Fresh from the news that transaction management platform Doxly has been acquired by Litera Microsystems, we speak to Doxly founder and CEO Haley Altman about whether this was all part of the grand strategy and what advice she has for the comparatively few female founders out there.
Altman, a former Ice Miller partner, founded Doxly in 2016 with the vision to transform the chaotic process of managing legal transactions into a streamlined, efficient process. The company was conceived of at 1am when Altman and a colleague were hunting for a missing signature page – a needle in a haystack. Thanks in no small part to a grueling schedule, Doxly now counts many of the Am Law 200 as clients and Wilson Sonsini (where Altman was an associate) just signed up to the platform to automate the closing process for its entire emerging companies practice.
Haley, huge congratulations on selling Doxly, is this where you thought you would be three years after founding the company?
When I set out to built Doxly, I knew I wanted to build a product that would improve customer’s workflows. I had no idea what the next three years would hold. I never anticipated selling in three years. As a former transactional attorney, I know how aggressive that timeline is for acquisition. So we just focused on building a great product and solving real problems.
So what made you sell? Was it the need to scale? Need for investment?
The right opportunity. We had been increasing customers and adoption pretty rapidly recently and actually had a great runway. But we’d had a lot of interest and it’s always good to listen. When we met with Litera team, it was clear they understood both what we do and where we want to take the company and product long term.
It’s funny at ILTA two years ago I remember meeting the Litera team for the first time and thinking I needed to integrate all of their tools into Doxly. It just seemed to be a great fit. Once I got to talk to them and understand their vision, I knew it was the right fit for us, the right opportunity to really scale our product and to really create value for our customers.
Part of why we wanted to become part of the Litera family is to execute on the big vision we had from the start. Our goal is to provide end-to-end transaction management, which is incredibly ambitious. We worked really hard to always challenge ourselves to strive to meet our vision. And I can’t wait to continue building towards it.
You’re one of the comparatively very few female founders – what advice do you have for other women founders or wannabe founders out there?
I always tell other women founders to embrace networking. It can be hard to get out of your comfort zone and meet other people. But I’ve found out that the legal tech community, in particular, the women leaders, have been incredibly welcoming and helpful. I’ve gotten support, connections and incredible advice. I’ve found people that I can laugh, cry, vent and celebrate. It takes courage to take the plunge in entrepreneurship and it is a very lonely journey at times. We just don’t have to do it alone.
See also:
https://legaltechnology.com//latest-news/litera-acquires-doxly-in-bid-to-corner-the-us-uk-transaction-management-market/