From HowWeMadeItInAfrica.

LexNove is an online platform where people can choose legal representation from a panel of lawyers.

The startup hopes to disrupt the way people hire lawyers.

Users can submit their legal problems via the website, and watch as panelists submit their own proposals. With this information they can choose a lawyer they wish to work with based on factors such as ratings by previous clients, cost, location and expertise.

Once a lawyer has been selected, the website provides users with a virtual boardroom to communicate with them.

Andrew Taylor and Kyle Torrington, with legal expertise of their own, founded LexNove in November. The told How we made it in Africa about their business and what they’ve learned from their mistakes.

Give us your elevator pitch?

LexNove is an online platform which aims to revolutionise the legal industry in South Africa by connecting users to pre-vetted, high quality service providers who bid at free market fixed prices to do the users’ corporate and commercial legal work on a secure, intuitive platform.

How did you finance your start-up?

Self-funded for the most part, but we have kept it extremely lean by surviving on Frisco and baked beans! We have also had some late-stage seed capital investment.

If you were given US$1m to invest in your company now, where would it go?

Marketing, expansion funding and more marketing.

What risks does your business face?

It’s a revolutionary concept which seeks to disrupt a very established industry – with this comes the need for education and the willingness and dedication required to overcome the resistance to change, which some users and service providers may experience before trusting us with our services.

Read more at HowWeMadeItInAfrica.