Matthew Shrimpton, Founding Partner, Peak Corporate Counsel LLP

In an interview with Invest:, Matthew Shrimpton, founding partner of Peak Corporate Counsel LLP (“Peak”), reflected on the firm’s success in providing accessible legal services to Boston’s startup community. Shrimpton also discussed the firm’s future goals, emphasizing sustainable growth while maintaining its personalized service.

Can you give an overview of Peak Corporate Counsel and its focus in Boston?

We started Peak in 2020, during the pandemic. Our goal was to make legal services more accessible, affordable, and straightforward for startups founders than they might find at a traditional law firm. Because we cater primarily to startups and their founders, we operate Peak much like a startup itself.

To achieve this, we’ve kept our operations lean, focusing on low overhead and efficiency. Our clients are nimble founding teams responsible for making tough resource decisions, so we wanted to mirror that mindset. We use technology to streamline processes and make legal services more approachable and more aligned with how founders — many of them in the tech space — operate. It’s been a huge success so far. We’re becoming more of a fixture in the Boston startup ecosystem, which is a fantastic hub for innovation, thanks to the talent from local institutions. It’s exciting to be part of that.

What are some of the major highlights or achievements from the past year?

One of the biggest highlights has been seeing early clients hit major milestones. Over the past year, several clients secured early-stage financing, including seed rounds and Series A. It’s been exciting to watch their business models take shape and gain traction as a result of that investment. Being part of that growth — seeing an idea come to life and a founding team come together — has been incredibly rewarding.

We’ve also helped clients navigate significant challenges that could have obstructed their progress, either by removing a potential barrier to investment or steering them away from something which threatened business development. It’s gratifying to help them get unstuck and ensure those problems don’t derail their companies. Watching them overcome those hurdles has been one of the most rewarding parts of our work.

What are the key opportunities you’re seeing for legal support in the startup ecosystem?

Artificial intelligence is leading innovation across a lot of different industries. Almost every technology company we work with is integrating AI into their business model in some way. This makes sense, because AI is relatively industry-agnostic, giving it wide-reaching potential.

An interesting trend is that more companies are bringing development in-house, specifically the technology which supports their product build. What was once outsourced to places like Eastern Europe or South America is now being handled by in-house CTOs or engineers. This shift signals confidence in internal capabilities, which motivates investors to get involved because it ensures the startup fully controls its technology build while reducing concerns about intellectual property ownership or misappropriation.

How are you helping clients take advantage of state and federal support programs?

We’ve seen clients benefit from federal support, especially those in the Department of Energy and Department of Defense related technologies. Federal backing can often lead to opportunities to receive state support. So far, we’ve had success with government contracting clients securing grants from both federal sources and in the Commonwealth.

The City of Boston and towns in the surrounding metro area have also been strong supporters of startups, particularly in climate tech, safety tech, and green businesses. In our view, Boston continues to lead in the startup space, and the partnership between public and private sectors is essential in supporting emerging technologies.

How are you helping startups navigate the impact of new regulations?

It’s all about clear communication. Many clients are focused on product development and may not be aware of new legislation, like the Beneficial Ownership Information reporting rule. Our role is to identify these changes and guide them through the necessary actions, whether it’s determining who needs to file or ensuring broader compliance.

We start by assuming that founders, especially those new to running a business, may not be familiar with basic requirements. We explain everything from state registrations to applying for an employer identification number. This approach ensures they understand the fundamentals and helps us catch other regulations they might not be aware of.

We also stay proactive, providing clients with legal updates that may impact their business. Sometimes they’re already aware, but often they rely on us to manage those details, and so we’re continuously monitoring applicable state and federal laws to see what changes are coming. Our goal is to make sure they’re not blindsided by laws that could impact their business, and we give them the option to either handle it themselves or have us assist, depending on what works best for them.

How are shifts in the economy impacting startups?

It will take time for the effects of rate cuts to fully play out, but the immediate impact is that capital costs are likely to ease. We expect more venture capital activity in 2025, benefiting startups and the broader ecosystem. Investors have been waiting for this, and I think we’ll see a gradual increase in activity. As long as rates either drop or stay steady without major disruptions, this should support continued investment in startups.

While we mainly handle equity investment, improvements in market conditions, such as cheaper debt financing, tend to have a positive ripple effect across all financing forms. Recently, we’ve seen some rigidity in equity term sheets, with investors less willing to negotiate. I’m hopeful that as conditions improve, this will ease, making it easier for startups to secure better terms. Since we mostly represent companies, we focus on negotiating the best outcomes for them.

How are you building and maintaining a successful work culture at Peak?

Our firm was built on leveraging technology in all aspects of our practice. In many ways, our entire operation runs within the four corners of our laptops, which has been key to maintaining a lean, efficient team. Instant connectivity, even with remote team members, is critical, but we also prioritize face-to-face interaction. We regularly meet in person, both with each other and our clients.

Boston is ideal for this, with numerous events and opportunities to connect in person. We recently sponsored Startup Boston Week 2024, marking our second year supporting the event. It’s a great week-long symposium where founders and others in the startup community gather, helping us stay connected.

COVID’s impact lingers, and while things are normalizing, balancing virtual and in-person interactions remains important. This balance is key to sustaining a strong work culture, especially as we continue to grow.

How are you leveraging technology to improve services and create efficiencies?

There are many tools available — some better than others — and we’ve evaluated a lot of them. We try to be selective about what we adopt. While AI and other technologies show great promise, they’re still evolving, with occasional gaps like outdated data or mistakes in the models. It’s important not to become too reliant on them.

We use popular legal software and essential tools like QuickBooks, but we avoid adopting tech just for the sake of it. Our focus is on tools that truly add value to both the firm and our clients. We don’t want to overwhelm our team or clients with too many platforms. Everything we use is targeted to make our operations smoother, and we always remain open to exploring new options that can enhance our services.

While technology can handle certain tasks, it’s not a replacement for the personalized legal advice clients expect. For instance, we focus on reducing friction in small but important areas, like making scheduling easy and using electronic signatures so clients don’t have to worry about printing and scanning. In the end, though, the human element is crucial. Technology helps streamline processes, but clients still need personal guidance for the more nuanced aspects of law.

What are your top priorities for the next two to three years?

Our main priority is to expand the model we’ve built, which has worked exceptionally well for the startups and founders we’ve supported. The goal is to make our approach accessible to a larger client base while retaining the efficiency and personal connections we currently have. Growth for its own sake isn’t our focus — we want to grow in a way that preserves the quality and approachability that define our firm. If we can do that, we’ll consider it a success as we move into 2025 and beyond.

We have regular development meetings where we discuss this — ensuring that growth remains organic and doesn’t stretch us too thin. Expanding too quickly can cause cracks, so we aim to grow carefully while continuing to deliver the same high level of service to our clients.

It’s been a rewarding journey so far, with its challenges, of course. Boston and the surrounding areas have been an incredible place to do this work. The startup ecosystem here is thriving, and I don’t think we could have chosen a better region to grow our firm.