$3 billion Docusign's odd, 18-month CEO search has finally come to an end

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Docusign CEO Daniel Springer

Docusign

Docusign CEO Daniel Springer

Docusign has hired Daniel Springer as its new CEO, putting an end to its strange, 18-month quest to find a replacement for current boss, Keith Krach.

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Springer has the right mix of experience to lead Docusign, an e-signature software maker last valued at $3 billion. He sold his previous company Responsys to Oracle for $1.6 billion in 2014, three years after taking it public. Before that, he spent time at the consulting firm McKinsey and a startup called Telleo.

"I'm thrilled to discover the opportunity at Docusign. It's a big scale company but also with hyper growth, and that's what gets me excited," Springer told Business Insider.

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Springer's real challenge will be in ensuring a smooth CEO transition for Docusign, who took an unusually long 18-month period to fill the position. After Krach expressed his desire to step down in 2015, the company was close to appointing Google executive Rick Osterloh as CEO last March - but he pulled out at the last minute, cancelling the press briefings that were already scheduled to announce his hiring.

On top of that, Docusign saw four of its top executives suddenly leave last year, adding to speculation around the company, which was once seen as one of the leading candidates to go public soon. In the meantime, one of its investors, Fidelity Investments, wrote down the valuation of its stake in the company, indicating that it may not think Docusign is worth as much as it once was.

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Springer says he's not concerned about any of those question marks because the company's shown consistent growth, even during the CEO search. Without getting into financial details, he said the company has seen a 75% increase in the number of transactions, which directly contributes to its top line growth, while signing up a total of 100 million users across 250,000 companies so far.

"I can tell you right now the team here is really strong. I don't really see any need to make changes," he said.

Rather, Springer says he's laser-focused on growing the company's already healthy revenue base, and continuing to pursue the broader goal of eliminating paper signatures with Docusign's software.

"I want to do something that people look back and say you built something that's important, and that's why I'm here," he said.

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