Technology

Why Lawyers Should Get To Know This Billion Dollar Startup: A Conversation With Apttus' Jason Smith

Apttus is a technology that many lawyers might actually use.

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logo_tm_green_2700pxPeople in Silicon Valley often forget that the rest of the world cares very little about their hot new startups. I am guilty of this from time to time, like last week when I wrote about why lawyers don’t need Slack without recognizing that, unlike people in startups, many lawyers have not heard of or care about Slack. Lawyers tend to know about technology that they actually have to use.

Well, Apttus is a startup that you in-house folks should get to know because it could change the way corporate legal departments interact with sales departments. Apttus opened up for business ten years ago as a Contract Management solution, but caught fire when it expanded into Quote-to-Cash. Last year they raised $108 million valuing the company at just north of $1 billion.

So, what does “Quote-to-Cash” mean and why is it important for lawyers? Many sales teams today use Salesforce to help them track and manage their leads. Salesforce helps the sales team convert leads into “yes.” But, Salesforce ends when the potential customer says “yes.” That is where Apttus (which plugs into Salesforce) takes over. As soon as you begin quoting prices, signing contracts or collecting money (hence “Quote-to-Cash”), you’re now using Apttus. So while few lawyers probably know or care about Salesforce — a Silicon Valley darling — Apttus is a technology that many lawyers might actually use. That is why, next week, when Apttus hosts its annual conference, Apttus Accelerate, they are devoting significant resources to creating useful content for lawyers.

Jason Smith is the Senior Director and Legal Counsel at Apttus. After a brief stint in Biglaw, Jason worked in legal technology in a variety of capacities since the 2000 dot com bubble. Jason was building legal technology before legal technology was a thing. Today, I’m kicking off a conversation with Jason to find out more about what Apttus has in store for corporate legal departments and why their software is going to make your life better.

As always, these are not “live chats,” they are real-life conversations that take place asynchronously, so if you don’t want to have to check back, simply click the blue follow button below.

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Zach Abramowitz is a former Biglaw associate and currently CEO and co-founder of ReplyAll. You can follow Zach on Twitter (@zachabramowitz) or reach him by email at zach@replyall.me.

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