Imaginary Landscape
RSS FeedOver the past couple weeks, we've had a number of prospective clients contact us to have an initial conversation. Always a good sign. Most are coming through a microsite that focuses on our specific technology. Many are start-ups.
Each one presented a non-disclosure agreement for signature.
I have great respect for the entrepreneurial spirit. As a business owner myself, I have an appreciation for the struggles involved in taking an idea to market. The Web world moves fast and today's innovative idea is tomorrow's old news. Start-ups need protecting while they explore partnerships with companies like Imaginary Landscape.
The most common way to protect these ideas is through an NDA. These agreements balance our need to know more about the underlying business process against the start-up's need for confidentiality. All great invention starts with an idea and that idea needs protecting while the business model is constructed. I sign non-disclosures all the time for this reason.
Occasionally, I run across an NDA that has problems. Sometimes it is too expansive in its definition of confidential information; sometimes the penalties are disproportionate to the infractions. However, the most common problem is their unending nature.
An NDA is a legal agreement that carries obligations for our company. We take these obligations seriously. I have no problems protecting an entrepreneur for a reasonable length of time, but not forever. I don't sign agreements that don't end. No one should.
Make it reasonable, make it years if necessary, but make sure it ends before the universe cools, contracts and reprises the big bang.
Updated 07/14/10 @ 10:05AM CDT by brian
