The Mamalode Starter Series is an exciting opportunity for us to introduce you to some of the amazing people we get to meet. Starting something takes enormous amounts of work, faith, help and community. Every week we'll share another story of starting. So, community of Mamalode, read up, get inspired and check out these wonder-folk.
Tell us a little bit about your business and how you started it.
SimpleLegal is software for corporate legal departments. Our customers have said that using our software is like having an extra person on staff to handle all the administrative work. We help general counsels and corporate attorneys perform all the administrative and financial tasks required to run an in-house legal department.
We started the company after working for 10 years with litigation management groups helping them analyze their litigation data. We saw an opportunity to make eBilling software that was easy-to-use and inexpensive. We figured out that we could apply machine learning algorithms to automate routine tasks that lawyers are often stuck doing manually.
What do your kids think about your job?
My son is almost 4 and my daughter is 16 months. My daughter knows that sometimes mommy takes care of day care, dinner, and bedtime routines and sometimes daddy does. In the morning, she is very excited to see whichever parent was away at a late meeting. My son knows that both my wife and I work and go to meetings. He knows that meetings take us away from him, but we explain to him that we go to meetings because people want to know what we think and that we work hard to help people. We are careful to never describe dreading going to meetings or work. We explain to him that he goes to school and we go to work. So, he might just think we go play and color all day.
Tell us about a total dad + biz fail?
On more than one occasion, I've walked out the door to catch a flight while my wife was left at home with one kid showing “flu-like symptoms” while the other was showing “toddler-like tantrums.” My wife also has a demanding job that requires travel, so she is always very helpful and knows that commitments to clients can't be broken. Still, it's hard to walk out the door staring at sad faces and knowing the burden that I'm placing on my wife.
Share with us a total win (brag away!)
My co-founder and I have two kids each. For us, our biggest success is that we're in the game. Running a startup is tough. Having kids is tough. Doing both is just about impossible. Except, people do it everyday. For me, having a supportive family is key. The other key to pulling off the impossible is being relentless at cutting out any task or activity that is not essential. At one point, we didn't notice that our TV was unplugged for 3 weeks.
What's your relationship with Mamalode?
The Mamalode site is very helpful because I get to read the inspiring stories of other parents. They often remind me that, no matter the difficulties I think I face, I don't have it so tough. Mostly, I read it to hear the stories of other parents that remind me that I'm not alone in this journey. Millions of others go through it everyday. It's basically therapy for parents at the end of a day that went by so fast you're not sure you really lived it.
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