Ever dream of building a lucrative startup with your best friend from college? For Heather John and Jessica Chen, the transition from freshman year confidants to C-suite executives was a natural one.
“It’s just like marriage—not that either of us have any experience with that,” says John. “But we hear it’s a lot of work.”
As co-founders of LawGo, the WeWork Park South members are committed to providing fixed-price law services for growing startups, circumventing the hefty hourly price tags that often prevent smaller businesses from having access to a personal lawyer.
“It’s like TurboTax for lawyers,” says John.
John and Chen attended University of Toronto together, where they met as first-year students and shared a backpacking trip to China. They went their separate ways for a while after college, with Chen beginning a career in corporate consulting in New York and John pursuing a law degree in Toronto. However, when the legal market began its collapse in 2010, John knew it was time for a change.
“I realized the legal economy was completely changing, and firms were going bankrupt, but I saw an opportunity in that,” John explains. “I wanted to be in New York. I wanted to be in the startup law practice. Toronto is not really an entrepreneurial place.”
John started her own independent practice in New York, but soon felt the need to innovate. After testing some startup ideas, she finally settled on the idea for LawGo and went with it. Taking advantage of the contacts she’d made with small independent firms in New York, John compiled a list of personally vetted lawyers and began matching them with clients through LawGo.
“I started the company in August, and Jess was still working a consultant,” says John. “She was my best friend in New York, and she started helping me on nights and weekends, without asking for anything.”
Chen says she knew immediately that they were a perfect fit.
“I really loved helping Heather,” says Chen. “This idea that we built, the idea of transparent fixed pricing and having legal services on demand, really spoke to me.”
Eventually, the idea grew too big for late nights in John’s living room. Chen realized it was time to cash in on all her hours of sweat equity and trade her consulting job for a spot as COO of LawGo. Ever since, the pair has capitalized on their strong bond and unique strengths and weaknesses.
“We’re very different,” says Chen. “Heather’s very creative and charismatic. She’s our CEO, and she’s really good at inspiring people. I’m more of the person who executes and gets things going—I’m really organized, so it works. I wouldn’t have just started this with any best friend.”
A pair of female entrepreneurs is still an anomaly in the legal profession, but John and Chen feel right at home among their competition.
“I’ve been in law practice in New York for a long time, so I’ve gotten pretty thick-skinned,” says John. “Probably the only time I think about being a woman is figuring out what bathroom to go into. I don’t think about it much, but it does matter how you dress and how you present yourself.”
For Chen, building a network is the key to success.
“It’s different being a young woman in the space—it’s about building networks and having help from mentors, as well as peers who can help me get to the next step,” she says. “What we’re doing is so modern. We’re bringing people together, and I’m suited for that kind of relationship building, so it works.”
Photo credit: Lauren Kallen