How Crosby Uses AI-Powered Lawyers to Eliminate Contract Bottlenecks for Startups

AI Transforming Legal Services: The Case of Crosby

The tech industry often discusses how AI will change work, but Crosby offers a clear example of what’s coming for legal services. Crosby isn’t just developing AI software for lawyers—it operates as a law firm that uses AI to deliver legal work faster than ever before.

Instead of selling technology to lawyers, Crosby hires lawyers who work alongside its proprietary AI software. The firm focuses mainly on contract review for startups, aiming to speed up a traditionally slow process.

Faster Contract Review with AI and Human Oversight

Crosby promises that its AI, supervised by humans, can review client contracts in under an hour. The goal is to reduce this time to just minutes. Contracts such as master service agreements (MSAs), data processing agreements, and non-disclosure agreements are the core focus.

Founders with Legal and Tech Experience

Ryan Daniels, Crosby’s CEO and co-founder, is a lawyer who grew up immersed in legal academia. After working at a major firm representing tech companies and serving as in-house counsel for startups, he saw firsthand how contract negotiations slowed growth. At his previous company, contract review was the bottleneck limiting expansion.

Crosby’s CTO, John Sarihan, has a background in tech startups and focused on building a team of software engineers to develop the AI platform. Together, they hired lawyers to integrate legal expertise with technology. Their combined approach aims to own the entire contract review process, rather than just providing tools to other firms.

Early Results and Market Fit

Since its soft launch in January, Crosby has reviewed over 1,000 contracts for fast-growing startups like Cursor, Clay, and UnifyGTM. The focus remains on startups needing quick, reliable contract review to support fast growth.

Strong Backing from Leading Investors

Crosby raised $5.8 million in a seed round led by Sequoia Capital and Bain Capital Ventures. Several notable angel investors from tech and startup backgrounds also participated. Connections between the founders and investors helped close the round quickly.

Josephine Chen from Sequoia highlighted how contract negotiation bottlenecks are common across startups. Legal services represent a $300 billion industry, making it a prime target for AI applications. She sees large language models (LLMs) as particularly suited to address these challenges.

What This Means for Legal Professionals

• AI can significantly reduce time spent on routine contract review without removing the need for expert oversight.
• Law firms integrating AI internally may deliver faster and more cost-effective services.
• Startups and fast-growing companies stand to benefit most from streamlined legal workflows.

Legal professionals interested in understanding more about AI’s impact on the industry and improving contract workflows may find value in AI training and courses focused on legal applications. For more information on AI courses tailored to legal and professional use, visit Complete AI Training.