Brand, culture and operations

Gravity Stack

Launching a game changing tech company in an emerging sector

Summary

Researched, developed and delivered a unique differentiating go to market strategy and positioning

Developed and delivered full launch brand identity; naming, logo design and purpose statement.

Developed and delivered recommendations for an innovative working culture, removing vertical silos and flattening the company structure.

2019 Gravity Stack was awarded:

Financial Times Award for: “New Business & Service Delivery Models”

The American Lawyer Industry Award for “Best Legal Services Innovation”

The opportunity

In the summer of 2018 we were approached to help launch a startup in the newly emerging Legal Technology (LexTech) sector

Shifts in the legal landscape had been accelerating and traditional firms had seen their market share eroded by start ups, non traditional firms and the emergent legal tech sector.

The old ways were definitely seen as the old ways, and all the major players were looking for an advantage.

That meant that the competition for any new venture was broad and strong.

  • Everyone was focused on cost cutting and efficiency driving
  • Everyone was wise to the big hot topics
  • Everyone had figured out that the winning combination is advanced tech + strategic thinking
  • Everyone was trying to reframe the problem around whatever they are strong in

Consequently, no one was saying anything new.

There was no clear vision being expressed for the future of the sector, and that was where the opportunity for the startup lay.

Our initial approach

As part of our initial discovery period, we always request access not just to existing or potential clients as well as internal stakeholders.

It was from conversations with CTOs and COOs at AirBnB, Avis, Uber and the Bank of New York that it became clear that whilst everyone was trying to configure their tech offering around what they had to sell, no one was delivering what the clients wanted to buy.

As we worked through the project we realised that a strong brand promise, on its own, would not be enough to guarantee success in a competitive marketplace.

With clients sceptical as to the ability of legal tech firms to deliver what they were looking for, it became obvious that we needed to build in more evidence that the startup was the right partner to choose:

  • a different overall proposition
  • a different kind of structure
  • a unique process

Furthermore, clients were more than aware of the data they possessed than anyone previously thought. Even though it was often held in separate siloed streams that were sitting doing nothing, clients were more than aware of what it could be doing for them.

I want someone to come in, look at the data we have, stitch it all together to help build more defensible positions in law.”

Client CTO

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Our response

Building a strong brand...

The startup would have to deal with widely varying levels of knowledge and understanding of technology and data; which is limited amongst legal partners and in-house client counsel, but far more detailed and visionary amongst tech/knowledge teams and in-house legal ops management and CTOs

The offer, and the promise, had to straddle both groups.

The opportunity was to create more than just a surface level construct, rather to reimagine structure, culture, and financials.

  • The startup could feel as well as look different.
  • Open up more tech driven clients
  • Build legacy for the newco’s clients and for themselves

‍

A different kind of culture, a different kind of structure

The easy to fall into model that exists within legal tech firms places the attorney at the heart of the business, with tech or data experts not seen as adding real value, other than as support to the lawyer.

Short sighted, that fails to recognise the potential contribution that tech and data can have to the outcome for the client.

Worse than that, it fails to recognise that tech and data can help deliver the service that the clients are crying out for.

In a smart sector, not very smart at all.

So we proposed a new type of culture. One where the contributions of legal experts and tech and data experts were recognised as being of equal value.

In a marketplace where the best tech and data brains didn’t see law firms as a good career choice, it would help attract the best brains that were previously going elsewhere.

The startup would become a breeding ground for the next generation of lawyers who either see no point or no future in joining existing firms.

This was not about devaluing lawyers, it’s about re-valuing everyone else.

...hardwired for success

From out of one of the most illuminating discovery phases we’d undertaken, came the answer.

Our unique vision for the future of the sector;
Tomorrow’s legal answers will be drawn from more places than ever before.

Our driving purpose;
To connect people, data and technology so well that they solve legal challenges more intelligently than any person, group or computer has ever done before

Our brand promise;
‘We harness the power of data and human expertise to deliver collective intelligence in law.’

We harness human intelligence

  • deep + broad market knowledge
  • asking the right questions, designing the right systems, interpreting automated intelligence
  • using a multidisciplinary team of top legal, legal tech, legals ops and user experience experts

We harness emotional intelligence

  • we understand that the human touch is as important as the processing power of a machine
  • our lawyers are renowned for their fairness, respect and thoroughly human approach to law
  • our user experience experts ensure we never forget the person using the technology

We harness data intelligence

  • smarter, simpler ways of holding, managing and protecting data

We harness artificial intelligence

  • smarter ways of squeezing every drop of value out of data, and making the whole greater than the sum of the parts
  • we’re neither blinkered nor overawed by AI, it’s one of the many tools we use to create the right solution

We harness outside intelligence

  • if it exists, we make it better
  • if it doesn't exist, we build it
  • if we cant build it, we find people who can

The startup would be a tech enabled organisation structured to value legal intelligence from multiple sources at an equal level.

A structure that supports collective thinking, one where intelligence of every kind is respected and rewarded.

The name and graphic identity flowed seamlessly from the concept of a strong force made up of the critical mass of collective intelligence within the firm, pulling together raw data elements into a robust, strong order.

Gravity Stack

Gravity stack would be the legal tech offering that clients were crying out for