Sachin and Adam
00:09:32 · Adam, Sachin, Ryan
[00:09:32] S1: So we're just taking a quick break from the podcast, and we're here with our friend Ryan from Zed Law who's building a legal marketplace. And he's absolutely obsessed with helping startups access the top talent in legal. When we first got a coffee with [00:09:44] S0: Ryan, we thought he had something special. He had this kind of maniacal intensity about really solving this problem properly, and it's something that we both resonate with. When I was in venture capital, I saw so many founders get burned by expensive law firms, and this was their runway. This was... You know, sometimes they mortgage their house and they were getting burnt with lawyers that didn't really do a good job. When did you first kind of realize that this was a problem? [00:10:05] S2: I think, look, we realized that for a while. I think other law firms have realized the same thing, but what we are trying to do is go, okay, well, founders at the early stage of their businesses don't wanna spend money on lawyers. Why should they? And so what we do is basically go, okay, lawyers that were a top tier firm have left. They're somewhere else. It could be a portfolio company. We're connecting those lawyers up to founders and they just get startups in a way which lawyers at law firms don't. [00:10:29] S0: Yeah. That's that's fascinating. And what do you think has been the biggest challenge right now in building your business?
00:10:29 · Sachin, Ryan, Adam
[00:10:29] S0: Yeah. That's that's fascinating. And what do you think has been the biggest challenge right now in building your business? [00:10:35] S2: I think it's getting... Like, the demand is outstrip supply right now. So like, we are looking for top tier lawyers who are at startups who are happy to be connected to founders. [00:10:44] S0: Yeah. That's a good problem to have. And how can people find you? Zed.law, just go to the [00:10:48] S2: website, zed.law, the best way to get in touch. [00:10:56] S0: And then the second thing you said is like, I would have loved to have been attacked with people that I fundamentally disagree with. Right? Dude. Sorry? Dude. Yeah. That is the point. Yeah. That is the point. Because it's like, I, because like we're on the same side of these people in the macro. Right? We like, as you said, really want more women led businesses to get funded. And so it's like, I wish it was like another podcaster in the exact same realm of us or someone that where, you know, you can use that as a motivation. [00:11:28] S1: Someone trying to be like racist towards So you or [00:11:32] S0: I don't wish that, [00:11:32] S1: but I wish that like as someone that we could just like, you know, attack back and then... Because I
00:11:32 · Adam, Sachin
[00:11:32] S1: but I wish that like as someone that we could just like, you know, attack back and then... Because I [00:11:36] S0: think like these things are good to get you fired up, but I don't actually feel that fired up by that because I don't really wanna prove these people wrong. Because if we prove them wrong, we're just like another example of like two males that got funding and did really well, which is nothing bad about that. Right? But that doesn't do anything like against the system that they're angry about. Because the reality is they're not angry with us, they're angry with the system. And the things that was said about us are literally just an extension of their anger. And I don't think any of these people, if they met us, would actually say those things. Yeah. And I realize that, I empathize with that. Seen that a lot.
00:12:08 · Adam
[00:12:08] S1: Yeah. We've had a lot of people that have actually made hateful comments in public then reach out to us and be very nice Yeah. And say, wasn't trying to direct this at you. Yeah. And there's a part of that where you're like, well, I did see your comments. Yeah. But then there's a part of you that's like, alright. I get that this is bundled up in frustration. And let's try and be the bigger people here and not get angry back. Has it made you doubt anything seeing those kinds of comments? It has built more conviction by a long shot. Yeah. For sure. Because it's made me go internal and really think about what we're doing and think about the important impact that we wanna have Yeah. On people. It's really made me have a lot of conviction. I also think that this stuff is gonna make us a lot more tough. I think there's different... I've talked to you about this. There's different levels of resilience in life. There's physical resilience. There is mental resilience about how much work could you do in a given day. And there's that emotional resilience of, like, are you okay with people attacking you in public? And that's something that we're just gonna have to get better with. Mhmm. So I'm excited about that because I think that that is all part and parcel of building a stronger character. Yeah. Being okay with, like, standing firm when people are, like, saying things on the sideline.
00:13:18 · Sachin
[00:13:18] S0: I think it's, like, true self confidence when that stuff doesn't actually affect you that much, and I don't think it has. Like, I think the stuff that affected us is the worry about how this affects our business and us not wanting to be perceived as like something against what these people are advocating for because that's... You know, all we did was wanna raise money and announce it. Right? There there was nothing political about what we did. Right? It just got used as an example. The second thing is is that I, like, I... Whenever I read these comments about our incompetence around, like, us not deserving these things around us being quote unquote mediocre white men, It's almost just funny, like I actually haven't even considered that any of those things are true in the slightest and I think like we both have confidence in who we are, we have confidence in the people that backed us, that they backed us for a reason. I think the thing that it did lead to anxiety about is like how do we present this bigger business? Do you need to present it with more certainty? And that's... This is, as you said, just an invitation to get better and articulate our thoughts better, but also the people that are interpreting this stuff, they're not our customers. So it it it... There is this thing of like, yes, have clarity in your bigger business, but also have clarity towards your customers who know your pain points and the people that are gonna be part of your platform. And if these other people don't really understand or don't think it's a good idea or whatever, like, I don't think that's that big
00:14:35 · Adam, Sachin
[00:14:35] S1: of problem. But I also think that's like... That's where the invitation to prove them wrong comes in as well. Because I think that we wanna be on the content side and the bigger business side Yeah. Something that's accessible for everyone. Yeah. Sometimes it's... Yeah. We're gonna have to prove some people wrong. And, yeah, those comments, like, it's just... It's a value that I fundamentally disagree with just judging a book by its cover Yeah. And saying that because you are this or that, I think that when you don't truly get to know someone. And we do live in a world of, like, quicker judgments on social media. [00:15:05] S0: I mean, it's case in point identity politics. But I think, again, like, there's so much nuance in our interpretation of this because we get the angle that's coming from. We think it's misdirected at us, but, like, hey. Like, it's not like it made us cry or anything. Like, we're pretty we're pretty okay with it, and we're fired up to build this much bigger business. Now this isn't a normal podcast advertisement because we're lucky enough to partner up with one of our favorite companies in [00:15:30] S1: the Australian ecosystem, Kinde. We actually had Ross from Kinde come on our podcast a few years ago, and we're blown away by his vision for wanting to help enterprise businesses get started and scale quicker. Kinde is taking