DocuSign MOMENTUM 2012 kicked off with a networking breakfast in the packed Partner Pavilion. The breakfast included more than 500 attendees. The general General sessions included topics like “eSignature and Beyond,” with DocuSign’s Keith Krach, Tom Gonser, and Dustin Grosse; “Adapt, Change or Die” with bestselling author Jeff Hayzlett; customers featuring innovative ways they are using DocuSign to go beyond electronic signature; and “Transforming your Business” which included panelists Allan Lubitz of Mercury Insurance, Jon Zimmerman of Skilled Athlete and Anil Anthony of Tata Communications.

Everyone celebrated our MOMENTUM at Ruby Skye with a private concert from “HOLLYWOOD’S” James Gang. The band extended its encore to a full set in response to the audience’s cheers.

DocuSign is proud to be a launch partner  and one of the first apps to integrate with Google Drive.   The digital signature provider is bringing its standard but secure services to “hundreds of millions” of Google users.  Google users will now be available to take advantage of DocuSign features as they can send documents needing an e-signature directly from Google Drive on any browser or mobile device, and their customers can sign anytime and anywhere on any device.

Open, share, and create files using Google Drive and then sign your completed documents with DocuSign – the global standard for eSignature.

Download the DocuSign app for Google Drive here: DocuSign Google Drive App

“DocuSign Payment combines two trusted industry standards – DocuSign eSignatures and PayPal Payments – into a single transaction process,” Keith Krach, chairman and CEO of DocuSign, announced. “This combination of leading cloud services enhances the DocuSign customer experience by offering even more complete, convenient, and better transaction services.”

Read more about DocuSign and PayPal.

The confirmed speaker list includes Jeffery Hayzlett, bestselling author of Running the Gauntlet, Comcast Senior Vice President of Sales and Operations Eric Dirst, and Chairman and CEO of DocuSign Keith Krach, among others.

“DocuSign continues to help companies transform the way they transact business to increase speed to results, reduce costs, and delight customers,” said Keith Krach, CEO and chairman of DocuSign.  “We’re looking forward to bringing together some great business minds — including our customers, partners, and developers.”

The event includes panels, keynotes, and breakout sessions that look to be interesting.  Some sessions include reducing sales cycle times by 90%, working within a mobile workforce, and adding value with eSignature.

Through his robotics work with GM and ties with Silicon Valley, however, Keith Krach saw opportunity. “We heard about things happening in Silicon Valley in semiconductors and it was driving innovation in the computer industry and manufacturing,” he says.  He left GM on his 30^th birthday and ventured to California to ride the wave of the future.

Krach joined the founding team of Rasna Corp. as chief operating officer; the company sold in 1995 to Parametric Technologies for $500 million.  In 19996, he became entrepreneur-in-residence for Benchmark Capital, where he assembled the team to form Ariba (NASDAQ ARIBA).  Krach took Ariba public in 1999 and under his leadership as CEO and chairman of the board for seven years; Ariba grew to be the dominant worldwide player in B2B and achieved a market cap of $34 billion.  In recognition of his accomplishments in e-business, Ernst & Young named Krach as the 2000 National Entrepreneur of the Year, the same year he was honored at the World Economic Forum with the Technology Pioneer Award.  He moved on from there to 3Points Inc, and investment holding company, and from there to DocuSign, the leader in electronic signature systems.

Institutionalized Risk Taking

Given his personal history, it is no surprise that Keith Krach supports Purdue’s efforts to nurture risk-taking research, a goal stated in both the University’s strategic plan and that of the College of Engineering.  He champions the University’s new Global Policy Research Institute, which will bring faculty together from across disciplines and will promote coordination between large-scale research and economic development to impact regional, national, and global economies.  He cites successful large-scale efforts already under way, including those at Discovery Park and the National Science Foundation (NSF) center that serve as headquarters for the operations of the George E Brown Jr Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation, an interdisciplinary venture funded by a $105 million NSF grant, the largest grant that had been made in the University’s history at the time.

“We need to support risk-taking research that allows investigators the freedom to creatively pursue areas with long-range, sweeping, and uncertain outcomes,” he says.  “That’s what we specialize in.  Innovation has historically come from academic investigation.  The private sector is increasingly more interested in how to deliver new technologies; however, in this economic climate, large companies are battering down the hatches on R&D, focusing more on D and less on R.  This presents a great opportunity for Purdue.”

He sees no shortfalls on the academic innovation pipeline.  “Investigators are eager to engage in risk-taking discovery when provided with the proper environment, which includes flexibility and support and team collaboration,” Krach says.

To underline the importance of teamwork, Krach draws a parallel between his experience in the software industry and the future direction of research. “If you look in the area of software development, software teams are formed all over the world- American, Chinese, Indian, Europeans.  It’s all about teams.  Purdue and IE can expose our students to role models in this area for inspiration and the real practical lessons out there.  We can teach them not to be afraid to jump in water over their heads.  You learn more from making mistakes than successes.”

And then, spoken like the true Ohio boy he once was, Keith Krach, who now splits his time between the West Coast and Indiana, mentions a natural advantage that Purdue has in the arena of risk-taking research.

“If you look in Silicon Valley, 60 percent of the CEO’s come from Midwestern backgrounds,” he says.  “One of the big assets at Purdue is good, old-fashioned Midwestern values. It’s integrity, courage, courtesy, a strong work ethic, persistence, and perseverance, all of which you really need to have to do cutting-edge research.”

Also one of Apple App Store Rewind’s, DocuSign Ink allows individuals to place text and check boxes to complete forms, drag and drop their legal signature into documents, and send them off securely via email. The app was widely successful, seeing more than 100,000 downloads within the first two weeks of launch.

“All of us at DocuSign are thrilled to receive this recognition from the WTIA,” said DocuSign’s chief technology officer Grant Peterson. “This award recognizes the hard work, passion, and dedication that DocuSign employees put into DocuSign Ink to create the first-ever personal electronic signature for securely signing everything, everywhere.”

The full article can be found here.

DocuSign CEO and Chairman Keith Krach says Docusign is on $40 million run rate; this is almost twice as much as last year.

Krach also said that he expects to double DocuSign’s headcount of 200 employees over the next year.

The full article can be found here.

Keith Krach’s long history with technology companies and silicon valley make him the ideal person for the job.

During his time at Ariba, he took them public and ultimately achieved a market capitalization of $34 billion; becoming one of the fastest growing companies in history.

In the year 2000 Keith Krach was not only honored with the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of Year Award but also with the Technology Pioneer Award at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

 “Keith is a world class leader who drives organizations to achieve escape velocity,” said Pete Solvik, DocuSign board member and managing director of Sigma Partners. “I had the pleasure of working closely with Keith as one of the earliest Ariba customers, and witnessed the rapid growth and market adoption of the company’s products under his leadership. Keith is a visionary who engages and inspires high performing teams to deliver customer-focused innovation and exponential growth.”

Keith Krach is succeeding Steve King as the CEO of DocuSign. Tom Gonser, founder and chief strategy officer at DocuSign had this to say about the departing Steve Gonser:

“Under Steve’s leadership, DocuSign achieved major financing, built a tremendous leadership team and made important advances in our broader market strategies to achieve 80% share of the cloud-based eSignature industry,”

The departing CEO Steve King had this to say about the incoming CEO Keith Krach:

“I couldn’t be more pleased to pass the leadership baton to an executive of Keith’s caliber, Keith has been a strong advocate during my tenure as CEO. I look forward to supporting Keith and seeing the continued success of the DocuSign team.

And finally, a few words from the new CEO of DocuSign himself, Keith Krach:

“I am honored to serve as the chairman and CEO of DocuSign, the eSignature market is at an inflection point and going mainstream. With DocuSign’s world-class team, we are poised for incredible growth in the coming years. I look forward to building on the important work Steve accomplished during his tenure by expanding our global network to ensure that DocuSign remains the industry standard for companies and individuals everywhere.”

So there it is. Optimism and a clear direction for the future.

Read more about Keith Krach’s specific accomplishments in the Biography section of this site, and stay tuned for more updates.