Building a Partner Ecosystem for the AI Era in Law

Everlaw’s partner business is entering an exciting new chapter. Over the past three years, the Business Development team has built a foundational go-to-market motion from the ground up, proving that a targeted, SaaS-driven partner model can impact how legal tech is delivered.

Following that momentum, the team is excited to welcome Matthew Barmash as our new VP of Business Development. Matt brings over two decades of enterprise partnership experience and is stepping in to take the reins from Jae Jung, who successfully spearheaded the program’s launch and initial growth.

To fuel this momentum, Matt is looking to expand the Business Development team significantly, with plans to rapidly grow the team over the next six months.

In a recent conversation, both Jae and Matt reflected on the strong foundation that’s been built, the strategic vision for the road ahead, and what prospective candidates and partners need to know about the opportunity behind joining Everlaw's next wave of growth.

Jae, as you hand over the reins, how would you describe the foundation you've built for our partner ecosystem?

Jae: The baseline intention was to build a new go-to-market motion. We launched our partner program at the end of year two, so the first few years were basically about seeing what kind of partner business to build, whether a SaaS industry selling model would work in this novel industry, and whether we could recruit and help build an initial set of highly aligned partners. Our strategy was not to build a massive ecosystem, but a focused one where we invest a lot of resources to make a select group successful.

We learned a lot during that process. First, helping service providers build practices around a new technology is very hard and takes a lot of time and effort. Second, co-selling is a practice, not a theory. It sounds great, but it requires individual sellers, partners, and field teams to work together in new ways. 

Finally, having the best technology doesn't make the development of a channel ecosystem a foregone conclusion. The best technology rarely wins on its own; it's the best go-to-market motion that wins.

Matt, how does your enterprise background inform your strategy for building a more repeatable revenue engine here at Everlaw?

Matt: My background spans enterprise tech over 25-plus years, focusing on how we scale technology and cloud services across partner ecosystems. I've done it in a number of different industries—from financial services to healthcare and life sciences to manufacturing, and even bespoke segments like the audiovisual industry. 

All of these experiences have helped shape how I think about partner ecosystems. It really comes down to understanding the nuance of how partners help accelerate a customer's business, which directly informs how we can help accelerate our partners' business.

What has your collaboration been like over the last month, and what are you both most excited about as this next phase begins?

Jae: In short, I'm excited about scaling out our capability. When you're testing out a brand new model with many moving pieces, the right thing to do initially was not to scale out a large operational system. Now that we all feel pretty confident that the motion works, one of the things Matt is here to do is build a scalable business around it. 

Matt: Jae has been an amazing partner through this entire process—from the first time I met him during the interview to my first day at Everlaw, and every day in between. 

We collaborate on a daily basis. For the first month, I watched as he ran the business, and in the second month, he watched as I ran the business. We have an aligned philosophy on how we want the business to grow and succeed. 

As I've been taking over more of the day-to-day operations, I've been building the scaffolding for how we scale the business for the benefit of both ourselves and our partners.

Matt, you've outlined key priorities like making our existing partners successful and recruiting new strategic partners. Specifically, how do you see Al being incorporated into these new partner motions?

Matt: Internally, we're already started to use AI on a daily basis to understand what our partners are doing and create a more holistic view to report out to the business. 

Externally, our "Everlaw Everywhere" strategy is critical to our partners' ability to build unique solutions on top of and around Everlaw to support their customers. In fact, we hope to launch an "Everlaw Everywhere for Partners" model in the next few months where our partners can build unique capabilities and differentiation.

You currently lead a sizable team but plan to hire several new business development employees over the next six months. What specific skills and mindsets are you looking for?

Matt: The key is to be able to say the same thing over and over again. It takes time for our partners to understand and drive our unique value in an ecosystem that has done things one way for a really long time. I want team members who are super proud and ready to shout about what we're doing. 

I’m looking for partner-focused people who are driven to make their partners successful, understand the impact on end customers, and can roll with the punches while moving fast with diligence.

Jae, having owned executive partner events and partner communications for the last three years, what advice do you have for this wave of new talent joining Matt's team?

Jae: It's no different than the advice I have for other employees. We are somewhat unique in that we've built a SaaS business inside a traditional, on-prem industry. If you're new to legal tech, especially ediscovery, you need to learn what makes this business unique and what the actual work of litigation and investigation is.

Additionally, you have to think creatively about what an AI-first or AI-native SaaS company should do in the market. Every successful partner we have essentially has a version of Everlaw inside their organization—salespeople, delivery people, technical experts, and support staff. It's incumbent on the people joining the partner business to be expert and sophisticated enough to help those partners understand how AI and the SaaS model are affecting our industry so they can deliver that effectively to end clients.

Matt, as a leader, how do you plan to craft and build team culture while expanding the team so rapidly?

Matt: I have two main philosophies. First: "Let's go get it." Let's charge, let's be fast. We shouldn't break things, but we can't let processes get in the way of delivering value to partners and customers. Let's find ways to build new processes that are faster and simplify what we're trying to say. 

Second: "Everybody gets the coffee." There is no job you can't ask everyone to do because we are a team. We have a lofty goal and we only get there as a team. We win together, and that means everyone gets the coffee.

Ultimately, what is the core message you want prospective candidates and future strategic partners to hear about this opportunity?

Jae: For candidates coming from the SaaS space, I'd say that legal tech used to be very boring and not necessarily a place SaaS people would want to work. But AI shifted that. Legal tech is now one of the hottest, most innovative AI technology frontiers out there. 

And for ediscovery veterans, the sell is self-evident: Everlaw is the fastest-growing, most innovative, best SaaS company around. If you're in legal tech, you want to place your bets with the most exciting prospect in the industry.

Matt: This is an incredibly exciting time for Everlaw. Our team is small but mighty, and our ability to drive outsized returns for the business is huge. 

As the fastest-growing part of the company, we have to put the right people in place to successfully scale. Outside of AI itself, this partner ecosystem will be one of the most important things we build at Everlaw.