Perkins Coie is jumping in with its startup clients and giving the freemium model a try. For those who don’t know, it’s basically a fancy word VCs use to describe companies that give away a functional but bare bones product or service in order to generate scale in the hopes that some segment will convert to paying customers for premium features.
In the BigLaw context, you get “startupPerColator” (annoying punctuation in the original – apparently they’re also glomming onto the no initial cap trend (is that even still a trend?) while highlighting the Per[kins]Co[ie] in the portmanteau).
The site offers standard docs, tips of the week, and of course, an exhortation to call a real lawyer to get some help.
The thing we like about it is that entrepreneurs, by their very nature, are, or at least think they are, smart do-it-yourself-ers. This is a good way to get a nibble from folks trying to save themselves some of their very scarce early capital.
What do you think?
