Changing State Laws with Patrick @ Notarize.com - Escape Velocity Show #27

Escape Velocity - with Dan Martell

I nearly screamed at my lawyer… “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Years ago, I was finishing up a real estate deal when my lawyer told me that I had to notarize a document. No signature, no deal. But that signature had to be from a notary, someone that’s earned the authority of the state to approve that I actually was who I said I was. It’s an archaic process but it’s necessary to fight off fraud. The problem was that I travel. A lot. I was on the move and it couldn’t wait until I was back home. So I had to hunt down an approved notary in a city I barely knew, figure out when he was free, and meet him at a convenience store. Just to prove that my ID was actually mine. I remember thinking, “Surely someone can streamline this process…” Well, someone has. Patrick Kinsel is the founder and CEO of Notarize, the first approved digital notary service. Instead of shady convenience store appointments, Notarize can connect you with an official notary straight from your laptop in an average of 30 seconds. The story of Notarize is an amazing journey, and Patrick shared it all with me on the latest episode of Escape Velocity right here. Want a lesson is perseverance? Notarize’s biggest problem… was that their technology wasn’t legal to begin with. So Patrick’s company raised $42 million in capital, and spent over $10 million of that just to lobby for laws to change so that digital notarization could exist. Imagine starting a SaaS that literally needed new laws before it was legal… It’s a great interview, and you’ll hear from Patrick about: - How they managed to change 22 state laws - Buying domain names for $42k - Building a product roadmap in reverse - How Notarize solved the new problems they were creating - Rewriting history books In Patrick’s own words, they wanted to be the first company that made it possible for you to buy a house on the internet. And that’s exactly what they’ve done. Stop by the episode, hear the story for yourself, and drop me a comment to let me know what amazed you the most. -- Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter @danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome. + Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell + Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell + Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell