Meet Comron Sattari, Chief Architect at ContractWorks
At ContractWorks, our team represents the spirit of our company: innovative, agile, and committed to fulfilling the needs of our customers. Our employees come from a variety of experiences and backgrounds, each with a unique set of skills and talents that align with our overall mission of providing simple, smart document management solutions.
We’re proud of the team we’ve assembled, and we think it’s about time you get to know the people behind ContractWorks CLM software.
This month we’re catching up with a member of the founding team at SecureDocs, Inc. and Chief Architect, Comron Sattari.
Getting to Know Comron
How long have you been at SecureDocs, Inc.*?
I have been at ContractWorks longer than it has been a company. ContractWorks spun off from a company called Appfolio in 2012 and I was the engineer on the ContractWorks team when it was a product there. We started the product literally from a blank screen, I am not sure if I wrote the first line of code but it is very possible that I did.
How did that come about, where did the idea come from?
We noticed there was a need for businesses to store data in an affordable way. People were paying per page to store their data which can become extremely expensive. All the players in the space were coming from the paper printing world, so they charged by the page. We came in from a software side and said: “hey we know how to do this better and cheaper”.
What have you seen change from the start of your career as an engineer to today in your role at ContractWorks?
Well over time the technology changes right? It moves, really, really fast and the things that we’re able to do today with small teams was unheard of 20 years ago.
I remember when I was 17, sitting in a cold data center plugging in a server and testing it, trying to get a website running. I don’t think I’ve touched a server in the last 8 years because we use the cloud. As you can see the technology has changed a lot.
As the ContractWorks team has grown we've gone through three distinct phases in technology that we use to power the site. Our team is constantly adapting to make sure that the customers get the benefit of the most up to date product.
What do you love about what you do?
The best part about my current position versus my previous position as an engineer is how much customer interaction I have now. It is really nice to build relationships with customers, from the engineering team, and realize that the things we’re doing on a daily basis, the bug we fix, or the feature we built, has a direct impact on someone's business and they can now do their jobs better because we did our job. That is really empowering.
Looking into the future what is something you are working on/planning to work on?
AI will be the focus of my year, to be honest, there is so much out there that we can do. Now we are in the process of finding the right fit between technology and how it can solve the problems our customers have. I really do think we are at the forefront of the industry in general.
What excites you most about the future of the company?
Growth. I am a startup guy, I learn very fast, and I like to work in small teams. I work best when you give me a blank screen and let me build something. That is why I smile every day when I walk into the office. Knowing that we are building a company here that is affecting our employees and their families is exciting and I want to keep doing that.
What is something you have done that is outside of your comfort zone, job-related or otherwise?
Ballroom dancing. I wanted something to get me out of the office in the evenings because I was working too much. I walked into this ballroom dance studio in downtown Santa Barbara that had an offer for 2 lessons, figured I’d take the 2 lessons and be done with it. Now for the last 2 years, I take 3 lessons a week. I travel to competitions, compete, and even win awards. Definitely outside of my comfort zone and I found out that I am an okay dancer.
What's your favorite quote?
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is. -Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut
*Located in Santa Barbara, CA, SecureDocs, Inc. includes two highly successful and innovative products – SecureDocs and ContractWorks – that help businesses work quickly, efficiently, and securely.