Evolve Law Summit: Angel Investment and Venture Capital in Legal

Do you run a startup company or know someone who does? Are you a fan of Shark Tank or wonder what venture capitalists look for? Well, we’ve got a treat for you. In this report from On The Road, host Laurence Colletti sits down with Edward Wilson, David Rose, Mike Suchsland, Lorine Pendleton, and Jeroen Plink from the Venture Capital and Angel Investment panel at Evolve Law’s Summit in New York City. Together they discuss what’s attractive for investors, common pitfalls for startup companies, and the value of being likeable. In addition they talk about investor exit strategy and why that’s a must-know for capital-seeking entrepreneurs as well as predictions for future legal tech innovations. Will it be dominated by artificial intelligence or virtual reality? Tune in to find out.

Edward Wilson is an investor with Anthos Capital, a $300mm fund based out of Santa Monica. He is focused on finding those companies that have the potential to become leaders in their space and are looking for a capital partner to help support them in this journey.

David S. Rose is founder and CEO of Gust, a global financial technology platform connecting over 500,000 entrepreneurs with investors in over 190 countries. He is also an Inc. 500 CEO, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor responsible for founding or funding over 100 companies. David is a New York Times best-selling author of both “The Startup Checklist: 25 Steps to a Scalable, High-Growth Business” and “Angel Investing: The Gust Guide to Making Money & Having Fun Investing in Startups”.

Mike Suchsland is a seasoned general manager, board member, advisor, mentor, and investor in the legal software and services space. Formerly the president of Thomson Reuters legal business and a board member with Epiq Systems, Mike has 6 companies in his venture portfolio and has advised on over a dozen transactions in the legal arena.

Lorine Pendleton is the US director of business development at Dentons and an investment partner in Portfolia Funds. She is an active angel investor who invests and advises women and diverse-led companies which include include Cisse Trading, Traklight, Hire an Esquire, and Tastemakers Africa. Lorine is a former practicing attorney at Londell McMillan PC, a leading entertainment boutique law firm, where she structured and negotiated multifaceted entertainment and media deals on behalf of her clients such as Prince, Spike Lee, Ruff Ryders Records, Faith Evans, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, and the estate of the Notorious BIG.

Jeroen Plink is a former attorney turned entrepreneur. Jeroen was the CEO of Practical Law US until its acquisition by Thomson Reuters. He currently is an advisor to, investor in, and/or board member of a large number of companies, including Kira, Casetext, MeWe, Jurispect, HotShot, Leopard Solutions, Shift Central, Clio, Allegory, and others.