For most startups, complexity creeps in quietly.

A few quick wins, a couple of new product offerings, and before long, the once-scrappy sales process starts to break under its own weight.

That was the case for HAAS Alert — a Series A startup pioneering road safety through real-time digital alerts sent directly to connected vehicles.

Their mission is urgent and high-impact: prevent roadside collisions and save lives.

But as the company scaled its go-to-market motion, its internal quoting and contract processes began to hold the revenue team back.

Emerson McCuin, Director of Revenue Operations at HAAS Alert, stepped in with a mandate: eliminate inefficiencies, enforce pricing controls, and create a sales process that didn’t require back-and-forth with finance just to get a proposal out the door.

The path forward? A smarter, more guided CPQ experience built into the team’s existing sales stack.

Here’s how HAAS Alert overhauled their sales motion with PandaDoc CPQ for HubSpot — and saved 120 hours a month in the process.

When contracts create friction instead of confidence

HAAS Alert’s initial sales process was functional, but fragile.

Sales reps would generate proposals using PandaDoc, but the documents were essentially freeform. No controls, no guardrails, and definitely no consistency. Discounting was manual and unchecked.

Terms were frequently misaligned with what was discussed on sales calls. And worst of all, finance had to play contract detective, reviewing every agreement before sending invoices or clarifying basic deal terms.

“We had salespeople completing docs like they were Word files. There were no checks and balances,” McCuin recalls. “Finance was constantly chasing clarity: What did the customer actually agree to? What are we supposed to bill for?”

Without structure, errors snowballed — and so did the time it took to fix them. Invoicing bottlenecks, disconnected platforms, and unclear customer expectations combined to create a drag on both efficiency and trust.

CPQ solutions that didn’t stick

To fix the quoting problem, McCuin explored CPQ platforms that could layer on logic, structure, and automation. But the results were underwhelming.

The sales team pushed back hard against one solution due to poor usability and workflow friction. It required toggling between multiple tools and lacked a seamless connection to their CRM, HubSpot.

“They didn’t want to leave PandaDoc,” McCuin said. “The alternatives just weren’t working. Too rigid, too complex, or too disconnected.”

Rather than force a tool that didn’t fit, McCuin went back to the drawing board.

That’s when he discovered PandaDoc was building out a native CPQ solution for HubSpot. The RevOps team jumped into early access and never looked back.

Building a CPQ system that actually works for reps

What changed with PandaDoc CPQ for HubSpot?

First, quoting became intuitive.

Reps could build proposals directly inside HubSpot, guided by pre-built playbooks that enforced discount thresholds, automated calculations, and allowed for multi-SKU packaging.

Product bundling, co-terming, and complex renewals — all of it was simplified.

“Now, reps just plug in the start and end date, and all the calculations happen in the background. It pushes everything automatically to HubSpot and Maxio,” McCuin explains. “Before, you’d need a finance resource to do all of this manually. Now it’s automated.”

The shift also made a big difference in how sales and finance work together.

Before CPQ, finance had to manually review every proposal before it went out — a time-consuming process that took up about 75% of one team member’s week.

Now, reps can build accurate, compliant documents on their own, without relying on finance to double-check every detail.

And when you factor in the reduced back-and-forth and fewer errors, the total time savings across the team added up to the equivalent of one and a half full-time roles.

A cleaner sales process for a better customer experience

The improvements weren’t just internal.

For HAAS Alert, where customers include emergency responders and transportation departments, clarity and professionalism in agreements are critical.

Misaligned contracts used to create confusion post-sale. Some customers didn’t realize they had signed multi-year deals. Others were surprised by terms that hadn’t been clearly outlined in writing.

Now, everything is streamlined and consistent. Reps customize proposals based on demo conversations — but within controlled parameters.

The final agreements match what was discussed, down to the details.

That clarity improves buyer trust and reduces churn risk. “There’s no doubt we lost some customers in the past because of how our agreements were presented,” says McCuin. “With PandaDoc CPQ, we’re creating a better experience across the board. From the sales call to onboarding to billing, the data is clean and the expectations are aligned.”

Structure without sacrificing flexibility

For RevOps teams, the holy grail is balancing efficiency and control with the flexibility sales teams need to move fast. That’s exactly what HAAS Alert achieved.

With PandaDoc CPQ for HubSpot, they built a quoting system that:

• Enforces consistency: Predefined rules and templates limit risky discounting or manual errors
• Automates the handoff: Pricing logic and line item data flow directly between PandaDoc, HubSpot, and Maxio — no more rekeying or version control issues
• Empowers reps: Salespeople can build and send accurate proposals in minutes without waiting on finance
• Improves visibility: Every quote and contract is standardized, trackable, and audit-ready — giving leadership confidence in pipeline accuracy

The outcome? A leaner sales motion that scales without sacrificing accuracy or customer trust.

Why the right CPQ integration matters

If there’s one takeaway from HAAS Alert’s story, it’s this: A CPQ system is only as valuable as it is usable.

The team’s earlier attempts at implementing CPQ failed not because the tools lacked features — but because they didn’t align with how reps actually worked.

Without native integration, intuitive workflows, and real-time CRM sync, even the most powerful platform falls flat.

That’s where PandaDoc CPQ for HubSpot stood out. It met HAAS Alert’s complexity with simplicity — guiding reps while reducing lift across finance, operations, and customer success.

As McCuin puts it: “I recommend it to everyone.”
Want the full story? Read the HAAS Alert case study here.

CPQ isn’t just a sales tool

foundation. For revenue teams looking to scale without chaos, that’s what CPQ should do.

It’s not about layering on more tools. It’s about embedding structure into your existing systems so sales can move faster, data flows cleaner, and finance can focus on strategy instead of chasing down contract discrepancies.

The best CPQ solution doesn’t add complexity. It removes it.

And for HAAS Alert, that’s made all the difference.