This time, our host Kate Syslová welcomes guest Jaroslav Baier, a lawyer and one of the main startup faces of Havel & Partners. The six-foot-tall dapper man with red hair can be seen from a distance and we welcome him warmly.
Jaroslav sits on the hot seat in the studio and Kate immediately asks the first catchy question. Why are most law firms named after their founding fathers? Jaroslav likes the first question, ponders, and explains that law is a very conservative business and it’s all about trust. More than 10 years ago, law firms even had to be named after their founders, but that is no longer the case, but even now they still take their names and refer to their traditions.
And how about VC investors? Not so in all cases for those, but even the traditional private equity funds like Andreessen Horowitz have their fathers’ names again.
The second question is not off-topic and is a bit more personal and spicy than the first one. How does one become a partner in a law firm like Jaroslav at Havel & Partners? Jaroslav talks about luck, a combination of the right timing and a good team. He talks about how hard it is. The market is full, we have 12,000 lawyers in the Czech Republic at that moment. It is a huge number in comparison to desperately few lawyers before 1989. The dynamics have grown a lot, it has jumped from one extreme to the other one. Now law firms are competing quite a lot with the state. According to Jaroslav, some young people prefer to work in the state sector rather than in the private sector, where the prices of services have fallen a lot. In any case, research by Hardvard Lorey Rules in the past has shown that a lot of Harvard Law School graduates eventually went into business, and law is very much connected to business. Knowing the specific laws and navigating contracts is certainly an advantage in looking for investments, exits, or even transformation.
Kate is coming to another question related to “venture capital cooking in the investor pot” right in the Havel & Partners kitchen. And crazy moderator Kate simply asked Why they are not doing only classic lawyering and just to earn the money. Jaroslav talks about how much he enjoys all aspects of investing in the startup world. It is an area he believes in and wants to devote himself to for a long time. And in the firm, they are continuing the tradition from the 90s when the founder at Havel & Partners started it. It’s not just about “offices”, but the topic is much wider. The development fund invests in the Czechoslovak startup ecosystem. It all won’t work without technology. When we add two simple ingredients to the frying pan – technology and business – we get startups and university transfers. The economy is simply changing and we need to change with it and adapt to her just to „survive“.
And the second thing that is important nowadays, and Jaroslav focuses his attention on it, is that we have fewer foreign investors here in the Czech Republic. It could be several circumstances, including the current situation in Ukraine today or the increase in prices, etc.
Law is a huge topic. It is like medicine. Lots of directions and specializations. And who would Jaroslav be as a doctor? Would he be a dentist? Kate jokes and offers him a comparison to a gynecologist, but Jaroslav confirms with a smile on his face that he certainly wouldn’t be a general doctor, but he feels like a specialist surgeon.
And from jokes and surgeries, we are already getting into the startup ecosystem. Where exactly is Jaroslav’s company? Are they investing directly in startups or a fund of funds? The answer is quite simple. They invest directly in startups at a minimum. What they are trying to do is a completely pragmatic solution. They can coexist with a fund they trust. But the Czech Republic is relatively small in terms of the number of VC funds and there are simply too many VC funds here in our country, according to Jaroslav.
“When I talk about investing in startups, there has to be chemistry between us and the founder. And I don’t mean we could go out for a beer. It’s about attitude, it’s about understanding. It’s like before the surgery as we were talking about a moment ago. First, I have to tell him from a surgeon’s perspective what’s coming. I don’t want him to get out of bed when I pull out the scalpel. And the next thing is getting an angel investor before the VC fund comes in. The ideal situation is to go into this investment with at least 70% ownership of the startup and not give too big a „piece of the cake“ of private ekvity to business angels. That doesn’t make sense for me.” explains Jaroslav.
On the other hand, in the M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions) processes Jaroslav feels like a guide. He works on it with a lot of other experts, investment specialists with years of experience, who together solve the process and if the company sells well, it brings only good (financial) fruits. It’s like when you come to Prague and a tour guide gives you a nice tour of Prague Castle and shows you the right way the whole time. And then you enjoy the pleasant feeling of the experience on the plane.
And we’re jumping the horizons from classic questions and areas to more modern ones. How does Jaroslav see himself it in the future of AI? The „surgeon“ Jaroslav sees AI as a challenge. He will impact the legal industry like nothing before. He imagines it will make his job easier, for example, by drafting legal documents from the start. There are a lot of lawyers, but there are fewer young ones. The legal profession is demanding. It takes a lot of years to learn it enough to work on your own.
In the last few minutes of the podcast, Kate reveals Jaroslav’s little secret. He is a successful startup founder as well! He and his colleague, another lawyer, have an e-shop for legal services. He says it’s a successful project for him, bringing simpler transactions like property transfers, divorces, etc. to the market.
And the final question must be said about strange cuisine. What was the worst food he had ever eaten? Imagine a few seconds of quietness…. And the worst experience is the black Pudding in Great Britain (even though he loves GB) was even worse than the Beatles in Vietnam ;-).
Thank you guys! Stay with us for the next podcast.
