New AI Contracting Tool: Sevan Startup Summit 2023 & EPIC Agbabian Award Winner’s Story

4 min read

Aram Aghababyan is the co-founder of CaseLens, a startup which empowers lawyers to ask questions conversationally and quickly access critical facts and supporting documents pertaining to cases. His entrepreneurial journey took an exciting turn when CaseLens emanated from EPIC’s Incubation program and earned his team the EPIC Agbabian Award on the program’s Demo Day. Subsequently, Aram’s startup achieved recognition as one of the winning teams at the Sevan Startup Summit 2023.

EPIC had the opportunity to speak with Aram to learn more about his entrepreneurial journey.

Can you share the story of how your entrepreneurial journey began? What influenced you to become a founder? Additionally, tell us about how you assembled your core team and met your co-founders.

I first met my friend, Aren, through the FoodRed Program, in which we were both involved. He was interested in legal tech, specifically creating applications pertinent to the field. I was focused on international arbitration, which is how we crossed paths.

Later on, we met Shushan. She had a lot of experience in legal tech, having worked for a startup that helped applicants in the process of obtaining U.S. H1B visas. She also worked in justice tech, creating apps for the legal sector in African countries. That’s when we decided to team up and work on something in the legal tech field. Initially, we didn’t have any specific idea or problem to solve but were determined to find one ourselves. 

We chose to commence our collaboration with in-house lawyers. They stood out as a more receptive audience for technology adoption compared to traditional law firms. From our standpoint, the key distinction lies in their roles: while some are lawyers working in companies, others have their own law firms that offer legal services.

What factors influenced your decision to join the EPIC Incubation program? What were your expectations at the start and how has your experience matched or exceeded those expectations?

I was part of the Technology and Innovation Legal Clinic at AUA, where we offered free legal advice to EPIC startups. This gave me prior knowledge about EPIC before we decided to apply. We thought this incubation program could be a good place to kickstart our project.

To our surprise, EPIC offered much more than we had anticipated. It provided us with valuable entrepreneurial education, something we hadn’t gained in our previous positions. Being an entrepreneur is quite different from working in even top positions of IT companies. EPIC helped us develop an entrepreneurial mindset, and with the guidance of mentors and coaches, we navigated this process.

We initially expected to participate in some classes with EPIC to develop our idea and have access to their workspace. However, we ended up gaining a wealth of knowledge from the various entrepreneurial activities in which we engaged and the reading materials it provided.

Could you provide insights into your experience at the Sevan Startup Summit 2023? What were the key takeaways and learnings from this event?

The event was well-organized and gave us the chance to meet many like-minded people who were already successful in the field. We learned a lot from conversations with them. The Sevan Startup also helped us get better at presenting our ideas and connecting with potential investors. In short, it gave us the opportunity to network, learn, and enhance our entrepreneurial skills.

Could you describe any pivotal moments or challenges you faced while building CaseLens? How did you sail through them, and what did you learn from those experiences?

We initially began as a contract management platform but soon realized our strengths lay elsewhere. So, we made the decision to pivot and enter the international arbitration market. Over the past few months, we have conducted extensive research in this domain and discovered new opportunities there. Consequently, we also opted to change the name of our startup and overall direction.

In practical terms, it’s the same as killing our startup and launching a new one. We changed the target market and the solution we offered. This is a rather common step for entrepreneurs because they aren’t just building a company, they’re searching for a viable business model that can grow. That’s the reason why we chose to change our direction.

Right now, we’re conducting a survey among our target audience to select a new name and gearing up to launch a minimum viable product (MVP) and corresponding social media campaign.

In the world of contract management, what unique value does CaseLens bring to the table, and how do you envision it making a difference in the industry?

We’re taking on some truly tough challenges. In international arbitration, cases could include an enormous number of documents, sometimes totaling hundreds of thousands or even millions of pages. The parties involved in these cases face a constant struggle with sorting through this massive amount of information. Our aim is to simplify this process by enabling users to swiftly locate the pertinent sections and, in some cases, unveil hidden details that would be humanly impossible to uncover.

Can you tell us about any exciting developments or future plans for CaseLens? What can users and potential customers look forward to in the coming months or years?

We’re gearing up for a forthcoming launch. We’ve already crafted multiple MVPs and selected the most promising one. Currently, we’re in the process of developing an MVP for usability testing. Our plan is to hand it over to lawyers and solicit their feedback for making necessary improvements. Once we receive confirmation that our product meets their needs, we’ll proceed with its further development.

Building a startup can be a demanding endeavor. How do you manage maintaining a work-life balance and your passion for entrepreneurship?

To be honest, it’s challenging, but it would be even tougher without having a foundation in entrepreneurship. If you begin a project from scratch without knowledge in this domain, it can be a hundred times harder. Currently, all our team members have full-time jobs, but we still find ways to use our spare time to make progress. Having a solid understanding of entrepreneurship and knowing how to proceed can significantly streamline the process and save a lot of time.

Lastly, what advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs who are just starting their journey or considering joining programs like EPIC’s Incubation program?

I’d suggest applying to EPIC without hesitation, because it provides valuable guidance, advice, and a supportive community. Building a successful startup is a challenging endeavor. Even having secure funding doesn’t guarantee success. In order to thrive, you need to be more than just good; it demands relentless effort and dedication. If you find yourself somewhere in the middle, it may not necessarily lead to success. Having a supportive ecosystem like EPIC can make a significant difference in your entrepreneurial journey.