Success story with
"We found exactly the right attorney to help with our Series A, at exactly the right price."
Leah LaSalla
Founder and CEO
Astral AR doesn’t just build drones. They build neuromechanical holportation drones. In fact, the world’s only neuromechanical holportation drones. Their long-range drones are flown in augmented reality with your mind. Astral’s customers include national organizations, enterprise companies, international governments and multi-level regulatory bodies.
How does Astral AR benefit by working with UpCounsel?
Astral AR has around 20 employees, most of whom are engineers, none of whom are lawyers. With UpCounsel, Astral Co-founder and CEO Leah LaSalla was able to find exactly the right attorney at exactly the right price.
Astral AR’s high-stakes legal needs involve atomic materials and international boundaries. They needed a responsive, experienced attorney familiar with the nuclear regulatory landscape.
Leah said UpCounsel hit the “sweet spot” for their niche market. She says Astral AR saves time, money and hassle by using UpCounsel and knows that they have an effective, affordable option for future legal jobs.
The challenge
Avoid Guantanamo
One of Astral AR’s primary concerns is compliance, and the stakes are high to say the least.
Many of Astral’s drones use a specialized atomic – as in nuclear – battery. Combine that with an international clientele, and competent counsel becomes paramount to, as Leah puts it, “keep us out of Guantanamo.”
Conquer Significant Legal Hurdles on a Budget
Astral’s new drone models don’t just solve a problem. Astral has invented an industry.
And with groundbreaking technology comes significant legal hurdles.
Astral needed an attorney who could understand their technology and easily apply previous experience to a new industry.
Leah’s former boss cleaned out his IRA to help fund Astral, so budgeting is crucial. At the same time, compliance is equally critical as Astral aims to attract additional investors.
Astral Originally Used a DIY Legal Consulting Service
To fulfill the company’s legal obligations, Astral AR tried one of the big online DIY legal consulting services.
The jobs were completed but Leah wasn’t confident the service could handle more complex legal needs. Astral was also unhappy with the unnecessary cost, delays and hassle.
Leah says they were losing time and money explaining their legal needs.
They had to spend the first 30 to 40 minutes of every consultation just explaining what their company did.
Fed up with their existing solution, Leah decided to give UpCounsel a try.
The solution
A Former SEC Compliance Examiner on UpCounsel
Astral needed to ensure compliance in order to obtain investors for their Series A round of venture funding. Given their drones atomic component parts, compliance required jumping through some seriously challenging hoops, including Federal Aviation Administration and Nuclear Commission regulations.
Leah posted a job on UpCounsel for due diligence and compliance work related to their Series A. She received 10 attorney bids for the project within 15 minutes, reviewed proposals and selected an attorney, Keidi Carrington, within two days.
Leah found exactly what Astral needed with Keidi, who has worked in the legal industry for nearly 20 years and served as an SEC Compliance Examiner for nearly 10 years.
Leah says that Keidi’s proposal was so tailored that it was as though Keidi was “psychic” – she knew exactly what Astral needed.
Keidi helped Astral handle negotiations with the ever-changing, extremely challenging FAA as well as the legal dodges involved with getting their Certificate of Authority to fly through FEMA and the National Guard.
Leah estimates that UpCounsel has saved Astral thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars just so far.
Plus she says payment was easy and streamlined – “very Amazon One Click.”
Astral stands to save even more time and money in the future as they now know that high quality legal services are just a few clicks away.
UpCounsel helps Astral AR and their drones give new meaning to the saying, the “sky’s the limit.”