BIG IdeaBounce 2024 | 14 Finalists Dazzle In SharkTank Contest

Team Compos Mentis

School Affiliation: Carnegie Mellon Tepper

Description: Compos Mentis is revolutionizing pre-trial litigation preparation with advanced AI, transforming legal document analysis to construct comprehensive narratives for both affirmative and negative cases; thus bolstering attorney efficiency, reinforcing argument strength, and ensuring a holistic consideration of all pertinent facts without missing any critical information.

Problem:

Attorneys face the daunting task of reviewing massive volumes of documentation in litigation cases, both for the plaintiff and the defendant. This process is not only time-consuming but also fraught with the risk of overlooking critical information. Many attorneys harbor concerns about potentially missing key information that could significantly impact their cases, either positively or negatively. Further, current solutions often result in wasted, unpaid labor from attorneys, as well as missed filing deadlines.

Solution:

Our product, an AI-driven tool, efficiently sifts through these high volumes of legal documents. It is designed to identify the most pertinent information quickly and accurately for both the affirmative and negative aspects of a case. This tool synthesizes this information into a coherent analysis of the attorney’s thesis, complete with references, thereby enabling attorneys to effectively analyze the strengths and weaknesses of their cases.

We create value by enabling attorneys to navigate the preparation process more efficiently, accurately, and confidently than ever before. By automating and streamlining the document review process, our solution significantly reduces the time attorneys spend on case preparation. The tool alleviates the nagging doubts attorneys have about missing crucial information, thereby increasing their confidence in the case’s integrity. The ability to rapidly synthesize and present case-relevant information in a user-friendly format allows for more thorough and effective case analysis. Ultimately, our tool creates “peace of mind” and reduces case losses. In limited initial trials/pilots, all concluded cases leveraging our product have resulted in positive outcomes.

Market:

We are primarily targeting the U.S. market where over 400,000 law firms operate. Recognizing that most of these are smaller firms, our initial focus is on this underserved segment. These small firms represent a beachhead market due to their low adoption barriers, weaker incumbent competition, and currently available solutions that are ill-suited to their needs.

While our long-term strategy encompasses all firm sizes, the immediate goal is to penetrate the small firm segment, where we project to capture 40% market share within 36 months. This targeted approach is poised to establish a strong foothold, from which we will expand to larger firms, addressing the entire market comprehensively in our growth trajectory.

End users will be lawyers and paralegals, mostly in law firms, although there are obvious compliance, internal audit, and corporate counsel applications for medium and large businesses. We will initially pursue referrals, recommendations, and SEO. We have also received offers of free marketing from one of trial clients, who has offered to recommend to our company to his bar association and practice specific professional group.

We have spoken with approximately forty lawyers about their pain points in litigation. The biggest concerns are missing some important piece of information, missing filing deadlines due to use of third party vendors for document sifting, and cost of running the review process.

Competition:

Target customers currently navigate the complex legal discovery and pre-trial litigation preparation either manually, through third-party contract lawyers, or by leveraging technology solutions. Established players like Consilio, Everlaw, and Relativity, as well as emerging ones like Abel, offer platforms that streamline this process. Customers opt for these services primarily due to the convenience they offer, fulfilling the discovery/review use cases to a certain extent, despite limitations in accuracy. These services reduce the administrative headache and time consumed in the discovery process, which is traditionally known for its tediousness and manual labor intensity.

• Consilio, Everlaw, Relativity:
  • Strengths: Established market presence, brand recognition, existing customer base, and a relatively mature technology offering.
  • Weaknesses: Limited by traditional AI models, resulting in lower accuracy and a lack of deeper, contextual understanding of case materials.
• Abel (YC W24 Startup):
  • Strengths: Innovative approach, agility of a startup, potential for rapid iteration and implementation of new technologies.
  • Weaknesses: Lesser known brand, limited market penetration, and potentially untested solutions at scale.

Compos Mentis sets itself apart by offering a holistic case-level narrative creation and analysis, based on case information of unlimited context length. This capability is a significant advancement over the competitors, who have not successfully integrated such a feature. The solution focuses not just on identifying relevant documents but understanding the narrative and context of the case at a deeper level, ensuring that no critical information is overlooked.

Value Creation:

Compos Mentis has demonstrated clear potential for sustainability by adopting a scalable revenue model, maintaining healthy gross margins, and setting ambitious yet realistic financial targets. The per-case pricing strategy, scaled by case data volume, ensures that revenue grows with the company’s usage, catering to both small and large clients. This flexible model has already shown viability, with the company earning $1.7k in revenue in December 2023.

The company’s competitive pricing undercuts market leaders while maintaining an 80% gross margin. This strategy is designed not only to rapidly capture market share but also to allow for reinvestment in product improvement and business expansion. Our goal is to break even and reach profitability within three years, coupled with a target of $2 million in annualized revenue within two years.

The Team:

Derek Sun (MBA, 2025), Nate Patterson (MBA, 2025)