Ruben Miessen spent years leading the product teams at Tinder and Match Group, where sitting through weekly legal committee meetings helped him develop a deep understanding of the processes that caused bottlenecks and frustrations.
Rather than build another generalist legal AI tool, Ruben co-founded LegalFly in 2023 with a laser focus on in-house legal and procurement teams at enterprises in highly regulated industries.
The Belgian startup now employs over 50 people across Ghent, London, and Dubai, and closed 2025 with 600% year-over-year growth - with 80% of clients coming inbound rather than through outbound sales.
In this episode, I ask Ruben:
Why he built exclusively for in-house teams instead of law firms - and why that choice shaped everything from product to go-to-market.
The role European data privacy regulations played in LegalFly’s product architecture and competitive positioning.
His predictions for legal AI consolidation in 2026 - and why he thinks data quality will matter more than ever.
Plus, the roadmap for LegalFly’s Series B and US expansion plans.
