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My NDA Policy ~ I have decided to starting signing them!

July 3, 2008

You would be surprised how many call me looking for advice (i.e. free advice that I am happy to provide), but first ask me if I would sign an NDA before they share their idea with me.  I have refused to sign NDAs for a number of reasons in the past (well covered in this blog).  Of course I have mentioned before why keeping your idea secret creates a real incentive for someone to steal it, but assuming you MUST keep your idea secret and you still want my advice I am now willing to sign a mutual NDA.  Basically I agree to:

  • Review your NDA prior to our conversation (I need at least 12 hours to review prior to our meeting); term must not exceed 36 months.
  • Execute, in duplicate, the NDA.
  • Forward your NDA to our office manager who will a) copy your NDA and file in our contract system and b) send a copy to our lawyer who will also keep the NDA on file.

In exchange for entering into an NDA with you and/or your company I am charging what I call my NDA fee to offset the handling costs I will incur over the next 1-3 years of handling the contract you have requested I enter into.  Currently the fee is $1,000 per NDA.  Of course, I prefer that we skip the NDA entirely thus saving you the $1,000 and me the headache of dealing with ‘yet another contract’ with someone I have likely never met and won’t meet again.

Written by Alexander Muse · Filed Under Blog, Venture Capital 

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