11A – Idea Napkin No. 1

1) Me. I am a seasoned corporate executive with over 20 years of experience working for a Fortune 100 company.  As of 3 years ago I am also a small business owner.  My corporate experience is very diverse.  I have lead retail operations, store planning, supply chain, corporate strategy, and training departments.  My most valuable skill is my analytical ability.  I often need very little information to come to a decision or to create an action plan.  A talent that I have is my ability to systemize and see trends.  I aspire to be a COO and CEO of a Fortune 500 company.  My business concept would be a short-term project the goal of which is to establish a company that can continue to exist and profitably service customers based on the original concept and without my daily involvement or oversight.   

2) What am I offering to customers? The product that I am offering is a comprehensive software solution for solo and small law offices that manages the firms’ marketing efforts, client intake, case management, document management, calendaring and finances.  While there are many products on the market that address and manage one or more of the activities involved in running a law practice, none of them are comprehensive and none of them include all of the aspects that my software will. 

3) Who am I offering it to? The majority of US attorneys are solo practitioners or are in a small firm of 2-4 attorneys, so the market potential is broad.  My software will appeal to a few specific demographics.  First, would be the many newly licensed attorneys that are starting their own practice right out of law school.  Likely, these are people in their late twenties.  Many are burdened by student loan debt and demoralized by lack of desirable employment opportunities.  Many are fearful of the unknown.  Some are entrepreneurial by nature.  This demographic is short on funds.  Fortunately for them, it does not take a big investment to start a law firm, unlike a medical practice or a restaurant.  Efficiency, automation and low overhead are important to these attorneys.  Second, attorneys in established solo or small law who are looking to increase efficiencies, cut overhead costs and impress their clients.  These are entrepreneurs who are always looking for a better, cheaper, quicker way of doing something.  These are attorneys who are not set in the traditional ways of lawyering and have a technology-minded vision of their law practice.  These people realize that lawyering today is not what it was 20 years ago.

What do my potential customers have in common?  Besides the demographics of their law firm, they are attorneys who are looking for efficiency, automation to impress their clients.

4) Why do they care? Customers will actually pay me money to use my software because most of them already do, but for inferior products.  Attorneys must be very organized and efficient with their time, especially as the trend is moving away from traditional hourly billing to flat fees, in which case it is no longer in an attorney’s best interests to take longer to complete a task.  They care because efficiency increases revenue for law firms.

5) What are my core competencies? My analytical and systematization skills is what sets me apart from everyone else.  I don’t think that anyone has anything that nobody else has, but I believe I have a unique combination of experience and talents that will make me successful at this project.