Crush Contracts Academy With Roma Khan & Sara McCormick

Made with speech-to-text software, so a few words may be off.

0:00You're listening to the Contract Heroes Podcast, your one-stop shop for all things contract management. And now here are your hosts, Marc and Pepe. Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Contract Heroes. On this episode, we are joined by the CEO and the COO of Crush Contracts, Roma Khan and Sarah McCormick. Guys, thank you so much for joining us, jumping straight off the plane and, and on the podcast. We really appreciate it. Glad you're here. Thank you for having us. Yeah, we are very excited to be here and talking to you guys. Always good to be in Vegas, but it was definitely fun to make this our first stop, especially because there's orange Fanta, which- ... I'm just, like, so tickled about. Exactly. I haven't had it in forever, and when you start with Fanta, I mean, can't go wrong. Yeah, I mean, but it's fine. Yeah. It's Vegas. Yeah. So let's talk about contracts. Let's talk about contracts, baby. Let's talk about you.

1:02Well, you know, I, I think, you know, what we wanted to, uh, to start off by chatting about, right, is the, the Crush Contracts Academy that's coming up. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, what it's been like to kinda put together your, your first event and, um, what the response- Who's idea was it?... has been, right? What the... Yeah, yeah. That's a great question. Yeah. Uh- Another person that I wanna know, like, how the hell you wanna What is the or-... do like drinking wine? We- And-... talked about doing this last year. Yeah And, you know, she comes from education, uh, a little bit. She was in CE, and I've always wanted to have a conference because I wanted to throw a party, and we talked about it, and then the beginning of this year, we were like, "Hey, we should do our conference this year." "Okay, let's do it." And we just announced it, and we were amazed at the reaction we got and the response we got, and the amazing investors, n- not just sponsors that we have, including you guys. Thank you. And, uh, it's been great. It's, uh, a lot of work.

2:00And so, you know, we appreciate events like Clock and all the other conferences to see how much work goes into planning it, putting it together, going after the speakers, going after all the parties and the arrangements. So it's been crazy, but it's been fun. Yeah, it's definitely fun. A learning experience, I would say, for sure, yeah. But if anybody has not heard of Roma's famous Romacon party that she would throw every year, so- Roma Fest Roma Fest, that's what it was. I knew. I'm like, "Romacon." Ro- So we, you know, we had some party planning under our belt, but doing an educational conference is completely a different thing, and it's been really wonderful seeing the support and excitement just from the legal community about getting good quality and education out there, and having opportunities to connect in a more meaningful way. Yeah. So we're excited, and Chicago's a really fun city in the summer. It's beautiful. Lots of things to do there, and right after Legal Geek, which is awesome, so it's a two for one. Yeah.

3:05No, I, I, I mean, obviously we're, we're extremely excited and, you know, and maybe we could talk a little bit about, um, the types of topics that we're gonna be discussing and, you know, s- what, what are the sessions going to be about? What, what does that kinda look like? What's the itinerary? That's a great question. So Crush Contracts Academy is a vision of a full CLE accredited, um, course, a day full of, uh, CLE classes. Our vision was to eventually create a full contracts academy that's a globally accessible academy to empower and train people in doing contracts, not just theoretically and academically, but in real life, to make deals happen. So this is a dream come true for us. Our tracks are very practically organized, and um, every speaker is very experienced. Um, we have sat through some of the planning sessions, and we are amazed at the quality of the sessions that, you know, we're bringing to you. So starting off with Crushing Negotiations, um, we have, uh, Cliff Stein, who just left the Chicago Bears as general counsel for 22 years. He, he really is a negotiation mastermind.

4:06I mean, when he speaks, you can just, like, pause and listen to some of the greatest things that he has, some of the tips that he has. Um, then we have Contract Data in, uh, Mergers and Acquisitions. So, uh, we thought this was very important topic because a lot of companies are in, in growth phase. They're getting acquired. We just heard about Lexion and DocuSign. Yeah. Um, so you just don't know when your company might be in that stage of either buying or, or selling or merging, and you need to know what's in your contracts. Two, a lot of contracts have data in them that people just sort of organize around processing, that there's so much you can do with it. I mean, Crush Contracts are, uh, third prong of our services, which we haven't really advertised too much yet, is the data of your contracts. You know, all contracts have stories to tell. So if you aggregate it, you can look at a business' risk profile, their future, their, you know, forecast a lot of things. So the session on contract data and mergers and acquisition is great. We have Janelle Anderson from Hayco, David Edgar, who does the M&A in a Minute, um, he's speaking. Um, as well as Ashley Schiff.

5:07She's with a PE firm, and they actually look at target companies and advise the, the buyer how to then structure that company afterwards, how to make money from it based on the data that they learn, you know, most valuable clients, where to, you know, focus on which contracts. So it's gonna be a great session. It's a little bit different than most contracts because it's a lot of business focused and a lot of data focused. Um, then we have two sessions called CLM Maximizer. Our goal is to empower people and promote CLM adoption all over the world, not just in tech companies. Um, so we partnered with four CLM vendors, um, Ironclad, SpotDraft, Lexion, and Malbag, who are going to, um, present four sessions, and each session will cover many-... contracts pain points, like, you know, contract security or legacy contract management, and their speakers are their actual users and experts who will talk about these issues as well as show you how it can be handled with the CLM.

6:09So what's great about it is that you really learn how to solve these pain points, but then you also see how you can do with different technologies. It's, you know, it's a, it's a great opportunity to g- again, as Sarah said, meaningfully connect with the technology, with the people, with the solutions, and feel heard. I know a lot of people have these pain points, and they don't feel like they're being addressed, or they don't have a solution for it. Yeah. So we can at least teach them how to solve this with some technology, and especially with the CLM. Yeah, that's interesting because when we start talking with some of, well, well, with most of our customers, and they wanna start implementing their, their tool, they have an idea, but they have no idea what they want. Yeah. You know? Like, they have certain goals, like, "We wanna make things faster," right? And we spend a lot of time with the requirement gathering- Yeah... so we can understand every single detail with the workflows, with the templates, with the permissions, with the groups, all these kind of things. Yeah. And what happens most of the time is that once the people understand what you can do with the systems, like, everything expands. Like, "Hey, can we also do this?" Yeah, yeah. "Hey, can w- can, can I put this information from this vendor here?" Yes.

7:19And then y- you start getting a lot of ideas. And, and one cool thing about what you're doing there is that if you're showing some case studies- Yes... right, and you are also talking along with the vendor, so they can explain you maybe a little bit on the technical part. Yeah, yeah. And you know what- That's, that's, that's very cool... what's great about this is, it's, it's all use cases. Yeah. And it's actually really coming from actual users. A- a- and they can ask questions. Correct. Yeah, so these are actual clients and users who solve their pain points, you know. A lot of times people go out with a product. I mean, when I, you know, I'm an entrepreneur, and you're one as well, and the one rule is to not show up with a solution. Find a problem, first solve that problem, right? Yeah. And a lot of times when we're talking to potential users or people who are already using the product, is that we're only focusing on the solution. Let's talk about the pain points and the problems, because if people have the similar problems, then we can start looking into the solutions, right?

8:13You can have a CLM with 100 features, but if it doesn't really solve any of their problems, or at least they can't connect the dots, then it's not really good for them. Yeah. So you gotta be able to find out, what is my problem? Yeah. And then what is the next step as a solution, and does this, this, does this technology have that solution? If so, great. Um, so the great thing is that the audience has a choice between two options. You know, one, uh... And, and these, and CLMs are great, right? Because they serve- Yeah... different markets, Fortune 500, mid-market, mid, and, or both. Um, so they can sit and listen to these, uh, speakers and learn their pain points and the solutions, and then later on they can talk to the vendors out there as well. Yeah. This is not a very sponsor heavy event. We have intentionally kept it, um, you know, minimum sponsors so that the audience can actually learn. Right. And then also connect with the sponsors. You know, whether it's the, the technology, whether it's the technology implementation, like what you guys do, 'cause there's a, you know, there, there, d- different levels and stages to solving a problem. So we want to bring everybody together in our community for the, the CLM piece. Obviously, I mean, I think it's gonna be a fantastic event, right? We're extremely excited- Yeah...

9:16and, and, you know, the vendors that are gonna be there, I think they, they, you know, we work with and have conversations with a couple of, a handful of those, and I think they're gonna do a great job of breaking down those sessions, right, and making it actual items- Yeah... that, that folks that are going to the event actually can have some solid takeaways from. Yeah. Um- So I do wanna talk about one, a couple more sessions. Okay. So we have a legal operations, uh, session about the role of IT in implementation. Um, Kami Paulsen- Yeah... from Deloitte's gonna be on there. Uh, Jonathan Schwagerel will be there, and, uh, Josh from IT, and Lily, Lily Shura. Uh, and our last, uh, uh, other session is stakeholder relationships. So again, how do you work with other departments, and people operations and HR is this year's topic. Next year we're gonna have marketing. Um, and then after that we have the first ever CLM Jeopardy. And Pepe's on it. Yeah. And let me tell you- I heard that... I was reviewing that content for the submission, and it's hilarious. Foster Sayers, I tell you. Yeah.

10:14He's got a, he's got a good brain, that one. It's funny. That's really gonna be- I'm really looking forward to that. You better know your stuff, man. He's gonna question you. Yeah. I- no cheating, no- Need no cheat sheets... no tips. Yeah. I, I- Don't let us down, Pepe... No, no, no, I won't, I won't, I won't. I just need to watch couple of episodes, because you need to answer with a question, right? Yes. Yeah. I would advise- Know who you say, "What is..." Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because there are a couple of tricks, I remember, because I used to watch it a lot when I was a kid. Yeah. But yeah, yeah, I need to practice it. You need to practice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Watching some Jeopardy. My grandparents watch it almost every night, so I've been doing a lot of studying with them. Yeah. I'm, like, watching the Jeopardy. I'm a Jeopardy nerd. Yeah. Is there any pick, pick questions we can listen in advance? You guys will ace it, because there are a lot of tech related questions on there. Good. Good. Hopefully that, hopefully that makes us look good. Yeah. Yeah. So that's, like, exciting. And you know what's great is that these are all CLE courses, and we are confident, for the first time ever, we will get a CLE credit for a game show on CLM.

11:13I mean, think about the history that we're gonna make with this show, with this, with this, of course. Fingers crossed. Yeah. That's great. That'd be pretty cool. Yeah. Making learning fun. Yeah. You know? Fun and accessible. That's a good way. I mean, you can learn a lot. It's also gonna be virtual, right? Yes. It's in person and virtual. Um, we have limited seating, uh, in person, so please buy your tickets. Um, I, you know, it is such a great deal for six CLE credits, seven CLE credits. Um, and then meeting in person, other people, other... And then also, you know, go to Legal Geek, right, the day before. So it's, uh... And, and then the virtual attendees are coming from all over the world. We're working with a few people all across the world to have attendance, um, because we want contracts to be easy to w- to handle globally. And we have bec- I mean, we're a global economy, right? I mean, we deal with international ex- transactions all the time.

12:07So it'd be great to have people all over the world speaking the same language, standardizing the process, and understanding each other's, whether it's cultural meaning or legal meaning when you're doing contracts. So we hope to have more and more global audience as well. So it is virtual, and it's in person. And the venue looks amazing. It is. Right? Yeah, it's great. I, I- It really is great... I Google it. Yeah, we're excited to be there. You know, it's like- We, we definitely are... wow, those views are, are really good. I, I love Chicago. I think it's one, one of my favorite cities. Yeah, I- Especially in summer. So cool, like... It's the best city. And, and I love New York, but I have to say, in the summer, Chicago is the best city. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Winter- And, and you know what? We're doing it at Deloitte's office. Yeah. If people are curious about coming to Deloitte's office, come attend this event. I mean, they have been so great. I have to say, Deloitte has been amazing, right? Yeah. They really have. Their, everybody at every level is so helpful, like, their events people, their sponsorship, and Cami's been amazing. So, we- Oh, Cami, Cami is around here. I saw her. Yeah. Yeah.

13:09Hopefully we'll see her. She's so amazing. Have you met her mom? Yeah. I was gonna say, we, we met her mom, and she has this great- Yeah. Oh, the mom. Oh, no. Oh my gosh. Yeah, you have to meet her mom. You're like, yeah. Wonderful jacket last year. Oh, yeah. It was great. Her mom is awesome. Shout out to Cami's mom. Yeah. That's so cool. So Sarah, I'm curious, let's change the topic a little bit here, because, like, you got a finance background. Like, how, how it looks like now that you change here? Because that would be interesting, because, I mean, we, we know Roma, she talks about a, a lot about contracts. We work with contracts all the time, but- Yeah, Roma... but, like, from finance, like, how are you seeing contracts? Yeah. Well, you know, if I would've known I'd been working with a bunch of lawyers, like 10 years ago you said, "Sarah, you're gonna be working with lawyers instead of bankers now," I'd've been like, "No, I'm not. I don't like bankers. I'm definitely not gonna like lawyers," you know? Just kidding. I love all, all the lawyers. Um. Well, I started off my career in finance. I worked in banking.

14:11Um, and I started there, and I kind of stayed. I did well. I liked it. I was learning a lot, you know, and it's a wonderful industry to really start off in, because you learn so many foundational skills about business and processes, and it's very regulated industry. So, you're able to see, like, the process of how things work, which was very helpful, you know, for me going forward in my career. Um, what I was seeing was that technology more and more was infiltrating my work life, and I could see down the line that these jobs were becoming less and less. So, you know, I really wanted a change in my life, and I wanted something exciting and fresh, and, you know, banking is great, but, eh, it feels like, eh, banking. Not very exciting. I'm like, "You know what? I'm gonna work in tech."

15:07So, I just started learning, learning, learning, and that's really what it's about, is being able to continue growing and educating yourself throughout your career and your life, I think is really essential, especially in this day and age. You know, we hear about, like, upskilling a lot is important, and it is, because things are evolving and changing. So, I started my journey to work in tech, quote, unquote. That was my thought process, the most that I knew. So, I leveled up some of my skills, gained some new education, just started applying for things, and started working in, uh, SAS, which was wonderful. And that brought me eventually to working with Roma in legal. Well, she wanted to work somewhere fun, and I said, "Legal tech." Yeah, yeah. Legal tech. Yes, exactly. Yeah. There's where it's gonna start. Legal tech has been fun. It actually has been fun. I will say that. I've been very surprised. I have to say, it wasn't the fun. It, it's, it's become fun in the last few years. It absolutely has been very fun. Yeah.

16:05And if there was something you would love to learn before that you know now, after you being in technology and in contracts- Yeah... what can be useful for your old banking friends? Old state friends. Absolutely. Yeah, that's a great question, and I would actually say, like, when I was going through the transition, so any time I, you're transitioning from one industry to another, from anything, it can be a little bit intimidating and scary. And at first, when I was starting off on this journey, "Oh, I, maybe I don't have the right skills," or, "My skills are only applicable to one industry." But when sit, sitting back and really assessing everything, those skills that I had gained over those years, those were business operation skills. That really can be applied across many different industries, and you take those core principles, and you can use them to help wherever you're at. And working in legal has really been a joy. I've loved it.

17:04I'm learning so much, um, that I never knew before, and it's been very exciting. So, very happy to be here with you guys, and with Crush, and, you know. Well, she's been with us for four years, so sh- she's been in legal tech for some time. I can't believe that. Yeah, four years this summer. Yeah, four years this summer. Yeah. Time flies. It does. It really does. Hey, well, we really appreciate you guys sitting down with us, this being your first stop. So, thank you so much. Thanks for giving our listeners a little insight into what the academy's gonna hold next month. So we're, we're extremely excited for that, and yeah, we, we can't wait to, to get up to Chicago and, and be with you guys up there. Yes, it's gonna be fun. Thanks for having us, and most importantly, thank you for the Fantas. Fantas, yes. Thank you so much for having us. We can't wait to have you, to host you in Chicago, and to see everybody else at the academy. Awesome. Well, thanks everybody for listening to another episode of Contract Heroes. This episode of The Contract Heroes is sponsored by Koho Consulting.

18:01Koho helps organizations of all shapes and sizes find, implement, and manage their chosen CLM tool. Whether your project is buy or sell side led, Koho can help you navigate the waters of the CLM space to make sure that you're getting a product that's going to fit like a glove for years to come. If you'd like to learn more about Koho, visit their website at C-O-H-O consulting dot com.