Commercialising Legal Tech: Alex Baker on Validating Problems, Vibe Coding, and Rethinking Client Experience

Most legal tech ideas don’t fail because of bad code. They fail because no one checked whether the problem was worth solving. Stephen interviews Alex Baker of Legal Tech Collective on the Your Law Firm Success Podcast, in a season dedicated to tech and AI. Alex, who isn’t a lawyer himself, supports lawyers and “recovering lawyers” in commercialising legal tech products. He works with startups from pre-revenue idea stage right through to £1M–£5M annual recurring revenue, as well as law firms developing proprietary (often confidential) solutions. He shares his background in ad tech and machine-learning-driven businesses, his move into legal tech via StructureFlow, and how the landscape has changed since 2018—and dramatically since pre-ChatGPT days. Alex evaluates legal tech ideas primarily on commercial viability: Is the problem meaningful to an individual, impactful at an organisational level, and substantial enough at the market level? Then, does the value created justify the development costs? He stresses the importance of market testing before heavy investment and introduces “vibe coding” tools (e.g., Claude Code, Lovable, Replit) that allow non-developers to build apps quickly and cheaply to stress-test concepts. The conversation explores differentiation beyond generic AI tools like ChatGPT—true edge comes from applying technology to deliver a superior client experience and smarter distribution, not just the underlying tooling. Alex is particularly excited about rethinking legal services end-to-end (rather than marginal efficiency gains), citing Garfield (a small-claims debt recovery service) as an example of outcome-based pricing and streamlined client workflows. He outlines Legal Tech Collective’s commercial strategy work—covering messaging, sales, and marketing execution—and explains how he personally leverages tech to operate at the output of 8–10 people, with plans to productise that knowledge later this year. When asked about “winners” in legal tech, Alex points to solutions that materially improve outcomes for end clients. He predicts future leaders will be firms that fundamentally rethink business models, operating structures, and service lines—shifting towards what he calls “service as software.” The episode wraps with thoughts on efficient distribution, evolving market access, and ways to connect with Alex: via LinkedIn, legaltechcollective.com, or [email protected].   00:00 – Meet Alex Baker & Legal Tech Collective 01:00 – What Legal Tech Collective does + who they help 01:46 – Client examples & the three stages of legal tech startups 03:39 – Alex’s background: from ad tech to legal tech 06:06 – AI before ChatGPT: why this moment feels different for law 07:26 – How to judge a legal tech idea: problem, market size & ROI 12:08 – What “vibe coding” is and why it transforms MVP building 13:29 – Pre-build checklist: validate the problem & competitive landscape 18:05 – Rethinking legal services: client experience + the Garfield example 22:52 – Beyond generic AI: prompts as expertise & differentiation via distribution 29:28 – How Legal Tech Collective works commercially (engagement models) 32:52 – Legal Tech 2025 winners: solutions that impact the end client 37:40 – Law firms shifting to “service as software” + where to start 44:06 – Final thoughts: distribution, market shifts & how to contact Alex