Google Drive is an excellent choice for startups to store contracts due to various reasons. Many startups opt for Google Drive because of its user-friendly interface, facilitating easy access, management, and collaboration on contract documents for both team members and external legal teams. With ample storage capacity, it caters to a startup’s growing document needs without requiring significant upfront investments. Robust search and organization features, such as folder structures and owner-based search, simplify contract retrieval and tracking of contracts. Security measures like encryption and access controls ensure the protection of sensitive contract data. In summary, Google Drive offers startups a cost-effective, efficient, and secure platform for managing crucial contracts.
Why Does My Google Drive End Up Looking Like A Trash Can?
During an average day in an average SaaS company, there is generally a grand spectacle unfolding in your Google Drive. A grand dumpster fire of a spectacle. The negotiation process has been in Trello for contract management. After which, the sales team, notorious for their creativity, take it upon themselves to upload sales contracts named in the most bewildering fashion. Contracts for “New York Enterprise” ended up named as “TheDealThatSavedMankind_V1-FINAL,” while “Zoogle Inc” somehow became “OperationBlueberryPancake.” It also turned out that V1-FINAL was not the final at all.
Hunting for Lost Contracts: Legal Team’s Search Struggles
Meanwhile, the legal team, with their eye for detail and precision, embarked on a wild goose chase to locate these elusive contracts. “I can’t find the ‘OperationBlueberryPancake’ contract, why? Why does the sales team do this to me?” exclaims an annoyed attorney. The sales team leader, who thinks himself a real-life Sherlock Holmes type, grumbles, “It’s elementary, my dear colleagues. You’ll find it under ‘TopSecretSyrupAgreement.’”
CEO Tackles Contract Confusion: Sorting Chaos Before a Big Meeting
As this drama continued, the CEO, about to step into a meeting with a customer who is looking to churn, tries to decipher the riddles hidden within the contract names. “This one must be the ‘UnicornUnleashed’ deal,” mused the CEO, scrolling past ‘MysticalGiraffe’ and ‘WaffleWarrior.’ Chaos reigned in Google Drive, where contract storage becomes useless and you end up having no chance of finding what you need.
Redline What Matters
Raise Changes For Approval To Turnaround Contracts Faster
Naming Conventions – Google Drive For Contract Storage
In an attempt to put out the raging dumpster file you can push towards using naming conventions to clean things up. Creating a robust and organized naming convention for your Google Drive contract folder and file system is essential to efficiently manage the complexity of your SaaS startup’s contract storage. Here’s a detailed naming convention to consider:
Folder Structure:
- Customers: Create a top-level folder named “Customers” to categorize all customer-related folders.
- Within the “Customers” folder, create subfolders for each customer, named after the customer’s name or identifier.
- If a customer has subsidiaries, create subfolders for each subsidiary under the respective customer’s folder.
- Within the “Customers” folder, create subfolders for each customer, named after the customer’s name or identifier.
Customer and Contract Subfolders:
- Customer-Level Folders: Inside each customer’s folder, create subfolders for managing customer-specific content, such as “Contracts,” “Negotiations,” “Correspondence,” and “Renewals.”
- For example, within a customer’s folder named “ABC Corp,” you would have:
- “Contracts” (for signed contracts)
- “Negotiations” (for non-signed, negotiated contracts)
- “Correspondence” (for email communication)
- “Renewals” (for renewed contracts)
- For example, within a customer’s folder named “ABC Corp,” you would have:
Contract Naming:
- Contract File Names: Within the “Contracts” and “Negotiations” subfolders, you can name your contract files to capture essential details.
[Contract Type]_[Year]_[Customer/Contract ID]_[Renewal #]_[Signed/Unsigned].pdf- Contract Type: “Pilot,” “1Y,” “2Y,” “3Y,” or “Expansion” for expansions mid-cycle.
- Year: The contract’s effective year.
- Customer/Contract ID: Unique identifier for the customer and contract.
- Renewal #: For renewals, indicate which renewal this is.
- Signed/Unsigned: Use “Signed” for finalized contracts and “Unsigned” for negotiated versions.
- Example:
Pilot_2023_ABCCorp_1_Signed.pdfor2Y_2024_XYZSubsidiary_2_Unsigned.pdf
This naming convention offers clarity and structure for various contract scenarios, effectively differentiating between signed and unsigned contracts, and providing quick access to specific contracts based on type, year, and customer. It also takes into account the possibility of subsidiaries and renewals within the SaaS startup’s contract management system.
Contract Sent – Contract Storage That Won’t Catch On Fire
Over the years, we’ve witnessed, actively participated in, and resolved several dumpster fires. Contract Sent serves as a robust platform for contract management, ensuring immunity from being set ablaze in an alleyway. What makes Contract Sent better than Google Drive for contract storage?
1. Clear Contract Version Management
Contract Sent is built with a contract management structure for managing multiple versions of contracts. Manage these with clear labels for what is an old version, what is in progress and what is signed. You no longer need a complex naming convention to make this clear to all of your team.
2. Structured & Richer Search Results
Contract Sent is built on a structure which extracts essential contract information for each of your customers and keeps these in two places. One is on the customers record, the other is in your legal dashboard. This means that when you search for a customers name your results will include all of the contracts associated with the customer. When you view the customer you can see all of the data that has been extracted from that contract. This allows you to both find what you’re looking for faster and also never have to scroll through a signed thirty page master service agreement ever again.
