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Contract review playbooks

Step-by-step processes for reading and negotiating the agreements founders sign most: NDAs, vendor MSAs, contractor agreements, and renewals. Written to be used with a contract open in the other tab.

5 articles

Playbook
May 12, 202611 min
How to review a contract without a lawyer: a 7-step process
You have a contract to sign today and no counsel available until next week. This is the exact order to read it in, what to check at each step, and the point where you should stop and call a lawyer anyway.
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Playbook
May 8, 20269 min
NDA red flags: 10 things to check before you sign
Most NDAs are boilerplate, which is exactly why the non-boilerplate parts slip through. Ten patterns we flag on the NDAs founders send us — from smuggled non-solicits to confidentiality terms that never end.
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Playbook
April 30, 20269 min
The IP assignment clause founders get wrong in contractor agreements
Calling it "work for hire" does not transfer copyright from a contractor in the US. The present-tense assignment language, the background-IP carve-out, and the further-assurances clause that make an assignment actually stick.
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Playbook
April 28, 20266 min
Auto-renew traps: what to look for before you sign
90-day notice windows. Stacked renewal terms. Price-step clauses buried in section 11. Five auto-renew patterns that quietly cost startups six figures a year.
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Playbook
April 22, 20267 min
Five clauses we always flag in vendor MSAs
After ten thousand vendor MSAs, the patterns repeat. Liability caps, IP feedback licenses, indemnity asymmetry, force-majeure scope, and the auto-renew. Here's what to push back on.
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