On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on a TechTO stage in 2025. Every TechTO talk is searchable — ask the archive about Jack ↗
In their words
The audacious thing we said in 2008 — that I think rings true today — is: your data is safer in our cloud than it is in your on-premise system.
Lawyers will never store their data in the cloud, you will die on this hill — or, the legal TAM is so small you will never build a $100 million ARR business here. Those were the two common refrains we heard from VCs at that time.
We see AI as being a huge enabling technology for lawyers that will increase the amount of demand for legal services, because AI will increase the accessibility of legal services.
Around the web ×6
Quick answers
How did Jack Newton come up with Clio?
In 2007, convinced the cloud would transform every industry, he called Rian Gauvreau — his best friend since grade three in Edmonton, then IT manager at the law firm Gowlings. Rian saw lawyers stuck with bad software, so they targeted solo and small-firm lawyers (80% of the market), shipped a beta in March 2008, and launched that October.
How did Clio raise its first million dollars?
During the 2008–09 financial crisis, after hundreds of VC nos, German angel Christoph Janz — fresh off selling Pageflakes and an early Zendesk investor — cold-emailed info@goclio.com. Google's spam filter buried it for two weeks until Rian checked his spam folder. Newton and Gauvreau flew to Berlin to close their first million, having already maxed credit cards and remortgaged Newton's house.
How big is Clio now and where is it going?
At the talk Newton pegged Clio at about US$300 million ARR, with $1 billion as the next milestone, after a $900-million Series F at a $3-billion valuation — which he called the largest transaction in Canadian fundraising history. Now multi-product, Clio wants to be the operating system for legal work; Newton argues AI will grow demand for lawyers, since 77% of legal needs currently go unmet.