AI-Powered Legal Writing: Kelsen The Future of Law Firms
Welcome to the latest episode of Who Are These Startups Podcast! In this exciting conversation, our Startup Coach sits down with Pedro Bento de Faria, the CEO and co-founder of Kelsen, a game-changing legal tech startup. Discover how Kelsen utilizes AI to generate long-form bespoke technical…
Welcome to the latest episode of Who Are These Startups Podcast! In this exciting conversation, our Startup Coach sits down with Pedro Bento de Faria, the CEO and co-founder of Kelsen, a game-changing legal tech startup. Discover how Kelsen utilizes AI to generate long-form bespoke technical writing, catering to the needs of lawyers and law firms. Pedro shares his journey from a litigation lawyer to an AI entrepreneur, unveiling the driving force behind Kelsen’s mission. Dive into the world of legal tech innovation and gain valuable insights into the future of the legal industry. Tune in now for a captivating discussion on AI’s transformative role in legal writing!
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Automated Transcript of AI-Powered Legal Writing: The Future of Law Firms with Kelsen
The Startup Coach
Welcome to Who are the startups podcast shorts featuring founder interviews of Canadian startups. Welcome back to who are these startups? I’m the startup coach, founder of Toronto starch. And with me today is Pedro bento de Faria, CEO and co founder of Kelsen. Welcome, Pedro.
Pedro Bento de Faria
Hi, thank you. Nice to be here.
The Startup Coach
What does Kelsen do?
Pedro Bento de Faria
So calcium or developing AI based software that generates very long form bespoke technical writing, the high value added stuff for the legal sector for lawyers and for law firms.
The Startup Coach
Is Kelsen for a specific type of lawyer or lawyer firms or anybody in the legal industry. Well,
Pedro Bento de Faria
the way we see it Kelsen could be used by anybody in the legal industry. But as we’re going to market, we’re targeting initially small and medium sized law firms. From there. After we get that foothold, we plan to scale up to larger law firms and in house legal departments.
The Startup Coach
What is your startup story?
Pedro Bento de Faria
Well, so I’m a courier. Attorney. I was a litigation lawyer for 10 years. And when you do litigation, most of what you do is either writing or reviewing other people’s writing. And around 2019, when my son was born, I got really frustrated, because I couldn’t fit to spend as much time as I wanted with him, because I was stuck in the office writing. And one day, I was stuck at midnight, an all night drafting session. And I realized that there had to be a better way to do these things. And that’s when it struck me that we could use AI to produce these first drafts of long form legal texts, like pleadings, which is what we’re doing right now.
The Startup Coach
What drives you?
Pedro Bento de Faria
Well, I find the idea of bringing something into the world that has never been done before. exhilarating, and specifically in entrepreneurship, because I was a lawyer before and most of what I did was solving other people’s problems. The idea now of doing my own project, is is extremely motivating for me.
The Startup Coach
How do you define success? Well,
Pedro Bento de Faria
that are more abstract, macro level, for me success would be the ability to look back at my life and know that I lived my own life and changed my own goals. At a more micro level, I think that’s a moving target. It’s always changing once you get there, it has evolved. But right now, success for us would be launching our product and going to market in the next few months.
The Startup Coach
I can see all different kinds of business models with this. What is the business model for Kelsen?
Pedro Bento de Faria
So very simple, we’re b2b on a hybrid monthly subscription. So basically, the customer the law firm will pay a base month’s subscription plus a variable amount corresponding to how much usage there was in a given month.
The Startup Coach
What is your funding situation?
Pedro Bento de Faria
Yeah, we’re totally bootstrapped right now. And we’re beginning to raise a pre seed round. So any investors out there, I’ll be happy to chat?
The Startup Coach
What do you wish you knew before you started?
Pedro Bento de Faria
I wish I had known that I could have tried to entrepreneurship a lot sooner, and maybe have benefited from the opportunity of having be able to fail more and try again.
The Startup Coach
What is your biggest learning as a founder?
Pedro Bento de Faria
For me that entrepreneurship is an emotionally roller coaster, and that you cannot really, truly appreciate how complicated the mental and mindset thing is without going through it. And this is something that I have to learn and relearn every day.
The Startup Coach
As a founder, you’re constantly pitching your startup. What’s your biggest lesson in pitching your startup?
Pedro Bento de Faria
My first pitch deck was the kind of deck I would use at a trial at an arbitration hearing. So you had too many words and too many arguments. I learned that and entrepreneurship that doesn’t fly that you’re less is
The Startup Coach
more. What’s your favorite productivity hack or AI tool?
Pedro Bento de Faria
That’s easy. Our own which we’re calling Kelsen draft.
The Startup Coach
You’re currently in the next day AI program. Can you tell us about your experience with next AI?
Pedro Bento de Faria
Yes, it has been has been a great experience. In fact, the quality of the program has been much higher than I expected. And the support they give the entrepreneurs so To the entrepreneurs and the quality of the coaching has been has been really great. I’m very happy with next day I
The Startup Coach
have any tips for founders.
Pedro Bento de Faria
If you want to become a founder, think deeply about the problem you want to solve. But don’t overthink it. Because the only way you can find out if something works or might work has been trying it out.
The Startup Coach
What is one book every founder should read?
Pedro Bento de Faria
One that I really liked was Ben Howard, it’s the hard thing about hard things. It’s an excellent book. And as much as it describes entrepreneurship without giving any facade of glenmoor myth of sizing it
The Startup Coach
in any way, as an AI founder, what is your reaction to the current call to pause AI development, and the general fear around it?
Pedro Bento de Faria
I totally agree with that. The fact is that we haven’t even been able to gauge what the actual impact and the social dislocation will be will be of the current generation of AI. And considering that this technology has the potential for making the biggest impact on civilization, since the first industrial revolution, and maybe even the Neolithic Revolution, but before that, I would say that pausing development for six months, two things, things, think things over and develop a better policy around it would be a very healthy exercise.
The Startup Coach
Right now, AI is a wonderful tool for humans. At what point do humans become a tool for AI? I don’t think we’re there yet.
Pedro Bento de Faria
But if exponential improvement has something to say about it, we might be getting there pretty soon.
The Startup Coach
Where can our listeners connect with you and Kelsen online,
Pedro Bento de Faria
through LinkedIn or at our website www.kelsen.ai.
The Startup Coach
And all those links will be in the show notes for Anyway, listen on the podcast, just check out your show notes and you can click the links there. I really appreciate you taking the time today to be part of who are these startups.
Pedro Bento de Faria
Thank you so much for the pleasure to be here.
The Startup Coach
This has been Who are these startups? Find out more at who are the startups.com and check out our live events at Torontostarts.com/events
Download original transcript (.txt)
Welcome to Who Are These Startups?
podcast shorts featuring founder interviews of Canadian startups.
Welcome back to Who Are These Startups?
I'm the startup coach.
Founder of Toronto Starts & With Me today is Pedro Bento de Faria, CRO and co-founder of Kelsen.
Welcome Pedro.
Hi, thank you.
Nice to be here.
What does Kelsen do?
So at Kelsen we're developing AI based software that generates very long form bespoke technical writing, the high value added stuff for the legal sector, for lawyers and for law firms.
Is Kelsen for a specific type of lawyer or lawyer firms or anybody in the legal industry?
Well, the way we see it, Kelsen could be used by anybody in the legal industry, but as we're going to market, we're targeting initially small and medium sized law firms.
From there, after that foothold, we plan to scale up to larger law firms and in-house legal departments.
What is your startup story?
Well, so I'm a career attorney, but I was a litigation lawyer for 10 years and when you do litigation, most of what you do is either writing or reviewing other people's writing.
And around 2019, when my son was born, I got really frustrated because I couldn't spend as much time as I wanted with him because I was stuck in the office writing.
And one day I was stuck at midnight in an all night drafting session and I realized that there had to be a better way to do these things.
And that's when it struck me that we could use AI to produce these first drafts of a long form legal tax like pleadings, which is what we're doing right now.
What drives you?
Well, I find the idea of bringing something into the world that has never been done before, exhilarating.
And specifically in entrepreneurship, because I was a lawyer before and most of what I did was solving other people's problems.
The idea now of doing my own project is extremely motivating for me.
How do you define success?
Well, at a more abstract macro level, for me, success would be the ability to look back at my life and know that I lived my own life and chased my own goals.
At a more micro level, I think that's a moving target.
It's always changing once you get there.
It has evolved.
Right now, success for us would be launching our product and going to market in the next few months.
I can see all different kind of business models with this.
What is the business model for Kelsen?
Very simple.
We're B2B on a hybrid monthly subscription.
So basically, the customer, the law firm will pay a base month subscription plus a variable amount corresponding to how much usage there was in a given month.
What is your funding situation?
We're totally bootstrapped right now and we're beginning to raise a pre-seed round.
So any investors out there, I'll be happy to chat.
What do you wish you knew before you started?
I wish I had known that I could have tried entrepreneurship a lot sooner and maybe have benefited from the opportunity of having been able to fail more and try again.
What is your biggest learning as a founder?
For me, entrepreneurship is an emotionally roller coaster and that you cannot really truly appreciate how complicated the mental and mindset game is without going through it.
And this is something that I have to learn and relearn every day.
As a founder, you're constantly pitching your startup.
What's your biggest lesson in pitching your startup?
My first pitch deck was the kind of deck I would use at a trial at an arbitration hearing.
So you had too many words and too many arguments.
I learned that in entrepreneurship, that doesn't fly, that here less is more.
What's your favorite productivity hack or AI tool?
That's easy.
Our own, which we're calling Kelsen Draft.
You're currently in the Next AI program.
Can you tell us about your experience with Next AI?
Yes.
It has been a great experience.
In fact, the quality of the program has been much higher than I expected.
And the support they give the entrepreneurs and the quality of the coaching has been really great.
I'm very happy with Next AI.
Do you have any tips for founders?
If you want to become a founder, think deeply about the problem you want to solve, but don't overthink it.
Because the only way you can find out if something works or might work is by trying it out.
What is one book every founder should read?
One that I really liked was Ben Howard's The Hard Thing about Hard Things.
It's an excellent book and as much as it describes entrepreneurship without giving any facade of glamour or mythosizing it in any way.
As an AI founder, what is your reaction to the current call to pause AI development and the general fear around it?
I totally agree with it.
The fact is that we haven't even been able to gauge what the actual impact and the social dislocation will be of the current generation of AI.
And considering that this technology has the potential for making the biggest impact on civilization since the first Industrial Revolution and maybe even the New Relief Revolution.
But before that, I would say that pausing development for six months to think things over and develop a bit of policy around it would be a very healthy exercise.
Right now, AI is a wonderful tool for humans.
At what point do humans become a tool for AI?
I don't think we're there yet, but if exponential improvement has something to say about it, we might be getting there pretty soon.
Where can our listeners connect with you and Kelsen online?
Through LinkedIn or at our website, www.kelson.ai.
And all those links will be in the show notes.
For anybody listening on the podcast, just check out your show notes and you can click the links there.
I really appreciate you taking the time today to be part of Who Are These Startups?
Thank you so much, Craig.
It's a pleasure to be here.
This has been Who Are These Startups.
Find out more at WhoAreTheseStartups.com and check out our live events at toronto-starts.com/events.