What is the first thing that comes to our mind when we think of Law Offices in India? Yes, tons and tons of files eating away dusts in every corner of a Lawyer’s office. In this age of Digitization, lawyers are still stuck with on-paper storage due to old habits and no specific solutions provided yet in market for them. As a lawyer, you must have also been frustrated when finding a particular case file when urgently required.
That is where DELMO Legal jumps in, with their tailor made custom software which helps Law Firms with Case and Document Management, Time and Billing Management, Legal Research and Knowledge Management, Collaboration and Communication, Compliance and Security, Mobility and Remote Access, and other such solutions, in a secure and seamless way.
We sat down with Delmo Legal‘s Founder, Mr. Aditya for an one on one interview, and tried to understand the concept behind starting such a digital solution specifically for Law Firms. Do go through their interview conducted by Desi Founder Team.
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desi founder: Can you share the story of how Delmo came to be? What inspired you to start a legal tech startup?
Delmo Legal: Delmo came to life once I saw my family lawyer trying to maintain a case file related to our hearing. The way it was maintained in his archives, the file and the dust on them. The time it took to find the case file, and update it was way too longer than what was required. That is what triggered me to have an cloud space for the files and maintain it as well.
What were the initial challenges you faced when starting Delmo, and how did you overcome them?
Finding the right team was the first task, that was a task after 3 months. We are now a core team of four people and two interns under us working on the Saas product.
Could you describe a typical day for you as founders of Delmo? What are the key challenges you encounter regularly?
On-boarding customers as our product is powerful and up to the standards, but we have to tackle the situation of on-boarding customers on a daily basis. Other work that eats up our day is to brainstorm new ideas for the UI/UX of Delmo.
How do you prioritize tasks and manage your time effectively amidst the demands of running a startup?
We grade our tasks regarding what priority they hold, as it gives us the sense of a pressure to complete them ASAP. Having a team to rely on is also great as they support you and you support them whoever is in problem, and that’s what keeps us motivated.
How do you gather feedback from lawyers using Delmo? How has customer feedback shaped the evolution of your platform?
For us customer satisfaction is one priority that we cannot compromise on, sure we have less clientele but perfecting the product is really what we focus on, and it is an on-going daily process to take feedbacks.
Can you share a memorable customer success story where Delmo made a significant impact on a law firm or individual lawyer?
We were in talks with a law firm called Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, who are based out in Mumbai. These guys are India’s leading legal tech incubator at present, so the term and industry of the name of legal tech was clarified with them, and that is where the vision of Delmo was born.
What are your long-term goals for Delmo? Where do you see the company in the next 5 years?
Expansion is the long term goal for us for sure, but we are offering our services on a subscription based model, be it to Law Firms or individual lawyers. What we want in the next 5 years is Delmo as a licensed software that people can use just like Tally and SAP.
Are there specific innovations or features you’re excited to introduce in the future that will further enhance your platform’s capabilities?
The Government of India was to introduce e-affidavit and e-notary, so we are implementing those plugins. We are really excited to provide them as it may eliminate most of the delayed and hefty paperwork that is present, and it may bring the process of law in India to a different speed.
How would you describe the work culture at Delmo? What values are important to your team?
Delmo values every team member’s opinion and I have gotten a chance to work with some wonderful individuals. Keeping a fluent core team is really what matters as you keep people happy they will deliver their best, the values that are important to us as a firm is be outspoken, street smart, book smart, keep your point on the table and don’t be a yes man. Having to provide for such a professional clientele, all these values are really important for us.
What strategies do you employ to foster creativity and innovation within your team?
We try to explore our technical capabilities by providing ourselves with case studies that cater to software giants and how we with limited resources and limited personnel can work into the situation and leave our mark. The core team of Delmo consists of four people, each one bringing something unique to the table. I am the Marketing Officer, so I have to prepare the blueprints which analyze what points can make or break the product, when and in which region can the feature work and where it may not.
What has been the most rewarding aspect of building Delmo so far?
You have that feeling that if you fail then you fail your team, so not having that safety net is what keeps each one of us on toes and keeping on working.
How do you maintain a work-life balance while navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship?
When you are building something you have to give your full. We have started in 2018 and in those starting days we have worked till 3 am in the morning and went back to our homes. Since then when building the perfect team and product, we have come a long way and we can say that putting in time for Delmo for us four, we won’t hesitate for even a moment.
How do you stay updated with the latest trends and advancements in legal tech?
We try our best to be technically the first one’s to make a move and have the features onboard. The source for us being updated would be reddit. Believe it or not, that platform is the one with real people telling about their problems and communities where there are people active, talking about things that should happen and we try to make it happen.
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the legal tech industry today, and how is Delmo positioned to address them?
Knowledge of legal tech is the biggest challenge, and we are equipped with the product and services just have make people trust on such a service. That is the gap that we are facing and coming up with contingency plans as well to deal with.
Outside of work, what are your hobbies or interests that you pursue to unwind?
I am a National Level Table Tennis player, so outside of work I do play the sport and keeping a good routine of exercise has really helped me unwind through the process of developing plans, coming up with solutions. This has helped me easily to deal with.
Can you share a fun or interesting anecdote from your journey with Delmo that you haven’t shared widely before?
The name for our firm was decided on a abbreviation. I was with one of my core team member, and she is currently the CTO. We were out for lunch and during that time we decided that we should call Delmo similar to BCS, an abbreviation of the famous TV Series Better Call Saul, a character’s tagline from Breaking Bad. Finally we came to a conclusion that if we are talking about abbreviations then DEL – which is Delhi (where the supreme court is) and MO – which is Mohali (my hometown). That is where Delmo Legal was created.
That will be a wrap of the interview. Hope you enjoyed reading it, as much as we enjoyed creating it. If you too have an interesting Founder Story to share it with the world, please feel free to submit a request here.