Marketers of Technology
00:02:59 · Andres Figuera, Travis Cameron
[00:02:59] S1: Of course, man. And I imagine boardrooms and executive leadership must love you. Right? [00:03:05] S0: At times. It's not... The data doesn't always tell the story that you want it to. Right? And so I think part of it... Partially, it's being honest and not picking and choosing the points that allow you to tell the story that you want told, but rather what is the truth behind it all. [00:03:18] S1: Of course. No, I get that, man. I get that. And Travis, could you tell us a bit what AIA Contract Documents actually does as a company? What you guys do?
00:03:18 · Andres Figuera, Travis Cameron
[00:03:18] S1: Of course. No, I get that, man. I get that. And Travis, could you tell us a bit what AIA Contract Documents actually does as a company? What you guys do? [00:03:26] S0: Yeah. So it's really interesting. It's probably going to be one of the oldest companies you've ever had on this podcast, but it's near 140 years old. It was started inside of the Architect Institute of America and 140 ago, they said, Hey, how can we better support our membership base and our stakeholders? And they started creating standard industry contracts for the construction industry. Now that one hundred and forty years later has grown to a library of over 300 documents and various different technology elements to really help with building and getting to the idea of saying, I will sign this contract. Contracts themselves are built on being extremely fair, providing a neutral starting point, as well as being around for one hundred and forty years have been through the test of time with the court system. And so courts know and our buyers know and users of the documents know what they mean, know what the terms inside the mean. And so it's much easier to say, yes, I know exactly what I am signing versus when they get a custom written legal agreement. [00:04:31] S1: Okay. I understand. And now how has the experience with marketing such kind of like specific product been?
00:04:31 · Andres Figuera, Travis Cameron
[00:04:31] S1: Okay. I understand. And now how has the experience with marketing such kind of like specific product been? [00:04:38] S0: You know, it's really interesting, like in one kind of set, you know, you are a legal agreement, but as I said, we kind of have the breadth of about 300 different contracts. And so that will encompass anything from an owner working with an architect to working with a consultant to a subcontractor agreement to how somebody gets paid. And you actually look at the entirety of a project as you actually go and do it from the initial bid through the project closeout, you might be using 20, 30, 40 different documents across that whole life cycle. And so while it's like a very kind of specific thing that we're selling, which is the contract element to that, it is touching so many different people across what can potentially be years long projects and billions of dollars that there's a lot to it. And so that keep that's what keeps it really interesting is that understanding with a specificity of like, what's the right time for the right document to that right person to get it to them and make sure that they are signing again, something that is fair and is neutral from a risk perspective for them, but allows them to keep building and keep construction going across America.
00:04:38 · Travis Cameron, Andres Figuera
[00:04:38] S0: You know, it's really interesting, like in one kind of set, you know, you are a legal agreement, but as I said, we kind of have the breadth of about 300 different contracts. And so that will encompass anything from an owner working with an architect to working with a consultant to a subcontractor agreement to how somebody gets paid. And you actually look at the entirety of a project as you actually go and do it from the initial bid through the project closeout, you might be using 20, 30, 40 different documents across that whole life cycle. And so while it's like a very kind of specific thing that we're selling, which is the contract element to that, it is touching so many different people across what can potentially be years long projects and billions of dollars that there's a lot to it. And so that keep that's what keeps it really interesting is that understanding with a specificity of like, what's the right time for the right document to that right person to get it to them and make sure that they are signing again, something that is fair and is neutral from a risk perspective for them, but allows them to keep building and keep construction going across America. [00:05:45] S1: Wow, man. That is so cool. And like, it really is then like templates that you provide so that they can tweak them, but know that it's really in their best interest the way that these have been created. So therefore, companies don't have to fear that there's some, what's it called, any wording between the lines that they have to worry about.
00:05:45 · Andres Figuera, Travis Cameron
[00:05:45] S1: Wow, man. That is so cool. And like, it really is then like templates that you provide so that they can tweak them, but know that it's really in their best interest the way that these have been created. So therefore, companies don't have to fear that there's some, what's it called, any wording between the lines that they have to worry about. [00:06:02] S0: Exactly. And that's even like a risk with AI now, right? As you think of, hey, AI can write contracts, will interpret that differently and people will interpret that differently. So you don't have the, hey, this contract has been adjudicated on software that we have going for it. So editing, creating custom templates, creating legal playbooks, and now we have our own AI that is built off of our language and our data that helps our users. [00:06:26] S1: Okay. Nice. And Travis, in terms of also then, I feel it's a very, what's it called? Kind of like regulated and since it's legal documents, it's a bit more complicated. Do you only offer this service in North America or do you offer this worldwide? Correct.
00:06:26 · Andres Figuera, Travis Cameron
[00:06:26] S1: Okay. Nice. And Travis, in terms of also then, I feel it's a very, what's it called? Kind of like regulated and since it's legal documents, it's a bit more complicated. Do you only offer this service in North America or do you offer this worldwide? Correct. [00:06:42] S0: Yeah. Right now we are US only. And that's a lot of it just because as you said, you have that legal regulation, you have the legal language that you've written in that is specific to US law. And then you add on the complexity of like, there is then state based law that's a little bit different. So we even have documents that are specific to Florida versus Texas versus New York, because for us, you not only have the federal law, but you have state law that pertains to a lot of these as well and different ways in which building is required in The US by state that you have to account for. [00:07:15] S1: Okay. Understood. Understood. And now when marketing and generating demand for this service or this product per se, do you have an issue? Like, do you need to educate potential customers? Do they know who you guys are and do they seek you out? Like, how is that looking for you guys?