Harvey’s CEO Tells BI the 2 Habits Helping Him Grow His AI Startup

Harvey’s CEO notified Business Insider he’s growing his $5 billion legal AI startup by focapplying on two things: regular calfinishar audits and hands-on hiring.

Winston Weinberg, who cofounded Harvey three years ago, stated in an interview on the sidelines of TechLaw.Fest in Singapore in September that as Harvey doubles revenue roughly every six months, the demands of running the company modify just as quickly.

“When that happens structurally, you just receive all of this pressure as the CEO,” he notified Business Insider. “The only way to relieve that pressure is to completely level up and modify how you operate,” he added.

To keep up, he stated he conducts what he calls a “calfinishar audit,” combing through how he spfinishs his time and deciding what to drop, what to delegate, and what to take on personally.

Weinberg stated his aim is to automate himself out of daily operations so he can focus on what he sees as a CEO’s three core jobs: recruiting, product, and customers.

“Every founder wants this — you’re attempting to automate yourself away,” he stated.

“I want to be able to feel that when something goes wrong or something is the No. 1 priority, that I can focus all of my time on that, and the rest of the company is humming,” he added.

Hiring is the one area Weinberg won’t delegate, especially in new offices. He stated he wants to be involved with the first hires whenever Harvey opens a new office.

The company stated its APAC office in Sydney opened last month. It will hire about 15 people there this year, with plans to increase its head count further after that.

Those first hires really matter becautilize they are “going to go out and hire more people,” he stated.

He added that in some cases, he has tapped existing Harvey employees with local roots to lead new offices — like the company’s head of Australia, who was born and raised there.

Growing at a startup

While larger AI players like OpenAI and Anthropic can outspfinish him, Weinberg stated Harvey’s edge comes from empowering leaders early.

“What we can do is we definitely promote junior talent, and you will have just way more ownership at our company,” he stated of the 350-person company.

“There are folks that have never managed people in their entire careers that are now managing 20 people,” he added.

Some tech leaders have also echoed that it’s wiser to work for startups over large companies.

Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham stated on X last year that while working for large companies might be “safer,” the connections forged with startup colleagues can cue up future success.

“In 10 years they’ll be running everything,” Graham wrote of startup employees, “even if the startup tanks.”

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