Before SpotDraft was officially launched, I was asked by someone I knew to review an agreement. I noticed that two parties from different countries had different applicable laws. I wondered if we could automate this so that if there are two American parties, the applicable law is always a state in the US. That’s how SpotDraft started as a company and an idea.

That’s great. It sounds like you have the perfect team for it—someone who understands the legal aspects and others who know how to build the technology.

Absolutely. Rohit has built excellent products for Rent the Runway and Oyster Books. Madhav was one of the first engineers at Google Classroom and later worked on Google Green. They have experience in creating products that have scaled over time.

We’ll delve into the AI aspect in a bit, but you brought up a great point: many business professionals don’t fully understand contracts. What high-level tips would you recommend for better understanding a contract and what to look out for when reviewing one?

Most business folks need to familiarize themselves with key terms such as indemnity and limitation of liability. Understanding these terms can help them do an initial review themselves. It’s easy to rush into signing a contract and then realize later that there were issues. Ensure everything you want to convey is included in the contract. For example, if you had an email or phone call agreement, make sure it’s documented in the contract. Finally, trust your legal team. While some may think legal is where deals go to die, legal teams are often understaffed and overworked. Having a tool like SpotDraft can help, but it’s important to trust your legal team.

It’s not worth cutting corners, especially with important contracts. Are there any specific clauses that entrepreneurs and business professionals should pay close attention to, besides the termination clause?

The first clause to check is the scope of the contract—what is being provided and at what cost. Second, assess the risks involved. For instance, you wouldn’t want to take on unlimited liability for a $1,000 contract. The third crucial area is the indemnity clause—what happens when something goes wrong. These are my top three recommendations.

Great tips. You never know when something might go wrong, so it’s important to focus on these key areas. Although I’m not a legal expert, having reviewed many contracts, I know which clauses to check right away. That alone can cover about 80% of the review, but it’s still important to read the entire contract as some details might be hidden.

I know you have a strong operational background as well. What other tips would you offer for business leaders to operate more effectively in today’s fast-moving business environment? I think the first and most important thing is to be close to the customer. There was a phase when SpotDraft was growing too quickly, and we didn’t have time to connect with our customers. We were focusing on upselling and outside sales, and we realized that our customers did not love us as they did earlier. We attributed it to fast growth, but being closer to the customer allows you to hear their problems and provides the opportunity to build new products and improve existing workflows. If your customers are happy, you’ll see a lot more growth and attract more satisfied customers.

The second key point is to prioritize people above everything else. The success of a team depends on having the right people with the right mindset and growth attitude.

The third point is delegation, which I struggled with for a long time. As the team grows, you need to delegate more. You can’t be handling every small task yourself, such as changing the toilet paper, which might have been necessary when the team was only five people. Now you need more people doing more work.

Staying agile is crucial but challenging to implement. For example, two years ago, we were 25 people, and now we have 200. We strive to remain agile and ensure that our team size doesn’t create unnecessary red tape.

The final point is having a long-term vision. I’ve been reading a lot about this, especially with AI, which is here to stay. Building a long-term vision is important, not just for today or for a specific customer. We made mistakes by constantly requesting small tweaks to our product to close contracts, which led to other issues. Thinking long-term is essential.

Going back to the team aspect, building a team that understands the vision and what you're trying to accomplish is crucial. When you delegate tasks, you shouldn’t be involved in every single email or task yourself. Many founders are so close to their product and business that they struggle to let go, which can inhibit growth opportunities. Having the right team members who understand the vision and can be trusted with tasks is vital.

As for operational trends to watch out for in 2023 and 2024, AI is a major trend. AI will be integrated into everything we do, from evaluating CVs to assessing indemnity clauses. The ability to structure unstructured data with AI is remarkable, and it’s becoming so competitive that AI and machine learning will play a significant role in various jobs.

Apart from AI, we’re seeing a push towards doing more with less. Teams and budgets are being cut, so optimizing the amount of work done with minimal resources is becoming more common.

We’ve also experimented with building an internal help desk using AI. For tasks like fixing internet issues or acquiring new laptops, AI can now provide answers. It’s fascinating to see how AI can be used both internally and within products.

AI has been a productivity tool, handling mundane tasks and allowing us to focus on more valuable and creative projects. It’s incredible to see its capabilities and how it will continue to evolve in the coming years.

Regarding why most startups fail operationally, the first reason is focusing too much on building the product or going to market without considering the entire lifecycle. After acquiring the first customer, it's crucial to think about implementation, support, and customer success. Neglecting these aspects can lead to unhappy customers.

Another reason is the lack of a self-operating flywheel or cycle. Achieving product-market fit is not just about reaching a magic number but ensuring that sales, implementation, and delivery are seamless and automatic.

Lastly, sometimes founders face challenges related to product fit or team dynamics. Meeting someone who becomes a co-founder without spending enough time together can lead to issues. Founding a startup is like a marriage—you need to ensure that you and your co-founder are aligned and have spent sufficient time together to understand each other’s working styles. You need to spend enough time understanding your co-founder, the market, and the product before going to market. This is extremely important. Another key factor is perseverance. There have been numerous times when I felt I couldn’t take it anymore, especially during the early days when you hear many rejections from potential employees, investors, and customers. Even friends might question what you’re doing. It’s crucial to persevere through these challenges and stay strong. This doesn’t mean blindly doubling down on mistakes, but rather staying committed, and if necessary, pivoting and adapting.

There are two sides to this coin. On one hand, some people are too scared to fully commit due to the rejections they face. On the other hand, some founders have too much hubris, believing their ideas are flawless. Not seeking the right advice or failing to implement it can also hinder company growth. Partnering with friends or acquaintances without understanding their working style can be risky. I have a lot of business relationships with friends, but this is because I’ve known them for years and understand how they operate. It’s crucial to have a good understanding of how your partners work before embarking on a venture together, as it can impact both the business and personal relationships.

For SaaS companies aiming to achieve their growth targets this year, it’s important to build differentiators into your products, but this alone isn’t enough. You need to be ten times better in product development, go-to-market strategy, and pricing. These three elements combined are essential to winning the market. Simply having a unique feature isn’t a strong enough differentiator. Competitors can easily copy and improve upon it. It’s about how you take the product to market and the value for money you offer to customers. You don’t need to price yourself higher just because competitors do. Offering a great product at an excellent price while excelling in these three areas is crucial.

A common mistake is falling in love with a particular feature without ensuring it offers significant value. For instance, I once had a startup that failed because we thought an SMS survey was revolutionary, but online surveys were already prevalent. We also considered introducing a 1-800 chat line, but it didn’t succeed as we hoped. The key takeaway is that any innovation needs to offer ten times more value or be ten times more affordable to succeed.

When recruiting talent for your team, look for traits beyond skill. First, a willingness to grow and work hard is crucial. Even the best engineers need to have the hunger for growth and a strong work ethic. Second, culture fit is important. Although culture can become diluted as a company grows, resilience and adaptability are essential. Third, in a distributed world, effective communication, both in person and through digital channels, is critical. The ability to collaborate internally is vital, and having a balance of skill and will is essential.

In the early days of our company, one major challenge was building a product that was repeatable in its implementation. Initially, we developed a solution for one of the largest global banks but couldn’t scale it to other clients. Another challenge was balancing product development and sales. We either focused too much on building or selling, and both approaches had their challenges. It’s important to plan for future growth and ensure your sales cycle aligns with your development.

Many startups face the issue of building a product first and then searching for a market. We’ve made similar mistakes in the past, developing a product only to find that it wasn’t being used as expected. Now, with a few hundred paying customers who are extremely satisfied, we focus on ensuring that contracts are completed on time.

As for current reading, I recently finished "Good to Meet" and before that, "Deep Thinking" by Gary Castro. The latter offers an interesting perspective on AI, combining historical views with its potential future impact. The book I’m currently reading is still in progress. Currently, I’m reading "Predictable Revenue" by Jim Ross. I believe it is essential for anyone trying to build a SaaS business and develop both a demand generation engine and a sales engine. These are two somewhat separate aspects, and the book offers valuable insights into both. I would strongly recommend reading it.

Great, I’m interested in that book myself, so I’ll definitely add it to my list. Moving on, what should potential customers know about why they should choose your platform over others?

First, we offer an end-to-end contract automation product, which means you don’t need any additional tools when using SpotDraft. From creating contracts and integrating with Salesforce to negotiating and collaborating internally, our system covers it all. We have a Word integration, an e-signature tool, and built-in reminders and notifications. Essentially, SpotDraft is a one-stop shop for all your contracting needs.

Second, we handle the heavy lifting in terms of implementation and adoption. Many business tools fail due to poor implementation or lack of adoption. We address this by being highly integratable, working seamlessly with any upstream or downstream systems. You can continue using your existing tools without switching to ours.

Additionally, SpotDraft offers great value for money. If you need to ensure that your deals are completed by the end of the quarter or month, SpotDraft can almost guarantee that outcome. It is significantly more efficient and affordable compared to handling everything through your legal department.

What’s next for SpotDraft over the next five years?

We aim to be listed on NASDAQ, but our focus is on building a sustainable business and moving towards profitability. Ultimately, our goal is to maximize shareholder value, which includes providing benefits to employees, customers, and investors alike.

That sounds like a solid plan. I’m based in New York City, so let me know when you achieve that milestone—I’d love to celebrate with you.

Absolutely, I appreciate your support and look forward to seeing SpotDraft grow. For anyone looking to significantly reduce legal costs and have a superior experience, please check out SpotDraft on our B2B SaaS Marketplace. Nacho is the number one marketplace to manage, discover, and save on SaaS products, and we feature excellent products like SpotDraft.

Once again, Shashank, thank you for your time today. I look forward to collaborating with you and seeing both our companies thrive in the future.

Thank you, Andy. It was a pleasure speaking with you.