Taking on a tech giant and developing a competitive product requires a certain combination of strategic vision, innovation and technical expertise, as well as a healthy desire to challenge the status quo.

Corey Cacic, entrepreneur and CEO of esigning business Annature, is driven by a passion for simplifying processes and making technology accessible for businesses of any size.

Pictured: Corey Cacic, Annature

Understanding the competition

With a background in software development, Cacic says he saw an opening for his own business in 2020, after working with several companies that expressed frustration with US-based esigning giant DocuSign.

“I watched the pricing for DocuSign increase for one business from $10,000 per year to $500,000 and I knew I could do it differently,” he says. The result was Annature, which has successfully challenged DocuSign as Australia’s leading esigning and client verification provider.

Cacic founded the company with two co-founders and held the position of chief technical officer (CTO), before taking over as CEO in December 2023.

“As CTO, I led Annature’s technological advancements, transforming intricate concepts into practical solutions. Now, as CEO I plan to steer Annature towards even greater excellence and elevate our growth in global markets,” he says.

Annature is born

Cacic’s tech background laid the foundation for the business. As the world struggled through the pandemic in 2020, Cacic created a product in his family home in Brisbane that has since been endorsed by leading financial institutions, including Macquarie Group.

Annature’s technology is used by thousands of small and medium-sized businesses, including accounting and financial services firms such as Count-Diverger, which have come to rely on the ease and efficiency esignatures have brought to the business world. Annature has also partnered with leading CRM and loan origination firm Salestrekker and national aggregator Finsure.

“We took on DocuSign and have shown how we can provide exactly what businesses need to meet their compliance needs, as well as general business requirements,” Cacic says.

“In fact, DocuSign is our biggest sales channel because businesses use it for 12 months and then come to Annature when the price is hiked to take advantage of their reliance on the product.”

Different solutions

Annature offers two different plans: a pay-as-you-go option or a customised subscription plan, which can include a 20% discount for CA ANZ members. After a free seven-day trial, Cacic says a third of customers sign up.

“We have a 33%+ conversion rate from sign-ups to paying customers, which is unheard of – the rate for most SaaS businesses is in the single digits.”

One of the reasons for the high conversion rate is the cost; another is the user experience.

“Our product’s functionality provides everything a user needs and expects,” Cacic says. “We get a ton of feedback from our users about how easy it is. And, if customers strike any issues, they have access to Australian based support staff, which is a key point of difference from DocuSign.

“We’ve created a product that businesses can rely on,” says Cacic. “We’ve gone back to the basics of esigning, which is what 99% of people use and, most importantly, we’ve made it affordable and easy to use.”

Give Annature a try – for free!

Annature is a CA ANZ Member Benefits Partner. To access a seven-day free trial or to book a demo, visit: annature.com.au/partners/ca