This is an anonymous post from an Elpha member.

Contract Work

Hi, I am interested in finding contract work. I am in the account management/client success space. Any websites/agencies that are helpful?

Iynna·Jan 16

Hi! thanks for posting! Check Huddle https://www.huddle.works/, Upwork, and then elpha.com/c/job-board And as a housekeeping note, I deleted your dupe post and consolidated with the relevant tag/communities.

Brionna·Jan 18

@iynna do you need an invite code for Huddle? It's occurring to me that it might be a great place for me to do legal ops work for startups (I currently have a portfolio opening I'd love to fill).

Iynna·Jan 19

You do! @hanna has one you can use https://elpha.com/posts/1qfcq97l/need-fractional-expertise

hanna·Jan 19

Hi yes! Thanks for the tag @iynna! You can use my link there or add my name for how you learned about Huddle; however, just so you know, it has more of a product/dev/design focus.I've personally been eyeing https://www.hellogeneralist.com for more ops stuff. I don't have a code for them, but might be worth checking out! :) @ezbrizlax12 Also for the OP, https://www.overpass.com might be interesting for you as well!

Brionna·Jan 19

Thanks! Ya most of these spaces don't ever include lawyers, I think in part because there are legal staffing companies that exist. But I think that they should because lawyers and operations teams go together like peanut butter and jelly. Getting this messaging across has been an uphill battle for my work, but I'll keep going with the word of mouth route. I've found that's the only way people really get it.

Iynna·Jan 19

Mostly because lawyers is one of these function you want to have as a backup but never really having to use it. The first thing is that there are more tools that democratise access to law/legal resources without having to pay $1K for a consult.

Brionna·Jan 19

Sure. But I would say having been inside of a few startups now, that hiring a lawyer either on a contract basis or full time needs to be on a startup's early hires list. Lawyers are the other half of operations in the sense that we systematize repeat legal processes. The work I do in legal ops immediately slows spending because I write the procedure for expense approvals and then train the ops team on it. I make sure the HR team is creating salary bands and offering equal packages to candidates whose roles fall in the same salary. I spot all sorts of compliance issues that companies have no idea about and fix them. I think people have really antiquated views about what lawyers do and the role they play in facilitating startup growth AND settle for the terrible option that is firms that charge $1k for a consult. I've worked for startups that previously had a budget of $400k a year for legal fees because they were paying the same firm that did their fundraising docs to do their business's everyday legal ops. That is not an efficient or effective solution. I'm really passionate about this because every startup I work for is a disaster on the inside even though they've been paying outside counsel out of the a$$ to handle their legal stuff. It's highway robbery and you're not even getting the fuctional legal support that you need.

Iynna·Jan 19

Yes precisely the point, it's usually about fixing after it breaks and not the other way round. Some founders will take the approach because they want to be compliant and have these processes from the get-go, but majority that i've seen don't. It might change over time but there needs to be some changes in the legal industry as well in a ways that removes some of the barriers to entry (cost and generally just understanding)

Brionna·Feb 10

Hi! I'm just getting around to replying to this (hectic several weeks, ha!) , but I'm curious to hear your views as a VC. For a long time, my dream gig has been to be an on-hand legal expert paid by an early stage VC fund to support their founders with legal operations. I've had a ton of people ask me why I don't already do this, but every time I've talked about it with VC friends, they look at me like I'm crazy. I personally think it would make a huge difference in startup runways to have this kind of resource available. So many founders I talk to rely on the same firms doing their financing docs (that charge those eye bulging prices) to also do their basic employment contracts, basic commercial contracts etc. and it's never made sense to me. Do VCs mandate their founders to use those firms?Anyway, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts. Also happy to talk offline of course!