Often the most daunting thing about venturing into the unknown is also what makes it the most exciting – you don’t really know how it is going to turn out. The prospect of launching LB’s inaugural TMT Yearbook in 2022 was perhaps no exception, but any niggling fears over the relevance of this new title to our readers were quickly assuaged when we analysed dozens of interviews with the sector’s great and good.
While it is true that every sector has its own particular challenges, opportunities and – frankly – client foibles to contend with, advising TMT clients seems to take that to a whole other level, whether the company is just emerging onto the tech or life sciences scene or is one of the highest-value corporations in the world.
Our cover feature, ‘TL,DR – Too long, didn’t read’ takes a forensic look at what it is like to act for the Big Five tech giants – Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft – and is an eye-opener, to say the least. Here, as you would expect, we explore the constantly evolving regulatory and legal hurdles facing these big-tech beasts and their advisers. But perhaps even more instructive are the cultural and sartorial tips from those lawyers who have committed faux pas and lived to tell the tale.
One such cautionary tale comes from a partner we can only hope is using the word ‘funky’ in an ironic way: ‘Anybody who thinks they’re going to get somewhere with these businesses by somehow being funky, no you won’t. You will just quickly be found out as not as bright as those instructing you.’
Elsewhere, our feature ‘Upstarts’ charts the highs and lows of acting for the less mature high-growth companies as they climb (or not, as the case may be, what with this crazy market) the valuation ladder towards unicorn status. The piece finds that, while there are many challenges to getting a nascent spark of an idea to catch on, there are also so many potential rewards in being an early espouser of these promising enterprises. That is if you can get your head around the dress code of t-shirt, board shorts and flip flops.
Meanwhile, our Perspectives features see three high-profile figures across telecoms, IP and technology share their diverse career experiences and what makes them tick.
David Cran, head of IP and tech at RPC; Mark Watts, technology partner and former joint managing partner at Bristows; and – on the client side – Nassib Abou-Khalil, erstwhile chief legal officer of Nokia, all offer unique and fascinating insights into their respective careers and lives.
We hope you enjoy reading this first TMT Yearbook of many as much as we have enjoyed compiling it. While it is by no means an exhaustive reflection of the market, we hope you’ll agree it is a thoughtful document of the varied challenges and significant opportunities facing advisers in this rapidly-evolving and compelling practice. It can be complex, frustrating, even an anarchic labour of love for some, but one thing is for sure, there’s never a dull moment in the world of TMT.
*But were afraid to ask