HackerNoon Reporter: Please tell us briefly about your background.
Alan Tuback: I’m originally from South Africa and that is where I grew up and went to university. Funnily enough I trained to be a dental technician, which is completely different from the world of legal technology. I moved to Canada just over 30 years ago and got a job in the legal technology space, and I haven’t left the industry since. Before I co-founded Devlos with Doug and took on the role of CEO, I was the Director of Product Management at LexisNexis - one of the leading legal technology providers in the industry at the time.
Doug Dagworthy: I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada and went to school just outside of Toronto, so I haven’t done nearly as much travelling in my life as Alan. I got my degree in computer science, and was lucky enough to get hired as a developer at a company called Alumni Computer Group. I became partner at Alumni before they were acquired by LexisNexis PCLaw. I was the Lead Architect for LexisNexis PCLaw for 27 years before founding Devlos and taking leadership as CTO and development lead.
What's your startup called? And in a sentence or two, what does it do?
AT: Our company is called Devlos Software, Inc., but we’re better known by our product’s name: Soluno. Soluno is a cloud-based software package that specializes in time/expense entry, accounting, billing, and trust for lawyers.
What is the origin story?
DD: Alan and I met while working for PCLaw - I was in development and Alan was in customer support at the time. We definitely admired each other’s different skill sets - I’m a development and technology guy and Alan had a great way with people, knowing the industry, and where a product needed to go. We both talked off-and-on about starting a company, and around 2008 we noticed that PCLaw as a product was not developing the way we thought it should be, and in general the legal industry was not advancing or adopting any of the new technology that was coming out.
AT: By 2014 it became clear that lawyers were being left out in the cold and an alternative solution that harnessed the power of modern technology needed to be made. So we set out to create Soluno, which is why we like to call it a startup with over 75 years of experience. And we wanted to build a company that did legal accounting right; not just from a features and function standpoint, but from the way we treated customers and ran our business, too.
What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem?
AT: We would not be anywhere without our team. They are a group of the most dedicated and talented people I’ve met. They give us energy every day; we all highly believe in what we’re doing, and everyone has stepped up to the plate and helped form the company into what it is today. We collaborate with each other and celebrate everyone’s success, but we also push each other to make sure Soluno is solving the real problems that the legal industry faces every day. They are really the most exceptional people.
DD: As for why we’re the ones to solve the problem, it’s because we know the problems. Between Alan, myself, and our team, we have more than of 110 years of legal industry experience, and 75+ years in legal accounting specifically. We’ve worked in all aspects of the business, and we are uniquely aware of the challenges law firms face every day. What’s more - and I think this is maybe more important - we care about the people we’re serving. All our decisions come back to giving our customers the best possible experience, and our team embodies this fully.
If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing?
AT: Ideally, I’d be surfing or on a beach somewhere! But realistically I think I would just be building a different startup. It’s stressful at times, but I can’t imagine not being my own boss.
DD: Oh, this is tricky. I think I’d probably be getting more sleep, but other than that I would probably be working from home with my dog and my wife and doing software architecture exactly like I am now. I’m a problem solver at heart, and so as long as I’m doing that, I’m a happy camper.
At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics?
AT: We’re a SaaS company, so we look at ARR to make sure we’re financially healthy. But ultimately it comes back to the customer and whether they love our product. So we pay pretty close attention to our repeat subscribers, promoter scores, and churn rates.
What’s most exciting about your traction to date?
DD: For us, we love seeing the positive impact that our product has had on our customers. We have one story that we love to tell about a bookkeeper who was working 18 hours a day, 7 days a week and hadn’t taken a day off in 4 years because of how long it took to keep their law firm’s financials balanced. Their firm switched to Soluno, and after about a month we got a call from them saying “Thanks to Soluno, I finally got my weekends back!”. And they took their first vacation in four years shortly after.
AT: I agree with Doug - we recently have had some great milestones; including closing the sale of our first 100 user law firm in early 2021, but we never want to lose sight of our initial goal, which was to give law firms a product that worked for their needs and listened to their problems. It’s so exciting when we see and hear evidence that our hard work is paying off.
What technologies are you currently most excited about, and most worried about? And why?
DD: The obvious answer for us is cloud technology, because that is Soluno’s bread and butter. But beyond that, I think there is so much potential for automation and AI within the legal tech space. The less time that law firms have to spend making sure everything gets where it needs to be, the better and more productive they can be. With automation and AI I can see a world where some legal workflows are streamlined from hours, to minutes, to only a few seconds.
I don’t think there’s any technologies that I am worried about - I believe everything will find its place and value in a post-pandemic world.
What drew you to get published on HackerNoon? What do you like most about our platform?
DD: I first stumbled across HackerNoon a few months ago and I love the range of topics that are covered here. It’s a great resource for keeping a finger on the pulse of what is happening in the tech world. In terms of getting published, it just seems like a great fit for what we stand for as a company.
What advice would you give to the 21-year-old version of yourself?
AT: I’d say to 21-year-old Alan that maybe he should take business administration instead of dental technology, but apart from that I would tell him to keep learning everything possible and to never underestimate the power of making meaningful connections.
DD: I would tell a 21-year-old version of myself to keep pushing forward, but to stop and look around every so often and appreciate his successes. Especially as the co-founder of a start-up, everything is moving so quickly and there’s a new problem to solve. I feel like I have to remind myself to take a breath every so often to see how far Soluno has come.
What is something surprising you've learned this year that your contemporaries would benefit from knowing?
AT: We’ve learned that something as small as a branded Zoom background can help bring together an online office. Soluno has been virtual since 2014, but more than half of our employees were hired during quarantine and have never met each other in person. We have had to experiment with ways to create a positive virtual workplace culture. Some things take slightly more effort than they would in an in-person environment but they are so worth it. That doesn’t mean forcing employees into a mandatory wellness call, but finding genuine and organic ways to demonstrate we’re looking out for them and their needs.
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