Interview with Brian Powers, Founder of Pactsafe

PactSafe is the new standard for how digital legal agreements are delivered and managed on the web or in mobile apps. Our application simplifies everything about the digital legal agreements found on websites, mobile apps, and other digital platforms. Once PactSafe is integrated with a website or application, new or modified digital agreements are easily deployed with the push of a button. Think of it as the ultimate content management system for all digital legal content.

At whom is your startup aimed?

PactSafe is used by businesses that employ any sort of digital legal agreement on their websites, mobile apps, or other digital platforms. The overall market for the PactSafe product is wide and deep. Consumer-facing websites & mobile apps rarely take into account the enforcement of the agreements they’re handed by attorneys to put on the website or app. Many attorneys will even create agreements without the oversight to manage how those agreements are implemented, due to inability to control the development queue, complex internal relationships or workflows, or ignorance of what is enforceable & what isn’t. These two inconsistencies in how these agreements are implemented and enforced create an amazing market opportunity for PactSafe to create a brand around both digital agreement compliance, and a library of best practices & thought leadership for enforceable digital agreements.

Our current market focus centers around a few customer characteristics that cater to our strengths:

1. Networks of many websites, apps, or domains that struggle to deploy dozens or hundreds of legal agreements, while keeping them enforceable,
2. Highly regulated sites in healthcare, financial services, or pharmaceutical who may have a similar (but more rudimentary) solution already in place, and
3. Channel distribution through service providers like law firms, digital agencies managing website implementations or mobile apps, and content management software companies.

How does your startup stand out against its competitors?

All other products in the digital legal space focus on providing form and templates for privacy policies, terms of service, and other forms of digital legal agreements. Some other players in this space focus on privacy law compliance in the form of consulting services and assessments. PactSafe is the first application that simplifies everything about digital legal agreements, and empowers business to focus on their core digital business without the hassle of dedicating valuable time and resources to managing their digital legal.

Where did the idea for the startup come from?

Prior to starting PactSafe, I was a practicing attorney, with a good portion of my practice focused on tech companies. As part of that, I prepared lots of digital legal agreements for clients, and recognized that implementation and management of those agreements always seemed to be a challenge. So after doing considerable research and discovery, we started building PactSafe as a tool to take the guesswork out of how to effectively deploy and manage digital legal agreements.

Did you have any concerns when starting your business, if so what were they?

Selling legal-related tech is a challenge since some there will be an educational component with some potential customers. We’ve been able to address that issue by developing materials to educate entrepreneurs and lawyers alike on the risk of implementing these types of agreements incorrectly, and how easy it could be to do so properly with our tools.

What is your business background, and what got you interested in startups?

Prior to practicing law, I was an engineer and has a brief stint as a tech entrepreneur. As a lawyer, I have been a solo practitioner for the past six years – which made my practice more of an entrepreneurial endeavor than my days practicing in a big firm. I also represented lots of startups. Once the idea for PactSafe materialized, I couldn’t resist the itch to jump back into a promising new startup.

How did you initially raise funding for your company?

The development of our MVP through our private beta-launch was self-funded. After that we raised a seed round to make some key hires and to launch a marketing and PR campaign.

In the coming year, what would you like to achieve with your business?

Our goal for 2015 is to establish PactSafe as the gold standard for how digital legal agreements are managed. We want our customers to know that they are being protected by their legal agreements, and we want consumers to feel confident about using websites and apps that are PactSafe certified.

What has been your most valuable lesson so far since starting your business?

A good product doesn’t sell itself. You still need an awesome sales and marketing strategy, and the right set of talent to execute that strategy.

Finally, if you could give one piece of advice to someone thinking about starting a business, what would it be?

A great business idea is only as good as the people that execute it – without the right people you can only make it so far. Make sure you pick the right people – that applies to co-founders, investors, advisors and employees.