JRCTC Intern Incubatee of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas's Incubation Program Prarambh

There is a need to create a global platform for law students to provide them with equal opportunity to intern with reputed lawyers, solicitor firms and MNCs across India. However, the best of the entrepreneurial ideas or plans come to a standstill because of faulty execution. After much deliberation and discussions, we conducted our first pilot successfully. We received overwhelming response from the legal fraternity (Law Firms, Companies, Advocates, Judges) and students.  

The next phase involved including the learnings of the pilot  and launching the product. This was the time when we got the opportunity to apply for Prarambh. Thus, with the aim of automation of the platform and solid mentoring in execution of the product, we applied for the first Prarambh cohort. After a series of pitching sessions and interviews, we emerged victoriously. JRTC was selected to be a part of the first Prarambh cohort.  

Over the next six months, we were mentored, provided guidance, given various approaches, and tweaks for the platform. We entered with a very old-fashioned manual interface of the platform. After intense brainstorming with the Prarambh team, the product grew and reached another pedestal. The one key takeaway that made us grow as an organisation is the importance of “timelines” and “problem-solving technique”. Timelines are surely an inevitable part of the start-up industry and are one of the biggest variables in the start-up’s successful growth.  

The Prarambh team has surely been a great mentor throughout the journey and has helped us at every stage of the business. As Prarambh is exclusively for start-ups in the legal industry, thus executing formal contracts, vetting of documents and creation of formal policies within the company were required to be conducted. The company needed to comply with all the legal and regulatory policies and the Prarambh team ensured that we did just that. After a month at Prarambh, we were able to correct the legal and regulatory irregularities and create a well thought out wireframe of the product. The discussions regarding the journey ahead and the strategies imperative for the business were also looked into. After numerous meetings, over the course of six months with the Prarambh team and including the required changes, the platform is now market-ready.  

We also received guidance on non-legal matters like finance, marketing, etc. The cohort gave us true insight into the thinking of HR Departments of Law Firms in India and it gave us insight into how to get going during the initial phases of our business, keeping the non-legal matters also in mind, especially finance. The market segmentation and target market were also thoroughly discussed with the team. We were also given insight into recruiter portals and the tricks to use the basics of business management to strategise on the same. 

Lastly, these six months were not only professionally fruitful for us, but also at a personal level, it helped us enlarge our minds and think of better, sustainable ideas for the legal industry’s future. The overall journey has been worthwhile and we would highly recommend Prarambh to start-ups in the legal industry, especially budding law students and even legal professionals. “The chances of failing in start-ups are definitely more, but you need to be right only once!” Failure is just a stepping-stone towards victory.  

Therefore, make mistakes and “Do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do”.1