IAM532- Managing Attorney Modernizes The Legal Job Market

Managing Attorney Shahed Kader is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C) only. He is not your typical lawyer. Before launching the practice, he worked in sales and growth for technology companies for 10 years.

Shahed managed the partnership that led to LocalVox’s acquisition, helped Stack Overflow better their sales and marketing collaboration, and led Aptible from $500,000 to over $10 million annual recurring revenue (ARR) leading sales – giving him an unmatched understanding of how to grow technology companies.

• CEO Hack: Trello for productivity
• CEO Nugget: Cultivate your relationships with people out there
• CEO Defined: Ability to lead from behind

Website: https://www.kaderlaw.com/

https://www.kaderlaw.com/blog

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. Shahed Kader of kaderlaw.com. Shahed, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Shahed Kader 0:39

Hey, thanks, Gresh. Thanks for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

Yeah, no problem. Super excited to have you on. What I want to do is just read a little bit more about Shahed so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Managing Attorney Shahed Kader is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C) only. He is not your typical lawyer. Before launching the practice, he worked in sales and growth for technology companies for 10 years.

Shahed managed the partnership that led to LocalVox’s acquisition, helped Stack Overflow better their sales and marketing collaboration, and led Aptible from $500,000 to over $10 million annual recurring revenue (ARR) leading sales – giving him an unmatched understanding of how to grow technology companies. Shahed, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Shahed Kader 1:22

Yeah, absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 1:23

Awesome. Let's do it. I wanted to kick everything off with what I call your CEO story and hear a little bit more about what led you to start your business.

Shahed Kader 1:30

Yeah, sure. So I mean, you read the bio so thank you for that. That's kind of that's pretty much accurate. 10 years ago, actually graduated into the recession back in 2008, I worked with a family business for about a year and then I got into sales. First, a local newspaper, in Queens, New York, did sales there for about three months. Then I joined a couple of different advertising technology companies and agencies. Eventually, I grew, I grew my career in sales, I got pretty good at it and I decided that I wanted to do something more.

I started law school in the evening, starting in June of 2000, I'm sorry, August 2013. I started law school at New York Law School and Tribeca, New York evening division. Between 2013 and 2016, I was in law school. At the same time, I was still working, I was running sales for a company called Aptible, and as you mentioned, I was leading them from 500,000 in annual revenue to just over 10 million. Once I graduated, I decided was I wanted a level of autonomy. I started planning, how am I going to do that? I wanted to start my own company, and what am I going to do with it?

What I decided was, that I will take this decade of experience that I have working with technology companies growing them, and helping them to exit, hopefully helping them understand how to grow and combine it with my legal education and kind of law at launch a firm accordingly. It would be a little bit of a different approach. I'm not your typical graduate from high school, graduate from college, go to law school, go for a big firm, and then start your own. It's more of a fresh approach with a very deep understanding of how exactly technology companies work. I built this firm. So far I launched it back in June of 2018. I went full-time at it earlier this year. So far, so good.

Gresham Harkless 3:16

Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate that. I know when we talked offline, we talked about how kind some of the synergies we had when we first connected, I didn't realize that you worked at the local newspaper, too, because I had worked for I think that my last job was working at a local kind of hyper-local newspaper. Then of course, like, the whole kind of sales background, because I kind of marveled at the ability to kind of course, know that technology, but know it from a sales aspect. Because I think most people will make sure that they get the law down and of course, that's of extreme importance. But understanding the sales and understanding how exactly to do that and actually grow like a technology company is something that not a lot of people usually go into and know about.

Shahed Kader 3:55

That's right. So yeah, it's so far so good. It's related pretty well, to my client base, I have a very niche client base that comes to me with specific needs, and I've been able to help them.

Gresham Harkless 4:06

Yeah, absolutely. Good, that they're able to, you're able to to provide those services to help out. I know we touched on it a little bit, but I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper. Could you take us through exactly what types of things you do for clients, kind of like how that process goes, and what anything what kind of problems you help solve?

Shahed Kader 4:24

Sure, absolutely. So what I do for clients, I basically concentrate on two types of law, which are business law and data privacy law. Business law is actually a combination. It is business, corporate law, contract law, employment law, and a little bit of intellectual property. The combination of that can all fall into this song when I helped my clients kind of drill down on what they need to do from a formation standpoint, from the corporate standpoint, how to split up their stock and shares amongst their employees or, partners, and founders, how to drill down on contract, policies, procedures that they need to run the company, how to defy or read contracts that come their way, whether it's from another software company or a vendor that they're working with or anything like that.

Then, of course, intellectual property, how to protect what they have, whether it's filing a trademark, I don't do patents. I'm not a patent attorney, or whether it's filing a trademark or protecting their trade secret. I work with that. But business law, it's all transactional, though. It's strictly transactional work that I do, meaning I don't go to court, I don't do litigation. I don't sue people. So if you need to sue somebody, that's totally fine, too. The good thing is that with my firm, I built an entire ecosystem of other attorneys that I work with, I do all the things that I don't do. There are plenty of things that I don't do. If you need something if you need litigation, help, if you need securities, law, health, if you need real estate law, or anything like that, I can send you to somebody that I could work with you.

On the other end of things, I also do data privacy law, which is more specific data privacy law, it's more of an emerging kind of thing. There are lots of regulations coming out there are existing regulations the future regulations coming up. Yet, HIPAA in the past for healthcare, and healthcare technology, you have CCPA, and GDPR, which are the California Consumer Privacy Act and the General Data Protection Act from Europe that are that are in effect and coming into effect.

A lot of these technology companies actually need to follow that because they have that they're kind of agnostic when it comes to where their clients come from. With the CCPA, if you have clients in California, if you're handling like some, if you meet some certain these specific criteria, you're going to have to implement certain specific data privacy kind of regulations and policies around your entire organization. I help companies kind of figure that out as well.

Gresham Harkless 6:41

Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate that. I know that it will do you know, if there is like maybe a certain indicator that they know that they should call you because I know you obviously cover different aspects, between the business law and the data privacy law, but is there kind of some indicators that people know.

Shahed Kader 6:59

To be honest with you, if you are running a business and you're handling, if there's anything you're working with other people you should probably have, whether it's me or somebody else, you should have an attorney that you could call to kind of handle this. They've been offering a service offering that I offer, it's called general outside General Counsel. That means that I'm your legal point of contact for your company. You have a question about this contract that payment, you have a question about this employment agreement, or anything like that, you would call me and either that tell you that, okay, I can handle this for you, or No, I put you to somebody else that can absolutely handle it for you.

If you are in business, you should have at least a point of contact, it doesn't mean you have to pay them 10s of 1000s of dollars. That's not what I charge. I make it affordable for small businesses, businesses, and startups. But it does mean that you should have somebody there, it's just like your accountant, or you have your accountant handling your taxes, you have other service providers handling different things. It's in your best interest to protect your assets, protect your liabilities, protect and protect your bank.

Gresham Harkless 7:56

Yeah, absolutely. I think I love the fact that you have kind of like that network, or people that you've connected with that you can refer people to, as you said, like if it's real estate law, or something along those lines, because I think sometimes we can kind of get in the trenches, so to speak, and try to be an expert subject matter expert in everything. But I think really, you reach a level of success when you're able to kind of have that person where you're able to connect with related to law, especially for you that can help you to navigate and answer some of those questions.

Shahed Kader 8:25

Really, that's right. I mean, that's like anything else, like I could be a software engineer, but I'm not going to spend my time doing that I could be a marketing expert, I'm not gonna spend my time doing that I'd rather concentrate on what I'm good at, and really honing in on that, and make sure that my business is successful, and leave the expert stuff to the other excellence.

Gresham Harkless 8:44

Exactly. When our Zona genius and staying in there is the key, I definitely say as well. You might have already touched on this, but I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, and it can be for you or your organization, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you

Shahed Kader 8:59

Sure, I think honestly, it is my practical experience, I have practical experience working at technology companies doing sales with them doing growth with them, and helping them grow. I've seen a company grow from 8 people to 30 people from 50 people to 200 people. I can actually look at your company, and look at organizations, they have been in your shoes, I know what you're going through right now.

With that decade of experience or so that gives me a little bit of an advantage of actually understanding not only from a legal standpoint, but also an empathetic standpoint, from a business standpoint that okay, I know that you're gonna have to deal with hiring people and getting out stock at some point, I know that you're gonna have to deal with found it happens, you're gonna have to get into an argument with your co-founder, he might break off the company, things like that. So that experience that practical experience is really my secret sauce and so far it has resonated pretty well with my clients. I hope it continues to do so.

Gresham Harkless 9:54

Awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO heck. So this could be an app, book, or habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Shahed Kader 10:05

Sure, yeah. I mean, as an app, I can give you a couple of things. First of all, I use Trello, all the time for everything. Trello is a kind of productivity tool, you can make lists, you can move things along, and different stages are where you are. It's Kanban-style if you're familiar with it. You can say that one side of the list is to do one side of the list is doing one on one side of the list is done. As far as books are concerned, several books come to law, specifically around technology startups, I really liked the book, venture deals. It's by Brad Feld.

Gresham Harkless 10:45

Nice. I definitely appreciate that. Now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. This could be around business law or data privacy law, but it's kind of a word of wisdom or a piece of advice, or maybe even something you might tell your younger business self.

Shahed Kader 11:00

Yeah, look, I think it doesn't have anything to do with business law or data privacy law, my nugget would be to cultivate your relationships meet people get out there, and get to know them. I see a lot that people will immediately meet somebody and try to sell them something and not sell them. It'll end up and they'll just like move on from it. I don't think that's a great idea, I think you should always cultivate your relationships, get to know them, and keep them in mind, if you think of somebody, when something comes across your inbox, or anything forwarded to them, keep that relationship alive.

Because it may come back to you later on, they might need you later on one way or another, it may lead to business, may lead to a very important piece of advice when you need it, may lead to them being extremely successful, and they can help you out at a later point, or main lead to nothing but a really good friendship, really, but cultivate relationships. I know when I first got into sales earlier, I would burn some bridges and have in a bad way. Just I didn't stay in touch. But once I started keeping everything alive, especially with people that I think would go, we have like minds, we're pursuing the same thing. started cultivating relationships, I see a lot of things come back to me later on.

Gresham Harkless 12:13

Yeah, absolutely. I think especially in business, you kind of have to have that long-term approach. As you say, cultivate relationships a lot of times I hear, farming not hunting. So a lot of times, especially in sales, it's all about hunting for the next deal and getting the next deal. But when you have that farming and developing those long-term relationships that help you to build not just at that time, sometimes, but often years down the line, because as long as you're getting visibility about what it is that you do and talk about it to people, then you might become top of mind later on.

Shahed Kader 12:46

Yeah, that's right. Exactly.

Gresham Harkless 12:48

Awesome. Now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on this show. So Shahed, what does being CEO mean to you?

Shahed Kader 12:58

I think being a CEO is having the ability to lead from behind really, that means is like you don't force people to do things, you don't crack a whip at them, and you don't drag them along. But really take a holistic view and everything that's going on with the team that you're working with. Some people might work out, some people might not work out, but figure out how you can help them do their job the best. So you're leading this ship, obviously.

But to accurately lead the ship, you need to be able to see what specific people need and from what angle they need it if your marketing department needs a bigger budget, or they need guidance through somebody that has specific knowledge, like relationships, marketing, whatever it is, actually Account Based Marketing, tried to facilitate that need or acquiring something that will help that need.

Same thing with sales, if you think that the sales department could use a better piece of software, or they're struggling with demos, and you'd like better kind of guidance around what a pitch should sound like find a way to help them there, but just holistically lead from behind and help the team achieve. That way you can all work on going towards the same direction of growth of understanding of of reaching your goals, whether it's something that's a public benefit, whether it's a corporate benefit, whatever it is.

Gresham Harkless 14:19

Yeah, that makes so much sense. I think, so many times, I was thinking of, if you help enough people get what they want them to help you to get what they will get what you want. I think so many times we forget that aspect, we forget about like what, and trying to figure out what success means from team members and even like, as we've kind of talked about, from networking and connecting and growing mindset of just having that kind of leadership from behind related to our clients and people that we're working with. Because I think if you are that solution-oriented person and you help people, solve those solutions, whether they're in your wheelhouse or you're connected with somebody, you become that person and then you start to be that leader and be that person that can cultivate and build those relationships.

Shahed Kader 14:56

Right. All ties back together can lead from behind if you're able to do that.

Gresham Harkless 15:01

Absolutely. Well, I definitely appreciate that definition. I appreciate your time even more. What I want to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional. You want to let our readers and listeners know. Then of course, how best they can get a hold of you find out about your blog and all the awesome things that you have going on.

Shahed Kader 15:16

Yeah, awesome. Yeah, sure. There's not much else that I could say this was an awesome interview and thank you so much for having me on it and choosing to have me on it. I know I enjoy listening to everybody else that you have interviewed in the past and I think you have a great thing going on over here. Having a resource like this is very crucial, very key, being able to listen to the leaders and people that are doing things that you would eventually want to do like me and I wasn't a founder or an entrepreneur before this.

So it's a good resource to have as far as reaching me you can go to my website which is kaderlaw.com that's ka D isn't David E R as Richard law.com. I have a blog on there. Just click the Blog button or go to kaderlaw.com/blog. Feel free to reach out to me and just a reminder, I'm a DC licensed attorney so I have licensed practice law in the District of Columbia.

Gresham Harkless 16:06

Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Again, we will have those links and information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you. But again, truly appreciate your time. Appreciate everything you're doing and all the insight you gave us. I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Outro 16:18

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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