Now: CEO @ North

Ilan Abehassera.

Builder & investor. French-American, based in New York. Eighteen years building tech companies — now co-founder & CEO of North, putting Claude to work inside law firms.

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Portrait of Ilan Abehassera on a New York street New York
Ilan AbehasseraParis → New York, since 2004
40.71° N

At a glance since 2008

18years building tech companies
5companies co-founded
50+startups backed since 2012

Local time · New York40.71° N, 74.00° W

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Paris, for the other half--:--
north.law
Co-founder & CEO Since May 2026 Hiring
A figure in a coat walking through a sunlit stone hall toward a window framing the Empire State Building

Claude, engineered into your law firm.

North helps law firms put AI to work across the practice — North OS connects the firm's knowledge and tools to Claude, and a team of forward-deployed engineers trains yours, on-site.

Open founding seatsCome build the AI the legal industry will run on.

We're hiring
Forward Deployed Engineer New York Forward Deployed Engineer France GTM / Growth Social Media Manager
The launch postAnnounced today
67 comments

"Meet my new company, North: It's Claude, engineered into your law firm 🧭"

linkedin.com Open original

The short version

More interested in what the future could look like than in what's already been done.

Moved to New York in 2004. A few years later I started Producteev, task management for teams. Jive Software acquired it in 2012, which pulled me to Silicon Valley — New York pulled me back.

Eighteen years in, the reason I build hasn't changed. Now it's North. A little less active as an investor — one-offs, mostly through Origins, the consumer fund I co-founded with Blaise Matuidi.

Building

2008 — now
North HiringCo-founder & CEO 2026 — now
Claude, engineered into your law firm.
See open roles
Contentsquare 🦄 UnicornSVP Strategy & Partnerships 2024 — 2026
M&A and AI partnerships.
  • VP Special Projects, with the CEO
  • SVP Strategy & Corporate Development
  • SVP Partnerships & Strategic Alliances
AsyncCo-founder & CEO 2021 — 2024
Voice messages that finally replaced meetings.
WilloCo-founder, President & COO 2017 — 2021
At-home oral health. Raised $25M with Kleiner Perkins and the Amazon Alexa Fund. TIME's 100 Best Inventions 2020.
ILY AcquiredA phone for families 2014 — 2017
A phone for families. Acquired by Nucleus in 2016.
Producteev AcquiredTask management for teams 2008 — 2012
Started in Paris with three friends. Thousands of paying companies, including Apple, Stanford, Disney and the FT. Acquired by Jive Software in 2012.

Daily stack

What North gets built, planned and run on.

Build: Claude, Vercel, Supabase. Plan: Linear, Notion, Figma. Run: Slack, Granola, Superhuman.

Side apps

Small things I build on nights and weekends.

3 apps
  • Roule Getting aroundThe closest shared scooter or bike anywhere in France, one tap away. iOS
  • Bucket PlacesShare a reel or a screenshot, Bucket pins the real place on your map, then makes sure you go. iOS beta ↗
  • Tov FoodScan any product in a French store and know in seconds if it's kosher. App Store ↗
Oui Are New York podcast cover

Podcast · 4 years

Oui Are New York

Four years interviewing French entrepreneurs who made it in America.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Investing Origins

Angel since 2012. Seed to Series A, mostly consumer.

General Partner at Origins, the seed-to-Series-A consumer fund I co-founded with World Cup winner Blaise Matuidi. These days, one-offs mostly go through the fund.

  • CheckrBackground checks🦄 Unicorn
  • AlgoliaSearch infrastructure🦄 Unicorn
  • AlanHealth insurance🦄 Unicorn
  • Ami LabsConsumer AI🦄 Unicorn
  • Wit.aiAcquired by FacebookExit
  • SunriseAcquired by MicrosoftExit
  • SkyGiraffeAcquired by ServiceNowExit
  • UpwaySequoia-backedSequoia
  • DojiThrive-backedThrive
  • KinoGV-backedGV
  • AmoConsumer socialSocial
  • CowboyConnected e-bikesMobility
  • + 40 moreAcross consumer, SaaS and infra

Notes to self

  1. Only hire and work with warriors.
  2. The best founders stayed curious.
  3. Distribution is taste at scale.

Contact

Say hello.

Founders, firms curious about North, or future teammates — I read everything.

Message sent.

Thanks — it landed in my inbox. I'll get back to you soon.

Elsewhere

I post most often on LinkedIn.