Quicklegal's Winning Experience at Techweek's LAUNCH

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Quicklegal's Winning Experience at Techweek's
LAUNCH
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Techweek is a weeklong convention and festival
held in five of the most innovative cities in
America Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami,
and New York. It draws people from a plethora of
industries and job roles from all over the
country. They have fun, learn from the
presentations, and network with potential bosses
or clients. Companies send representatives to
scout for the next big business and new ideas to
invest in. One event that garners particular
attention is LAUNCH. As Techweeks main event, it
is the reason many come. Quicklegal was one of 80
chosen to compete in California from the
approximately 2,500 that had applied. Despite
stiff competition, Quicklegal stood out to judges
as the best new app. So many companies and
investors were impressed that many offered up
their own cash, unexpectedly boosting the
original prize of 50,000 to close to 184,000.
Derek Bluford, Quicklegals owner, took some
time to reminisce and discuss his experiences at
LAUNCH with us. What was your winning
strategy?
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A lot of startups get too busy trying to explain
what they do and what their app does. I tried to
keep it short, sweet, and simple. I told everyone
that Quicklegal is exactly what it sounds like.
We are the only app that provides instant
on-demand video chat and then you have the lawyer
you need. That sums it up, really. Then I touched
on some details. They can video chat with an
attorney for 15 minutes for 39. Then we
discussed the messaging feature and how it works,
how long weve been around, our background, and
thats it. Then I let the investors and VCs and
judges ask us questions that were far more
specific to help them decide whether or not its
a fit. Was there a portion of the competition
that made you nervous or worried? Yeah, there
were some good companies. There was one company
where they built a 3-D printer. There was a
wireless charging company. That one definitely
stood out to us as well. I would say those two
were the big people where we thought, Oh, wow,
they might actually take this thing, thats
pretty cool. Overall you were pretty confident
in your actual presentation at LAUNCH? Yeah,
you know why? Metova built a kick-ass app. With
Metova, we came together
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. Im all about customer service and have always
been. In a business you have your 8 -5 guys and
with DM (Metovas President) and the team, no one
has played an 8 to 5 role and thats what sets
you guys and our company apart from everyone
else. Because were not the 8 to 5 guys were
true entrepreneurs. We work until we get the job
done. We test it and we try to break it and then
we fix it and make it bigger, badder, stronger.
Metova and Quicklegal have worked together really
hard on it to achieve that. We did our demo and
it went well. Everyone loved it. You see everyone
looking at each other and its like, wow, this is
pretty awesome. You know, thats probably the
most confident moment I had throughout the whole
of Techweek is displaying the app because I had
so much confidence in it. What question from the
judges stood out most? Why would attorneys want
to use this? They would only be making 39 for 15
minutes, much less than their average rate. If
the attorney does just one video chat a day, that
would be 30 clients that they would talk to in a
month.
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Statistically they know that if they talk to 30
clients in one month they are going to
statistically retain three or four of them. And
just retaining one client will more than pay for
several months of service for Quicklegal. Its a
win-win. The average law firm charges their
attorneys about 500 per month so the average law
firm in California makes about- they gross- about
500,000 a year. So when you figure spending
about 6,000 a year on Quicklegal to generate new
business and grow their practice anywhere, at
their own convenience, its a no-brainer. What
makes Quicklegal stand out? The biggest thing
about the legal industry is that it is non-stop.
Quicklegal stops. You get connected with a lawyer
instantly. When you have to find a lawyer, its
not easy task. It usually takes a couple days and
with Quicklegal you download the app, you select
an attorney, and you are talking to an attorney
in about a minute or two. Its fast, its
reliable -- which is important -- and its
effective. Thats what people look for. When I
was going to school and I was taking a business
class, a teacher had always said, You can beat
your competitor by price, or by quality. Why
cant you do both?
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You know I actually remember challenging him and
saying, Well, what if its lunch time and
theres two hamburger stands and you can go buy a
hamburger at one stand for a dollar or you can go
to the other stand and not only buy the same
hamburger, but probably a better quality
hamburger from a great customer service rep. For
that same dollar you not only get a hamburger but
also chips and a soda. Thats the kind of
business I want to do where it makes sense. Its
not so much like you need one customer to be able
to make money but you make that up by the mass of
the customers, you know? Its like that whole you
can sell one Porsche a month to make your
commission or you can sell 100 Fords and be well
set in that month as well. Its more beneficial
helping people.
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Was there anything they would have done
differently at LAUNCH? No, we went there as a
team and were supportive of other startups too.
We mixed and mingled. A lot of startups get to
the competition and are looking at the other
startups like Youre my enemy. Were in the
same group we should all be friends. Were all
stressing right now to start a business and make
it into something. We should help each other out
and give words of advice. My team was very
helpful and we brought a bunch of Starbucks
coffee for people and we tried to mix and mingle.
You know, have a good time and network. It was a
great event. I would actually probably say no,
there was nothing else I would do different. My
team did a great job! Were there any comments
or advice that stuck with you? VPs and
investors kept saying good job. More
importantly, they were saying you have something
here. Move forward with it, no matter what
because you have something really great there.
Its nice to hear that from the investors and
such.
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Its kind of funny too because they ask you what
your valuation is and we said, We last raised
capital at 1.5 and I didnt get to finish and
they said No, I would say that you are between 4
and 6 million as far as valuation. I was just
like, yeah! Thank you! I was going to say 4, but
4 to 6 sounds even better! Its kind of cool
hearing that from investors that you should raise
your valuation. I thought that was really, really
cool. Do you have any advice to give other
startups looking to compete in LAUNCH? Make
sure you are building a business around what you
have passion with, something you are passionate
about. Make sure you have the right team players.
For us, we happen to be passionate about what we
do and weve got the right team players by
partnering up with you guys- with Metova. Thats
my advice and its a tough struggle. Its a tough
grind -- daily grind and night grind -- and you
keep on moving to get it done. You know, its not
supposed to be easy or else everyone would do it.
People are always going to try to steal your
thunder or put you down or tell you its not
going to work but if the datas there and the
support is there, keep on going. Keep on striving
to achieve your goal. No one else can take it
from you. Especially when the datas there.
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Whats in the Future of Quicklegal? Just
partnered with a worldwide leader in the legal
industry and are working on version 2 with you
guys. Were providing instructional videos on
legal issues for the general public and creating
some legal packages that users can buy as well.
We are also just starting to expand throughout
the nation. We currently just opened a
fundraising round looking to raise 1,000,000 on
Angel.co. Anything else you would like to add?
Metova kicks ass. You guys have been great. You
have to have the right team and we definitely
have the right team with you guys. Article
Resource - https//www.derekbluford.com/single-pos
t/2017/08/16/Quicklegals-Winning-Experience-at-Tec
hweeks-LAUNCH