documents, etc. If you prefer a low-cost, flat-fee subscription, Virgil is also there to help you at any time. The URL is tryvirgil.com.
(And you are welcome to use Virgil alongside your established high-prestige high-cost firm, too, if you prefer to do that. It will still save you considerable amounts of money)
Thanks a ton! I have called several local firms about these structures and it hasn't been very successful (note; i have complex requirements in addition to wanting the protections in your book).
One other thing i've grappled with while reading the book is this:
Some of the internal issues you describe seem to come from companies growing too big. The Founders who lose control, weakening culture etc. The size of a company seems to correlate with so many issues (not all related to financial gravity).
I wonder how much pain can be avoided by just staying small (employee count).
Thanks again for the book(s). It feels very mission driven which perfect.
Staying small is definitely one way to increase your "span of control" over what happens. But honestly, size is not as much up to you as you think. If you hit product/market fit, you often will be forced to scale up whether you really want to or not. Better to have a structure that can handle it.
Good point. I haven't thought much about being forced to grow headcount. One can only hope for such PMF. And if you get it, i guess you become more of the target for the kinds of behaviors mentioned in the book.
I hope we get PMF with what we're building. But also hope to stay as small as possible however unrealistic that is.,
Thanks!
I might be missing something here but the Virgil website doesn't appear to have a CTA / Get Started / Sign Up / Contact Form or any other way to get in touch?
I see a "book a call" button in the lower-right, at least on chrome/macos. Apologies if it's not working on other platforms. TBH, the team has been so overwhelmed with word-of-mouth leads, they probably have neglected the website-entry pathway. We are working hard to scale up so that they can accommodate more demand and then will probably also have time to get a working website :)
Ahh I see it now (sorry for the false alarm).
I do think the site could use some more prominent CTAs. I think i vaaguely noticed that button but thought it was one of those AI chat bubble.
1 reply →