Though the startup ecosystem is currently experiencing its fundraising “winter,” Bengaluru-based Synup has made quite the splash. After partnering with Vertex Ventures and Prime Ventures, the company raised $6 million in series A funding. As a solution aimed at marketers, Synup helps companies track how their brand is doing online. It monitors mentions in places such as review sites, directories, and social networks, syncs address information, and analyzes website traffic and conversion rates.
As Synup approached its final stages before closing the round, Ashwin Ramesh, the company’s CEO and founder, was buried in paperwork: his desk was forever littered with term sheets, engagement letters, shareholder agreements, and more. As a company that did not normally process large volumes of paperwork, save for simple offer letters, this was a new challenge. Up until that point, they were still relying on traditional ink and paper to get documents signed.
This process involved printing out the required documents, having Ramesh sign them in the necessary places, mailing a package via FedEx to concerned stakeholders, obtaining a second round of signatures, having said stakeholders mail the documents back, and finally, scanning and storing the information. Ashwin quickly identified that this was no longer a scalable or efficient solution for Synup.
“Paperwork, in general, gets very complicated when there are multiple stakeholders involved,” said Ashwin when I met him at the Synup office on a Wednesday afternoon. “From term sheets to closure, it took us about 4 months to complete everything and I was coordinating with stakeholders in 5 different time zones - it was a nightmare!.”
Adding to this was the challenge of accuracy. With more than 30-40 sheets of paper per document, a missing sheet or a forgotten signature could mean repeating the entire process. Soon, Ramesh found himself looking for solutions that would make collecting signatures quick and painless, and Signeasy emerged as the best fit
“The fact that Signeasy wasn’t cluttered with confusing features stood out for me. Everything a small business needs, Signeasy has at an affordable price point,” said Ashwin.
The difference was immediate. The ability to request a signature via email became Ashwin’s favorite feature since the client on the other end didn’t need the app to sign the document. The Document Fields feature enabled him to indicate the exact places where signatures were required, guiding the signers and avoiding any missed signatures or details.
The result? The turnaround time to get a document signed and completed became 9 times faster!
The system was so seamless and convenient that most of Synup’s current paperwork now happens through Signeasy. Even the offer letters they roll out to candidates now happen through Signeasy.
“It used to take about 24 hours to get an offer letter signed,” said Ramesh "With Signeasy, we get the document signed within an hour!”
