Sandstone hired an elite AE pre-PMF, framing the role as a "product-market fit finder." The goal wasn't to hit quota but to rapidly demo with hundreds of potential clients, validating the market opportunity and accelerating learnings at scale.
Instead of traditional outbound, Sandstone hosts 2-3 intimate dinners a week, mixing existing customers with high-priority prospects. This non-salesy, community-building approach builds deep trust and results in a near-100% conversion rate from attendee to a first demo.
By "walking the halls" at client offices, Sandstone saw that lawyers' core work happened in private DMs, not channels—a key insight that reshaped their product. This direct observation also revealed integration opportunities by watching users manually move data between systems.
True PMF isn't just usage; it's when a major client, unprompted, sends intros to their peers recommending your product. This willingness for a customer to stake their own professional reputation is a powerful indicator that you're solving a critical problem and delivering real value.
To avoid building a niche product, Sandstone actively stopped working with early design partners. If a request didn't align with the problems of at least five other potential clients, they recognized it as a distraction and parted ways to maintain focus on scalable solutions.
Instead of a traditional pitch deck, Sandstone secured its pre-seed by presenting a problem: they were too busy servicing early customers. They showed Sequoia recorded client videos and live demos to prove traction, which was far more compelling than a polished slide deck.
The founder's introduction to Sequoia came while interviewing for a different startup in their portfolio. A casual chat with the partner about his side project organically evolved into a relationship and, ultimately, a pre-seed investment, bypassing the traditional fundraising process.
Sandstone's vision extends beyond legal software. Because all important company decisions (sales, HR, procurement) pass through legal, they are positioned as a central "context layer," creating a valuable system of record for the entire organization, not just one department.
Sandstone's first hires included people who had spent decades building relationships in the legal community. This strategy established brand trust and credibility before the product was mature, leveraging their networks for early traction, invaluable feedback, and word-of-mouth referrals.
Sandstone brings engineers to prospect dinners. In one instance, after a direct conversation with a GC, two junior engineers identified a key pain point, left the event, and built a game-changing feature to demo the very next day, creating a customer for life.