For those with a long legal tech memory, history is just about to repeat itself, when David Lumsden, who was chief executive of RAVN Systems until its acquisition by iManage, takes over as CEO of Enable Business Solutions from founder Liam Flanagan in July. Flanagan, who retains majority ownership, will take on the role of head of business development and innovation.
The appointment is a near repeat of when Lumsden took over in around the turn of the century as CEO of Tikit, which was co-founded by Flanagan. He led Tikit’s float on the AIM London Stock Exchange in 2001.
Enable, which Flanagan founded in 2013, has two core products: Word-based pitch building tool PitchPerfect and new solution ExperienceManager, which enables marketing professionals and lawyers to capture experience across the firm by integrating with existing matter systems. Clients that have signed up to ExperienceManager include Stibbe, which in April became Enable’s first mainland Europe client.
Flanagan told us: “We’re now a mature startup and I’m bringing in the next line of executives to take the business to the next level.” Enable has a significant number of investors, of which Lumsden is one.
Lumsden told us: “What Liam is good at is thinking what the product needs to do – he created this product out of nothing and they have a few really big clients all happily using it. He should continue to do that because he has far more knowledge of what the product needs but he won’t be focused on running the business day to day.
“The next stage is probably going to be more structured; less on Liam’s entrepreneurial skills and more on my structured approach, which means he can continue to do his entrepreneurial thing.”
Enable has just under 20 employees and Lumsden says: “I really hope I can help the company grow because the people working there are lovely. Cath Thompson is really organised, which is just what I need!”
This article first appeared in the May Orange Rag: http://legaltechnology.com//latest-newsletter/