Why the ‘Close Encounters’ Podcast Invited Adam Nguyen to Talk About Building a Company Twice

At Future Lawyer UK 2026, Timo Karakashev, Founder and CEO of Cosmonauts, sat down with eBrevia Co-Founder and CEO Adam Nguyen for a conversation about an unusual story in legal tech. The discussion wasn't centered on a product launch or a new AI feature. Instead, it explored a question few founders ever get the chance to answer:

What happens when you successfully build, sell, and then buy back your company to build it again?

As Karakashev noted early in the conversation, he has been following eBrevia's journey for quite some time: "I've had the pleasure to work with eBrevia for about eight years now, actually."

That long-term perspective made the conversation compelling: eBrevia has been present through nearly every major phase of the industry's evolution.

Cosmonauts CEO Timo Karakashev interviews eBrevia co-founder & CEO Adam Nguyen on his ‘Close Encounters’ podcast during Future Lawyer 2026.

A Company That Has Seen Every Chapter of Legal AI

Nguyen explained that eBrevia was founded during the first wave of legal AI, when machine learning and natural language processing were still novel concepts within the legal industry.

Reflecting on the company's origins, he described how the founders were motivated by firsthand experience with the repetitive nature of legal work. "We found the work to be very tedious and somewhat demoralizing. It's very long hours. It's very monotonous, very routine work," Nguyen said, drawing on his own past experience as an M&A attorney.

That insight became the foundation for what would become one of the early AI-powered contract analysis platforms. These companies weren't simply introducing products. They were helping create an entirely new category.

"We really had to convince users and law firms to look at technology, let alone AI. It was very futuristic back then. We made the market," Nguyen noted.

The Rare Opportunity to Build a Company Twice

One reason Karakashev chose to explore eBrevia's story is that very few legal technology companies have experienced the full lifecycle Nguyen described.

As he noted: "eBrevia is unique in the legal tech space because... we exited and then the founders reacquired the company and spun it out again. As far as I know, there's no company that had gone through that complete journey.”

After selling the company in 2018, Nguyen and co-founder Jake Mundt reacquired eBrevia in late 2023. The decision wasn't simply about revisiting the past. It was about recognizing the value that had already been created and an excitement for where next-generation tech could take the company and its product suite.

The Three Reasons eBrevia Came Back

One of the most insightful moments of the discussion came when Nguyen explained why he and Mundt decided to reacquire eBrevia rather than launch something entirely new.

The answer came down to three things: people, process, and technology.

The team was already in place. The infrastructure had already been built. And perhaps most importantly, customers remained engaged.

"We had clients who had reached out to me personally on my personal cell phone to say, why don't you come back and improve eBrevia and make something better from it?" Nguyen explained.

For many startups, acquiring those assets can take years; eBrevia already had them.

Trust and Innovation Are No Longer Opposites

One theme that emerged repeatedly throughout the conversation was the challenge facing established legal technology providers.

Customers want proven partners. And they want innovation. As Nguyen described it: "The challenge for us is to convince these clients that we have an established brand that means you can trust us... but at the same time we're forward-looking and innovative."

That balance may become increasingly important as legal AI matures.

The market is no longer choosing between experience and innovation. It expects both.

For eBrevia, that means combining more than a decade of customer trust, contract data, and operational expertise with the latest advances in large language models and AI-powered workflows.

Looking Ahead

Toward the end of the discussion, Karakashev reflected on the unusual position eBrevia now occupies.

Few companies have experienced the birth of legal AI, helped create the category, successfully exited, returned to founder ownership, and then re-entered the market during the generative AI era.

Fewer still have the opportunity to apply everything they've learned along the way.

As legal AI continues to evolve, that perspective may be one of eBrevia's most valuable advantages.

About eBrevia

Established in 2011 and trusted by some of the world’s most prestigious companies, eBrevia is a leader in AI contract analysis and management with clients in the US, EMEA, and APAC. For more than a decade, eBrevia serves law firms, corporations, audit/consulting companies, and financial institutions, such as Baker McKenzie, Norton Rose Fulbright, Kroll, SAP, Intel, PwC, EY, and MUFG.