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Strategic Communications Advisory For Visionary Founders
Conversation
Highlights
Most startups try to compete with incumbents by building better products. Agree.com is taking a different approach: they’re giving away DocuSign’s core product for free while building something much bigger.
In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Marty Ringlein, CEO and Co-founder of Agree.com, shared how they’re using an unconventional GTM strategy to challenge a 22-year-old incumbent that most people hate but few dare to replace.
The story begins with an accidental insight during a fundraising call. An investor mistakenly referred to the company as “Agree.com” – a domain they didn’t own. This sparked a realization about potential brand confusion, leading to an unorthodox domain acquisition strategy.
“I know enough to know that if he owns this domain, you can’t offer this dude 500 bucks, you’re just never going to hear from him again,” Marty explains. “You’ve got to offer him something that’s pretty darn close to what it’s worth.”
But instead of relying solely on money, Marty took a relationship-based approach: “What if you’re a part of this really awesome, amazing thing we’re building? What if you’re a part of that origin story?” This human connection ultimately sealed the deal after four months of cultivation.
The Power of Villain Brands
While most startups avoid mentioning competitors, Agree.com actively leverages DocuSign’s status as what Marty calls a “villain brand” – companies like Microsoft Teams, Jira, and Ticketmaster that evoke visceral negative reactions.
“I get on stage and I’m just like, ‘today is the last day you’ll ever pay for DocuSign.’ And the crowd erupts like they are cheering, people standing,” Marty recounts. This response crystallized their positioning strategy.
But the real innovation isn’t in e-signatures – it’s in what happens after the signature. As Marty explains, “After most signatures, someone has to pay someone money. And we just want to make sure that we’ve connected the signature to the money movement part.”
A Bottom-Up GTM Strategy
Instead of targeting finance teams directly, Agree.com enters organizations through individual sales reps who can adopt the free e-signature product without formal approval. “B2B SaaS sales teams were the hungriest for it. They also were the ones that are allowed to go rogue the most where their boss kind of doesn’t care what they do as long as they close more deals faster,” Marty notes.
This bottom-up adoption creates organic expansion opportunities. Once multiple sales teams are using the platform, approaching finance teams about premium features becomes much easier. “I just call the CRO and say, ‘hey man, like half your team’s using this thing. Why don’t we just make it official? It’s free. Like what’s the hang up?'”
Guerrilla Marketing at Scale
Agree.com’s marketing strategy emphasizes creative, high-impact activities over traditional corporate approaches. At Dreamforce, rather than paying for a booth, they set up coffee carts outside when the conference ran out of coffee.
“I’m looking around like, I got a line down the block wanting to meet agree.com, but there’s not one other founder out here,” Marty shares. “Even if you don’t have a creative bone in your body, like, go to a Kinko’s, print some 8 and a half by 11, and just be there.”
The Future of Agreement Management
While free e-signatures are the wedge, Agree.com’s vision extends far beyond simple document signing. They’re building a comprehensive platform for contract-based revenue management, with plans to expand into:
- Payment processing and invoicing
- Escrow services
- Invoice factoring
- High-yield accounts for contract payments
“I know more information about a business than anybody else because I know your open close rate on the sales side, but I also know the invoicing side,” Marty explains. This data advantage positions them to offer unique financial services.
The company has raised $3 million in pre-seed funding and is targeting companies doing between $1-50 million in revenue with sales teams of 2-25 people. It’s a focused approach that demonstrates how startups can challenge established players not by building marginally better products, but by fundamentally rethinking the business model and go-to-market strategy.
For B2B founders looking to disrupt incumbent players, Agree.com’s journey offers a masterclass in leveraging competitors’ weaknesses, finding creative distribution channels, and building a much bigger vision behind a simple entry point.
Actionable
Takeaways
Leverage Guerrilla Marketing Constraints:
Ringlein emphasizes how budget constraints can fuel creativity in marketing. Rather than viewing limited resources as a handicap, Agree.com turns them into an advantage by executing quick, memorable campaigns that larger competitors can't match. Their approach at Dreamforce - setting up mobile coffee stations when the conference ran out of coffee - demonstrates how being nimble and opportunistic can create outsized impact with minimal spend.
Create a Compelling Market Entry Narrative:
Agree.com's strategy of positioning against "villain brands" like DocuSign provides a clear, relatable entry point for customers. By anchoring against a well-known but frequently criticized incumbent, they can quickly establish context and focus conversations on their differentiated value proposition rather than explaining basic functionality.
Use Product-Led Growth to Drive Enterprise Expansion:
Instead of targeting finance teams directly, Agree.com enters organizations through individual sales reps who can adopt the free e-signature product without formal approval. This bottom-up adoption creates organic expansion opportunities, making it easier to later engage finance teams about premium features when multiple sales teams are already using the platform.
Focus on Transaction-Heavy Use Cases:
Rather than trying to serve all potential signature use cases, Agree.com specifically targets scenarios where signatures are tied to payment obligations. This focus allows them to build deeper value through payment processing, invoicing automation, and financial insights - capabilities that create stronger differentiation than pure e-signature functionality.
Build Strategic Optionality Into Your Product:
Agree.com's architecture gives them multiple potential revenue streams beyond basic e-signature, including payment processing, escrow services, invoice factoring, and yield on stored funds. This optionality allows them to start with a disruptive free offering while maintaining clear paths to significant monetization as customer relationships deepen.
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