GURINDER “GARY” SANGHA:  Founder, Lit IQ.

Day job: In addition to running Lit IQ, I also teach at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

CodeX Connection: I’m a new CodeX Fellow. I participated in the CodeX startup panel at ALM’s Legaltech West in San Francisco this summer. I am an attorney, I practiced securities law at Shearman & Sterling (NYC) and White & Case (Hong Kong). I’m a member of the New York State Bar Association.

Home Base: New York City area.

Age: 36

Education: University of Toronto for undergrad (B.A. in economics and commerce) and University of Pennsylvania for law school.

Company status: The launch date was July, 2015. A Beta release will be coming out later this year; the 1.0 to be released early next year.

Website: www.litiq.com

Twitter: twitter.com/sanghags

Is this your first start-up? No. I’m the founder and former CEO of Intelligize, which helps attorneys more easily analyze and research U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission filings. I started it out of my apartment and it’s now grown to include most of the Am Law 100 law firms and many of the Fortune 500 companies as customers.

What problem does it solve?  Our software scans legal documents for potential drafting errors. Think of it like a spell checker or grammar checker on steroids. Drafting errors have consequences—ranging from making the attorney look sloppy to creating loopholes that open up litigation. Many drafting oversights, such as  semantic and syntactic ambiguities, are not easy for lawyers to catch but relatively straightforward with the help of technology.

Target users: In-house, private practice and government lawyers could all use our products.

Why did you pursue this startup? It was the recent U.S. Supreme Court case, King v Burwell, which could have gutted important elements of the Affordable Care Act due to some drafting oversights. I just thought that it was a pity for Obamacare to be killed due to a technicality rather than say, through the legislative process. Accordingly, I wanted to help lawyers minimize drafting mistakes. My thinking is that lawyers are a force for good and that no one is better off when lawyers make unforced errors.

Funding: We received funding from several angel investors, many of whom backed my prior startup.

What is your biggest challenge re: the start-up? Like most startups, I would say recruiting. It’s an incredibly competitive market for talent right now and top-caliber engineers and sales professionals have a lot of options.

What do you need right now? In six months? In a year? We just need the current economic climate to continue. I think it’s a great time to be in legal tech because law firms are increasingly open to new productivity offerings. Should the economy turn, law firm budgets will inevitably tighten.

What is next? We are at just the beginning of applying advances in computational linguistics tech to the law. I think attorneys will be shocked at how much this tech can help them with their practice.

What have you learned that you wish you had known five years ago? That the startup journey is just as meaningful, if not more, than the endpoint.

Who influenced you more than anyone else? My father, who taught me that there’s no substitute for hard work.

What book changed your life? “Long Walk to Freedom,” by Nelson Mandela is a fantastic primer on leadership and overcoming adversity. Recent books that I loved are “Give and Take,” by Adam Grant and “Zero to One,” by Peter Thiel.

What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs? Ship early. The best feedback you can get is when you ask someone to pay for your product. The sooner you do so, the sooner you can begin making adjustments and optimizing your offering.

Where do you want to be in five years? 10 years? I love creating technology that help lawyers. I hope to continue doing that over the next five to 10 years.

Favorite vacation destination: Can’t beat trekking in the Himalayas.

Favorite musician/group: U2

Favorite quote: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Wayne Gretzky

What’s your mantra? Customers first!

 

Who would you want to be sitting next to you if you got stuck for three hours on the
tarmac in a 737? It’s a tie: “business magnate”  Elon Musk and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.