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Ask HN: When to ask friends/family/testers to sign NDAs
So, today's my first day working on my startup full-time. Yay! I have a few questions about how NDAs are used in the wild.
1) I have an inner circle of friends and family who I'll be looking to for advice. I've already described the business to a couple of them. It seems odd to me to get them (the others who I haven't talked to) to sign NDAs. Is this reasonable?
2) I want to start sending out builds for testing really soon, including to friends who are outside the "inner circle". I feel I should get any testers to sign an NDA. What are your thoughts?
Thanks!
- rewind 16y agoI think if you trust your family and friends and they trust you, an NDA is a bit of a slap in the face. I share my ideas with close family and close friends... because they're close family and close friends. Also, if you get them to sign an NDA and they still tell somebody, what are you going to do? Unless your answer is "sue them", then your NDA doesn't mean anything anyway. Regarding your second point, I still don't think it makes much sense. If there's something in it for them... maybe. But if people are helping you test a product and you're not paying them, why on earth would they sign anything? They're really just doing you a favor.
- rmah 16y agoImagine the following scenario... one of your testers tells a media outlet or competitor about your app. Are you going to sue them? If not, having them sign an NDA is pointless.