Krach

Seattle electronic signature company DocuSign has tapped Keith Krach — a Silicon Valley veteran best known for co-founding Ariba — as the company’s new CEO.

It marks the third CEO for the electronic signature company in the past 20 months. Krach was appointed chairman of the company in January 2010, incidentally at the same time that CEO Steve King was named CEO.

No reason was given why King, a former E*Trade executive, is stepping down from the company. (We’ve asked the company for comment and will update the post as we hear more).

In a statement, King noted:

“I couldn’t be more pleased to pass the leadership baton to an executive of Keith’s caliber. Keith has been a strong advocate during my tenure as CEO. I look forward to supporting Keith and seeing the continued success of the DocuSign team.”

The move comes less than a month after one of DocuSign’s major competitors, EchoSign, was acquired by Adobe.

Could this signal that Krach and crew are positioning DocuSign for an exit or its own acquisition spree?

Possibly. The company — founded in 2003 — did raise a $27 million venture capital round last December from backers that included Scale Venture Partners, Sigma Partners, Ignition Partners, Frazier Technology Ventures and Salesforce.com. And Krach said that big things are ahead.

“The eSignature market is at an inflection point and going mainstream,” he said in a press release. “With DocuSign’s world-class team, we are poised for incredible growth in the coming years. I look forward to building on the important work Steve accomplished during his tenure by expanding our global network to ensure that DocuSign remains the industry standard for companies and individuals everywhere.”

UPDATE: In a statement, the company said that there are no current plans to relocate the company to be closer to Krach who does not plan to move to Seattle. A spokesperson for the company said that King and the board agreed that Krach is best suited to “lead the company through this next exponential growth phase.”

King, meanwhile, is stepping down to focus on family and non-profits, the spokesperson said.

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