# New Era ADR Financial Model

Digital arbitration and mediation platform that resolves commercial and individual legal disputes in 60–100 days for a fixed, transparent fee - replacing costly, years-long court and traditional arbitration processes.

- Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/new-era-adr
- Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/new-era-adr.xlsx
- Category: Media/Gaming
- Model type: SaaS ARR / Valuation
- Funding round: Seed
- Funding: $4.6M
- Founded: 2022
- Geography: United States.
- Customer: B2B

## About the company

New Era ADR is a fully digital arbitration and mediation platform that aims to resolve disputes in 60–100 days rather than the two or more years associated with court or traditional arbitration. It offers fixed, transparent case fees and makes adoption as easy as inserting a contract clause.

Its revenue has two parts: tailored, multi-year enterprise subscription risk solutions and on-demand per-case arbitration or mediation fees. Free contract-language adoption creates an installed base of potential disputes, so contract coverage is a leading operating metric distinct from paying enterprise accounts and completed cases.

From April to August 2021, adoption rose from 300-plus contracts to roughly 30 million, alongside a Fortune 500 multi-year agreement and the first successful mediation. The model should combine an enterprise ARR cohort with case volume, per-case fees, arbitrator costs, platform hosting, sales, and runway assumptions.

## What's included

- 5-year monthly revenue build with stage-appropriate growth assumptions
- Full P&L, headcount plan, and operating-expense schedule
- Cash-flow statement, runway, and burn-rate tracking
- Valuation via exit multiple with a DCF cross-check
- Returns analysis with MOIC and IRR
- Unit economics including CAC, LTV, payback, and cohort retention

## Product & value proposition

- 100% digital, purpose-built ADR platform.
- Disputes resolved in 60–100 days vs. 2–3+ years in court or traditional arbitration.
- Fixed, transparent fees per case - first time possible in this market.
- Two modes of entry:
  1. **Tailored subscription risk solutions** - customized enterprise SaaS subscriptions for organizations; reduces litigation gamesmanship exposure.
  2. **On-demand arbitrations + mediations** - transactional, open to any party without a subscription.
- Adoption mechanism: companies add New Era ADR clause to their contracts/terms of use (described as "like Stripe's seven lines of code") - free to adopt.
- Products built: expedited virtual arbitration + mediation.

## Market

- 20 million non-criminal legal disputes filed per year in the U.S..
- TAM: $250 billion.
- SAM: $178 billion.
- SOM: $11 billion.
- Sources cited: uscourts.gov, William Blair Legal Industry Report, CompTIA Cyberstates report.
- Company claims TAM understates true opportunity - millions of disputes go unfiled or are resolved informally each year and are not counted in TAM.

## Revenue model

Two revenue streams:

1. **Subscription (B2B SaaS)** - "Tailored Subscription Risk Solutions" sold to organizations; multi-year contracts confirmed (Fortune 500 signed July 2021). Pricing tiers / ACV: not disclosed in deck.
2. **Transactional (per-case fees)** - On-demand arbitration and mediation for any party. Per-case fee structure: not disclosed in deck.

Adoption funnel: Free contract-language integration → dispute arises → case filed on platform (triggering fee). Contracted adoption gives a large latent "pipeline" of potential future cases without paid CAC.

## Traction & metrics

All from slide 9:
| Date | Milestone |
| -- | -- |
| April 2021 | Launched; $1.7M pre-seed raised; adopted in 300+ contracts |
| May 2021 | Adopted in 500+ contracts |
| June 2021 | Adopted in 1,000+ contracts; mediation product built |
| July 2021 | Adopted in ~16,000,000 contracts; signed multi-year contract with Fortune 500; vetted/recommended by multiple AmLaw 100 firms; expedited arbitration product built |
| August 2021 | Adopted in ~30,000,000 contracts; first mediation conducted successfully |

- Number of paying customers: Not explicitly stated (one Fortune 500 subscription confirmed).
- Cases completed: At least 1 (the $800,000 commercial arbitration shown in slide 5).

## Unit economics

Note: The core model implies very low marginal CAC for cases (disputes flow in from contracts already adopted), but no explicit unit economics are presented.

## Competition / moat

- Deck frames the market as having no existing platform capable of resolving "meaningful" legal disputes quickly and efficiently.
- Traditional competitors implied: federal/state courts, traditional arbitration (AAA, JAMS), mediation services.
- Moats stated: first-mover, purpose-built digital platform, proprietary rules/procedures, network of qualified neutrals, AmLaw 100 firm endorsements, flywheel of contract adoption → cases.
- No competitive matrix or named competitor slide in deck.

## Team & funding ask / use of funds

**Founding team**:
- Collin Williams - Co-Founder & Chairman; 1 exit; ex-General Counsel; ex-AmLaw 20 litigator.
- Rich Lee - Co-Founder & CEO; 1 exit; 2x General Counsel; ex-Head of Asia Market Dev.
- Michelle Tyler - Co-Founder & Head of Operations; ex-Head of Legal Operations.
- Shane Mulrooney - Co-Founder & Head of Growth; 1 exit; ex-General Counsel; ex-AmLaw 20 attorney.

**Advisors** (selected): David Kalt (OptionsXpress, Reverb), Sean Chou (Catalytic, Fieldglass), Jae Um (legal industry economist), Lisa Young (GC, LendingTree), John Higginson (CTO, Chief; fmr Enova/Groupon), Anthony Casey (Deputy Dean, U of Chicago Law).

**Funding history**: $1.7M pre-seed raised at launch (April 2021).

**Ask / use of funds**:
- Increase first mover advantage.
- Expand growth and engineering teams.
- Fuel product development and adoption.
- Forward-looking revenue goals: **redacted in image** - not readable.

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## Recommended financial model

- **Archetype + why**: Hybrid SaaS + transactional legal-tech model. Primary revenue is enterprise subscription ARR (B2B SaaS); secondary is per-case transactional fees (on-demand arbitration/mediation). The contract-adoption flywheel means a separate "installed base" metric drives future case volumes - this is closer to a marketplace/platform model than pure SaaS. A 3-statement integrated model with a SaaS ARR cohort layer is appropriate.

- **Forecast horizon & granularity**: 5 years (Y1–Y5), monthly for Y1–Y2, annual for Y3–Y5. Early stage warrants monthly detail to model cash burn and runway given pre-revenue status at time of raise.

- **Key drivers & assumptions**:

  *Subscription (B2B SaaS)*:
  - New enterprise logos per quarter
  - Average ACV per subscription
  - Net revenue retention
  - Contract length

  *Transactional (per-case fees)*:
  - Contracts with New Era ADR clause adopted: 30M as of August 2021
  - Annual dispute filing rate per million contracts
  - Average revenue per case
  - Case ramp

  *Cost structure*:
  - Headcount: 8-person team at launch; use of funds targets growth + engineering expansion
  - COGS: Neutral/arbitrator fees, platform hosting
  - Gross margin
  - S&M spend
  - R&D

- **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear)**:
  - **Bear**: Slow enterprise sales (1 new logo/quarter), low case conversion (0.1 cases/M contracts/yr), no pricing power, cash-out by Y2 without next round.
  - **Base**: 2–3 new logos/quarter by Y2, 0.5 cases/M contracts/yr, ACV $200K, blended GM 65%.
  - **Bull**: Fortune 500 word-of-mouth accelerates to 5+ logos/quarter, case volume 1.0/M contracts/yr, SaaS NRR 115%+, path to profitability Y4.
  - Key flex variables: enterprise logo ramp, ACV, case conversion rate, neutral capacity costs.

- **Required sheets / outputs**:
  1. Assumptions dashboard (all drivers in one place, clearly tagged DECK vs. ASSUMED)
  2. Revenue build - Subscription ARR cohort model (logo × ACV × NRR) + Transactional case volume × fee
  3. P&L (IS) - monthly Y1–Y2, annual Y3–Y5
  4. Headcount plan
  5. Cash flow & runway (critical - pre-revenue seed raise)
  6. Balance sheet (simplified)
  7. KPI summary: ARR, logos, contracts adopted, cases filed, revenue per case, gross margin, burn, runway

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the New Era ADR financial model free?

Yes. The New Era ADR model is a free Excel download with live formulas.

### Can I change the assumptions?

Yes. The workbook is editable and its live formulas recalculate when assumptions change.