[Interview] Have a unique experience for yourself & stop listening to Clowns : Lakshman Srikanth, Founder – LegalCrystal

In the past there have been many articles written on this blog on BarCamp i.e. BCB2, BCB3, BCB 4 where I came across lot of smart people working on some cool stuff !!! It is during BCB3 that I met Lakshman Srikanth for the first time when he was a “Microsoft Student Partner”. And now straight out of college he dived into entrepreneurship with his startup GAViSTA TECH that solves a very interesting problem. In this episode, we talk to him about his startup journey, challenges, entrepreneurship, idea & many more things….

Can you let us know about yourself and your startup GAViSTA TECH ?

Well, I am an Entrepreneur. Started working on an idea – LegalCrystal and then later on registered GAViSTA TECH as a firm. LegalCrystal is now a product of GAViSTA TECH.

What is LegalCrystal all about ?

LegalCrystal is a search tool for Advocates, Anyone can use it to find laws, judgments decided at different Courts all over India.

Every idea addresses a problem, so what problem does LegalCrystal cater to ?

LegalCrystal addresses two problems mainly-

• Before we started working on LegalCrystal, we researched existing softwares and came to the conclusion that Searching relevant judgments using phrase is the main problem. We started developing our own algorithm and indexers & built a search engine which is particularly tailored to Indian Law.
• User Interface messed up in other softwares. Lawyers need to undergo a Teaching Class in order to use the product.! That is just lame. So we worked on UI and “Search Features” which makes advocate’s life much simpler and easier.

So would it fair to say that “LegalCrystal wants to be the Google of Law industry” ?

Well Google is for the WEB and we are for Lawyers on the WEB! With respect to Search Engine and ease of use you might say we are as good as “Google for Indian Law”.

How do you guys ensure that the information on LegalCrystal is up to date with the changes in the law system [penal code etc.] ?

We have a dedicated team to handle updates. We get case-laws from Judgement Information System hosted by National Informatics Center(NIC). For Few we go to respective courts and apply for a copy and then Convert it to text using OCR’s. We have another team which will take care of the data entry. As every judgement is sent to a panel of advocates who write Headnotes, Case Analysis etc. and then its paraphrased , formatted and updated on the website.

GAViSTA came up with the corporate offering of your flagship product LegalCrystal, how has been the response so far ?

Response has been really good! They just FEEL comfortable using LegalCrystal Corporate. We have approached International Law firms, Companies… First thing they like about the product is the User Experience and then the Search, Features. We are expanding the reach to other states very soon.

LegalCrystal started out as a college project, off late there have been many other Indian startups born in a similar manner, do you think that times are changing where students are getting more serious about last year projects ?

It depends on the individual, but there are lot of students who are trying hard to build something unique; Commercializing their invention is what they need to look into..!

Being a student entrepreneur [i.e. right from college], how did you get about hiring the initial team members & getting them to join you ?

As I was Microsoft Student Partner Lead, I already had a network of students in every college in Bangalore. So initially my friends & I started in my room, then later on we hired few folks from MSRIT and PESIT as interns who worked on really challenging tasks. Well, joining a startup isnt a joke! because there are too many uncertainties involved. As we had a solid product with great market scope we were able to convince them!

Can you list some mistakes you made [during the initial days] that might be helpful for other entrepreneurs ?

Investing on unnecessary things is what I did & hate the most. We opted for Payment Gateway which was really a terrible decision because advocates aren’t accustomed using Debit Cards online. They were negligent to use Online Payment Gateway. You will have to take care of Pricing as your users will really take that into consideration when you have competitors. We made few mistakes with respect to pricing.

How are you currently funding GAViSTA TECH & are you looking for institutional funding ?

GAViSTA TECH is breaking even. We are self funded company; initially my uncle Badrinath (IBM) funded. Of course we are looking for institutional funding to expand the reach to other states and countries too!

I am sure lot of students who are working on final year projects would think that their idea can “Change the world”, what are some of things that they can look into their idea ?

First thing is. I was hyper initially when we started. I used to think I can sell LegalCrystal to 1000 in one month. In reality, things are different, there are too many unknown variables and emotions involved, it’s not just pure logic which will make users buy your product. Everything should merge into one single place. So I would say… There is nothing to look into your IDEA. Just get up & start up because each one is different, your idea different. So please go and have a unique experience for yourself and stop listening to Clowns.

We met at BCB 3, how much do you feel that BCB [& other unconferences] have contributed to the entrepreneurial community ?

Ghosh!! I love BarCamp Bangalore [BCB]. BCB is about freedom, You can go and talk about your product, share , get feedback.! Really like BCB. BCB is the soul and heart of Startups, It has helped in networking with founders of great products. When I was at BCB3 , Fusion Charts was a startup they had just launched their product. I was really impressed with their product, Now it’s a big company! That’s what its all about, You get to see & experience on how it will be when you have your own product! 😀 that’s what drives entrepreneurs! We need freedom to showcase our thoughts ideas, share, talk , learn! & BCB is all about that.

What according to you are top three key qualities of an entrepreneur ?

There are no top three or top five qualities! One thing what you really need is ability to sustain emotional, financial stress.

What is in pipeline for GAViSTA TECH ? apart from LegalCrystal ?

We are about to launch “AskLegalCrystal” a product which aims at normal users to ask questions related to law or if you are in need of a legal document or agreement/affidavit. Well you can just put a request on AskLegalCrystal & we have a bunch of lawyers who are existing subscribers of LegalCrystal who will respond”

Any closing comments from your side ?

People on a whole should support Entrepreneurs. I hope 80% of people who graduate start something on their own than joining big companies & boasting it on social network’s as if they are super heroes.!

Do give LegalCrystal & AskLegalCrystal a spin & share your feedback in the comments. If you have any other questions for Lakshman, please leave a comment or shoot an email to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com