Our Story

In the early days of Upsolve, we called eight users every Tuesday evening to check in and collect direct feedback on how we could improve our app. During these calls, the most common question we heard was: “Why did you start Upsolve?”

Our story begins with Rohan, one of our three co-founders, while he was a student at Harvard. “During my freshman year, I realized from my classmates that technology, like public policy, can quickly help many people if you build a product and put it out there,” he said.

Unfortunately, most technology aimed to make wealthy people or companies richer, while few were designed to serve low-income families and marginalized communities. Rohan thought that if he found the right problem to address, he could use technology to make a meaningful difference.

Around the same time, Rohan began working as a research assistant at a Harvard Law School lab. There, he learned about the Access to Justice Crisis in America: over four in five low-income families aren’t able to secure the basic civil legal rights they’re owed because they can’t afford or access legal help. Rohan was shocked that such a critical issue wasn’t part of our national dialogue.

“We have all these protections on paper,” Rohan said, “but if you’re evicted, stuck in an abusive relationship, or struggling with debt, you aren’t guaranteed a free lawyer, regardless of how little you make. I had no idea. It made me very angry.”

That frustration propelled him to look for ways technology could help people handle their own legal problems. He realized the challenge of ensuring equal protection under the law was too big for lawyers to solve alone, one client at a time. After meeting with lawyers, judges, and individuals who needed legal assistance, he discovered a major opportunity to support people filing for bankruptcy.

Every year, millions of Americans face medical bills, layoffs, or predatory loans. Bankruptcy is often an excellent tool to eliminate debt, stop wage garnishment, improve credit, and increase one’s chances of finding a job. It can truly transform lives.

During this search, Rohan met Jonathan Petts, who shared his enthusiasm and later became a co-founder. Jonathan, who has a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, brought extensive experience handling high-profile bankruptcy cases and helping people pro bono. Alongside Mark Hansen—whose engineering skills helped them build a product that makes bankruptcy assistance widely accessible—they launched Upsolve.

We’re fortunate to have a dedicated team of engineers and lawyers propelling our mission forward; outstanding advisors, including former judges who see the value of our work; and top funders across the technology industry (the same groups behind early investments in Instagram, Uber, Facebook, and Twitter), traditional philanthropy (Robin Hood Foundation, renowned for its rigorous nonprofit evaluations), and the U.S. government (the Legal Services Corporation, which annually receives $400 million+ from Congress).

In just four years, Upsolve has grown into the largest nonprofit for bankruptcy in America and a leader in harnessing technology to help low-income families address legal challenges on their own.

We firmly believe lawyers will always play an essential role in our legal system. Our app only serves people with straightforward cases, and if you can afford a lawyer, you should hire one. We also believe our website shouldn’t need to exist—it ought to be the job of our courts to provide easy-to-understand forms and user-friendly resources so the process isn’t as complex as it is today.

Looking to the future, our two main goals are: (1) to assist as many people as possible through our app, and (2) to advocate for a more accessible, equitable legal system that enables individuals to solve their legal problems when they can’t afford a lawyer. We’ll never have enough free lawyers to meet the enormous demand, so we need creative solutions. Our hope is that Upsolve will continue to be central in those efforts.

Jonathan Petts, CEO and Co-Founder Rohan Pavuluri, Co-Founder and Board Chair Mark Hansen, Co-Founder and Board Member