u/dlmncy

Been thinking about this a lot lately and figured this crowd would have the most honest takes.

On the client side, most smaller firms still run on referrals and word of mouth, and it works until it doesn't. But things are quietly shifting. Some attorneys are pulling in consistent inquiries through LinkedIn targeting corporate clients. Others built a solid book from a one-off transactional matter that snowballed into a retainer relationship. The old playbook still works for a lot of people, but it feels less reliable than it used to.

On documentation, it honestly feels like every firm is running a different system and nobody fully trusts theirs. Some are still on physical files and banker boxes, which works until you need to find something under pressure. Others are on Google Drive, SharePoint, or NetDocuments. A few have fully committed to a proper DMS. Most are somewhere in the middle and calling it good enough.

And then there's automation. Is anyone here actually using it in a meaningful way (templated drafting, automated deadline tracking, digital engagement letters, e-signatures) or does it still feel like something you'll get around to eventually?

Been thinking about this a lot lately and figured this crowd would have the most honest answers.

On the client side most of us still rely on referrals and word of mouth and it works until it doesn't. But the landscape is quietly shifting. Some colleagues have Facebook pages pulling in real inquiries. Others landed their first retainer client from a notarial walk in that turned into something much bigger. A few are on LinkedIn targeting corporate clients and actually getting traction.

Then there is the documentation side which honestly feels like we are all running different systems and none of us fully trust any of them. Some are still on physical folders and binders which works until you need to find something fast. Others have moved to Google Drive or SharePoint. A handful of bigger firms have actual document management systems. Most of us are somewhere in between and pretending that is fine.

And then automation. Are any of you actually using it in a meaningful way? Drafting templates, automated deadline reminders, digital engagement letters, e-signatures? Or does it still feel like something we will get around to eventually?

With eCourt and JusticeZone slowly becoming part of the reality the gap between practices that have figured out their systems and those that have not is only going to get wider.

A few things I genuinely want to hear from fellow practitioners:

Is the referral model still carrying your practice in 2026 or have you found something that consistently works better?

What does your actual documentation setup look like right now and are you happy with it?

Is anyone here seriously using automation in their day to day workflow or are we still largely manual?

And for those who have figured something out that actually works, what made you finally commit to changing how you do things?

There's something almost euphoric about the building phase. Every feature you ship feels like progress. Every bug you fix feels like a win. The feedback loop is immediate. You write the code, you see it work, dopamine hit, repeat.

Then you launch...

Suddenly the scoreboard goes silent. No users. No signups. Just you, your beautifully engineered product, and a Google Analytics dashboard showing 3 visitors. Two of which are you, and one is probably your mom.

I know what I should be doing. Content marketing, cold outreach, SEO, building in public, Twitter/X presence, Product Hunt, communities, Reddit, etc… the list never ends. But every time I sit down to actually do it, I freeze. It feels fake. It feels loud. It feels like screaming into a void.

Building feels like science. Marketing feels like dark magic nobody ever taught me.

Is this just a founder thing? Did anyone else hit this exact wall and actually break through it? And if so, what was the one thing that finally made marketing feel less terrifying?

Because right now my product deserves better than my silence.

Hey everyone, looking for some honest takes from people who have been through this. Like did you learn yourself, hire an agency, find a technical cofounder, etc.

For those of you who learned to code or vibe code your way through it, how did you start? Did you go deep into actual fundamentals or just lean on AI tools like Cursor, Lovable, Bolt etc and figure it out as you went? How long before you had something usable?

For those who hired an agency, where did you find them and how did you not get burned? I keep hearing horror stories of people dropping 20k and getting nothing usable. Any agencies you would actually recommend?

And for those who found a technical cofounder, this is the one I am most curious about. Where did you actually find them? Cofounder dating sites, your network, hackathons, Twitter? And more importantly how did you handle the equity split, especially if you had already done a bunch of work on the idea before they joined? Did you do vesting, written agreements, all that?

Not trying to start a debate on which path is best, just want to hear what actually worked for you and what you would do differently.

Would love to hear your stories. Thanks!

Kinda dumb question but I've been spiraling on this for weeks so I'm just gonna ask.

I've been heads down building my SaaS, talked to like 40 potential customers, iterated a bunch, and now one of them is actually ready to pay. Real money, real invoice. Hyped but also nervous because I still haven't sorted the boring legal stuff.

I'm not based in the US even though basically all my customers are. Planning to incorporate through Stripe Atlas or Firstbase (curious which one people actually prefer), and I keep going back and forth on Delaware C-Corp vs LLC.

Got a co-founder, 70/30 split, fully bootstrapped, no plans to raise VC right now. But if this thing takes off we'd be open to selling down the line. Neither of us are US citizens or residents which I know complicates the tax side.

Every time I google this I get conflicting takes. Half say go C-Corp from day one if you ever want to sell or raise, the other half say LLC is cheaper and simpler when bootstrapping and you can convert later. The pass-through taxation thing as a non-US founder still confuses me.

For any non-US bootstrappers who've been through this, what did you actually do and would you do it the same way again? Any tax or legal stuff that bit you?

Appreciate any help, browser has 30 tabs open and I'm losing it.