This duo of e-commerce expert and chartered accountant are making high-quality business professional services within startup reach!
According to Shrijay Sheth, the business professional services industry in India is very scattered. Most service providers are experts in their own areas. Also, affordability and accessibility to quality services are two ends that often don't meet. He says, "We are trying to bring all of it together for a 20,000 crore business professional services industry with core values of being simple, affordable, and transparent"
Namann Pipara and Shrijay incorporated LegalWiz in June 2015 and launched their web application on April 28, 2016.
Namann is a qualified chartered accountant. He is also a partner at Pipara & Co, his family CA practice. He has been recognised as a subject matter expert for many fiscal and Companies Act-related matters. He has served as a lecturer and guest speaker at many reputed events and organisations. Some of these were Bank of Baroda, Riverside International School, Startup Saturday forums, and more. He takes care of operational efficiencies, customer interactions, affiliates, and strategic partnerships.
Thirty-two-year-old Shrijay has spent more than 10 years working on highly disruptive technology-driven business models including Qualcomm's MediaFLO, The Bouqs, First Again Finance, and Legal Zoom.
Core product offering
LegalWiz provides business professional services to startups and SMEs which are commonly rendered by CA, CS, and lawyers in India. Their services include:
- New business registrations in any format
- Obtaining tax and government registrations like VAT/CST, service tax, etc. and their regular filings
- Securing intellectual property protection like trademarks, copyrights, and patents
- Customised legal document drafting
- Online bookkeeping.
- Mandatory compliances for companies and LLPs
Market size
The legal industry in India is claimed to be a Rs 20,000 crore market. There are over one lakh new business registrations (Private Limited Companies and LLPs) every year and many more that are opened under other formation types like proprietorships and partnerships.
Shrijay added, "With a modest marketing budget in the first year and a bootstrapped model, we have acquired more than 650 paying clients in the first nine months of operations with a pace of more than 100 new customers added in January 2017. We are growing at the rate of 20 percent MoM and closed January 2017 with a seven-digit figure in gross receipts.“
They get trademark application done for Rs 5,499. It includes Rs 4,000 payable to the government as registration fees and the rest is their share for covering costs and earning profits. They believe in keeping their pricing model highly transparent for customers.
Team LegalWiz and their motivation
They have a team of 15 professionals including CA, CS, lawyers, marketing experts, developers, and designers. While most remain on LegalWiz's payroll, they also leverage expertise from teams from their other ventures when required.
They strongly believe in empowering employees to make decisions and keeping them accountable for good and bad. They function as a team where all are encouraged to voice their opinions, which makes them all feel this venture to be their own. Shrijay says, "I have lived the major part of my professional career as an employee in multiple countries. The universal rule to keep employee morale intact is to appreciate talent and understand that talent needs a transition!"
