If you are a startup founder looking to create and send out online agreements like hiring contracts, NDA's, CIIAA, and more, then this is the article for you. Read ahead to learn more.

Contract management for Founders, not Lawyers!

For founders, time is money! Similar to valuable commodities like gold and diamonds, it is finite. The majority of good founders want to maximize the ROI of their time. Hiring, legal, finance, and payroll are important aspects of running a successful company, but most founders will agree that these are time-consuming processes if done manually, leaving them with limited time to innovate the core competencies of their startup.

What should an early-stage founder look for in an e-signature solution?

Before we get into comparing Adobesign and Docusign, let’s first look at what an early-stage founder should look for in an e-signature solution (in no specific order):

• E-signature functionality - The bare minimum for any e-signature tool is to enable you to send and receive legally binding signatures and contracts. Additionally, signature reminders, multiple signatories in a single agreement have all become must-have features. These features are table stakes.
• Intelligent document storage and data platform - The information you input into your documents can and should be structured to be available for quick use in other legal agreements.
• Automatic document classification - Whether it’s an NDA, hiring contract, or ESOP agreement, you want a system that is able to automatically detect and classify all of your documents for you, so you can focus your time elsewhere.
• Integration with HR, Legal, and Finance tools - Having your e-signature solution integrate directly with your tech stack saves you a lot of valuable time by automatically ensuring all company data is synchronized across all your tools. 
• Pre-filled fields - Efficiency and productivity are paramount for any founder. You want your e-signature solution to pull out key information from your HR, finance, and legal tech stack without you having to manually copy & paste data into templates.
• Powerful search - This is a game-changer. You want robust, fast searchability that scans through the text within these documents and helps you find what you’re looking for within seconds.
• Flexible permissions - Contracts and agreements often require multiple stakeholders’ signatures or inputs. You want to be able to collaborate on and share these documents with specific people (e.g. your lawyers, hiring managers, cofounder, etc.) whilst controlling access.
• Compliance advisory - State compliance can be very tricky as it varies from state to state. You want accurate and relevant information to streamline your compliance process.
• Ease of Use - All the leading online tools have an easy and intuitive user experience with a simple and swift process to send online agreements.