Building smart, not big. JustLawyers’ strategic path to product-market fit
When JustLawyers joined the Start it @KBC community in 2024, they arrived with a validated market need, a committed founder, and an early-stage prototype. What they didn’t yet have was a scalable, production-ready platform. This is the story of how intentional prototyping, fast learning loops and the right partnership at the right moment helped them turn proof-of-concept into a secure, launch-ready product.
From idea to prototype: a conscious strategic choice
Building a first version of a digital product often brings founders to the same difficult crossroads:
- Invest heavily before knowing if users care, or
- Build lean, learn fast, and iterate.
As a former student entrepreneur herself, founder Isabel Rosendor chose the latter deliberately. Before investing €100K+ agency budgets, she needed to show, not tell, future customers what the product could become, and validate real willingness to pay.
That’s why she chose to partner with motivated student developers for the prototype phase:
- Fast
- Affordable
- Real, clickable proof to show to firms, candidates and investors
And it worked: the prototype opened doors, created interest, and delivered valuable proof that the market was ready.
When validation turns into traction, product needs change
As customer feedback became concrete, expectations grew. Firms started asking about security, data privacy and long-term performance and that required a more advanced technical architecture.
At that point, JustLawyers made a conscious strategic pivot: the prototype had served its purpose, and the time had come to move from experimental build mode to professional product engineering.
Enter PandaPanda: a partnership based on shared values
Through Start it @KBC, Isabel was introduced to PandaPanda, a development partner known for working selectively with founder-led and mission-driven startups. Their criteria are strict:
- clear product vision
- engaged founder
- validated market need
- real potential for impact
- willingness to iterate fast and communicate transparently
JustLawyers matched all of those - which made it an ideal collaboration.
“What stood out immediately,” PandaPanda shared, “was Isabel’s clarity, ownership and the level of customer insight she already had. That allowed us to build with confidence instead of assumptions.”
What changed when PandaPanda stepped in
Instead of rebuilding from scratch, the PandaPanda team focused on evolution, not demolition.
Together, they:
stabilized and improved existing features
- redesigned architecture for scale and security
- co-created an iterative roadmap aligned with sales cycles
- challenged features based on user value, not perfectionism
- acted as a temporary, hands-on CTO team
- supported technical due diligence conversations with law firms
Communication was direct, fast and execution-focused, with shared accountability and transparency.
More than vendors
Both teams agreed from day one that the long-term goal was a technical co-founder, not dependency. PandaPanda did not position themselves as the permanent solution, but as the bridge to long-term technical ownership. They even supported the onboarding process when a potential CTO emerged - proof that success was defined by continuity, not invoices.
Where JustLawyers stands today
- 900+ candidates already active on the platform
- Growing interest from law firms with high security standards
- Stronger technical foundation, faster go-to-market cycles
- Credible product story backed by both strategic learning and professional execution
This journey shows that building a digital product is not a straight line - it’s a sequence of smart decisions based on stage-fit, not ego or perfection.
Final takeaway
- Prototype cheaply.
- Learn quickly.
- Invest wisely.
- Choose partners who share your standards, not just your timeline.
Why this works
PandaPanda works almost exclusively with startups. Not because enterprise clients don't pay better, they do. But because the startup space is where they feel most alive.
"We're a small team ourselves," Sebastiaan explains. "We love working directly with founders who make decisions fast. No middle management. No internal politics. Just: 'This feature needs to exist so I can sell. When I sell, I have more budget to build more.' That direct cause-and-effect? That's energizing."
Every partnership starts with an MVP scoping session, a structured workshop that digs into mission, vision, audience, competitors, business goals, user needs, and budget realities. Then they translate all of that into one critical question: What does this actually need to do to launch?
Not what it could do. Not what it should do someday. What it needs to do now.
That clarity, matching ambition with reality, is what Isabel needed most. And it's what most founders desperately need but rarely get.
Are you a Start it @KBC startup facing technical decisions or trying to scope your MVP?
PandaPanda offers free MVP scoping sessions to our community - a structured workshop that aligns your vision with budget reality and creates an actionable technical roadmap.
Special perk for Start it @KBC startups: each startup gets a 2-hour time slot for personalizedadvice on digital product design, JavaScript development (React, React Native, NextJS), Strapi CMS, Webflow, Figma, and design systems.
Get in touch and we'll connect you.