Bring Your Legal Tech Solution to Market Successfully with Sprint Studio: One Entrepreneur's Path From Validation to Market Entry

Are you an innovator or entrepreneur building a solution for the legal tech industry?

Learn how to successfully bring your solution to market with Sprint Studio! Throughout this free, 12-week, online program you’ll have the opportunity to learn from industry experts, develop your customer base and build a market-ready legal tech solution. Is Sprint Studio right for you? Hear from a past Sprint Studio grad to learn more about the program and how it helped them successfully bring their legal tech solution to market.

Michael Stych (external link)  participated in our 4th cohort of Sprint Studio in 2023 with his company Contend Legal (external link) . He and his team came to the Legal Innovation Zone with Contend in its validation stage of development. They had an early-stage prototype live with active users and needed support in this crucial stage, before entering the Market, to ensure a successful company launch. Shortly after Michael completed the program, he joined the Legal Innovation Zone’s Incubate program and was able to successfully launch Contend Legal into the UK legal tech Market.

We connected with Michael to learn more about him, Contend Legal, and his personal experience and insights into our Sprint Studio program. Here is what he had to say:

Read Michael's responses below, as transcribed from his interview:

Tell us a little bit about your startup

My name is Michael Stych, I'm the CEO and one of the co-founders of Content Legal and we participated in the Legal Innovation Zone’s Sprint Studio [program] in the fall of 2023. 

A little bit about Contend Legal, we're a generative AI company that helps everyday people who struggle to afford a lawyer, get safe, fast, and affordable access to legal help. 

What led you to apply for Sprint Studio? What drew you to the program?

In mid-2023, we were just launching the company and we had an early idea but needed help fleshing it out, so we worked with the team at the Legal Innovation Zone to find better product market fit, get early conversations with customers, and build out a better early version of our software.

Regarding growth and development, where was your startup before the program vs after?

Over the course of the program, we went from a few different prototype ideas for Contend’s first product and we narrowed that down to a very specific one which we were able to launch shortly after we completed the program. Since that launch, Contend has been used by over 30,000 people in the first market we launched into, in the UK, and a lot of that is a result of the help we got from the Sprint Studio team. 

What key insights or lessons from the program did you find the most impactful?

A lot of the [Sprint Studio program] content is great for people who are first-time founders or learning about the startup journey. For us, there were some particularly helpful sessions about the venture capital world and what early fundraising looks like for first-time founders at early-stage companies, I remember that as being particularly helpful and memorable.

Who would you recommend the program to? 

If you have an early idea that you're working through and you need help putting together a more formalized plan, putting together a more sensible product roadmap and/or testing infrastructure to see, okay does this idea actually have legs, I think Sprint Studio is perfect for you. You can put together an early MVP, you can get it out to the market, you can see how customers are responding to it, and the Sprint Studio team is very helpful throughout that process. So if you're early on in that journey I would highly recommend taking part [in Sprint Studio].

Thank you for sharing your insights with us, Michael!

If you're ready to take your startup to the next level, we encourage you to apply for our free Sprint Studio program for early-stage legal tech startups. You'll gain invaluable mentorship, resources, and support to further develop your marketing strategy, product development, and customer development. Don't miss this opportunity to accelerate your journey towards success. Learn more and apply now to transform, take the next step, and launch your legal tech startup!