ABA Techshow kicked off last week with the Startup Alley Pitch Competition, in which 15 companies pitched their companies in three-minute presentations in front of an audience of Techshow attendees.

At the conclusion of all the pitches, the audience got to vote for their favorites. Here were the top three winners:

  • Billseye, an application for tracking, documenting and billing client calls on a mobile device.
  • SimplyConvert, an automated intake case-qualification platform powered by an “all-knowing” AI chatbot, Casey.
  • Woodpecker, an AI-enabled legal document automation platform that helps lawyers turn frequently used legal documents into standardized “smart-templates,” all from Microsoft Word.

Let me extend my congratulations to the winners and thanks to all the companies that participated. Let me also express my deep appreciation to everyone who made this happen:

  • The Techshow planning board, and particularly this year’s chairs, Catherine Sanders Reach and Heidi Alexander, who not only participated in the judging process but who also made sure we had a great room to present the pitch competition.
  • Lyndsey Kent, meetings manager for the ABA Law Practice Division, who made sure everything ran like a well-oiled machine.
  • Everyone at MCI Group for coordinating booths and other logistics for the Startup Alley, and particularly Janet McClenny, who helped coordinate both the pitch competition and the Startup Alley space in the exhibit hall, and, most importantly, who served as timekeeper during the pitch competition.
  • Clio and CEO Jack Newton for sponsoring the pitch competition for the fourth year in a row.

By the way, Startup Alley is on again for 2021. Next year’s Techshow chairs, Roberta Tepper and Allan Mackenzie, invited us back for next year. So watch this blog and the Techshow blog for details.

Shortly after the competition, I joined Laurence Colletti of the Legal Talk Network to record a conversation with the winners, Billseye founders and brothers Alcide and Armond Honoré, to discuss the origins and development of their company.

Listen to it below:

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.