What does McDonald’s real estate strategy have to do with legal tech? More than you might think, says Ken Crutchfield.

In the wake of Robin AI’s recent struggles to secure funding and reports of potential emergency acquisition talks, Crutchfield draws a compelling parallel to Ray Kroc’s revelation in The Founder that McDonald’s wasn’t really in the restaurant business — it was in the real estate business.

Ken Crutchfield

“Perhaps the more fundamental question is: What business is Robin AI really in?” Crutchfield asks.

In his latest column for LawNext, What Business Are You Really In? Robin AI’s Lessons for Legal Tech, Crutchfield examines whether Robin AI has shifted from being a software company to essentially operating as a contract review service — and whether its strategic misstep was trying to create technology rather than simply using it.

Drawing on Sweetgreen’s recent decision to divest its proprietary food automation technology, Crutchfield offers four critical observations for the legal tech industry about the distinction between being a technology user versus a technology provider, cost structures, valuations, and the importance of knowing what business you’re really in.

Crutchfield is principal of Spring Forward Consulting and has been an executive at LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters and most recently Wolters Kluwer, where he was vice president and general manager of legal markets for Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S.

Read his full post on LawNext.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.