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Anybody here use Source Code Escrow?
Hello All,
A potential customer is interested in having us save versions of our application in escrow. In the event we go under they'd like some protection on their investment.
So I'm in the mood of pricing out some services that do these things. I've also asked our attorneys if they do it. Anybody here have a service they've used?
- epi0Bauqu 19y agoYes, I've used Iron Mountain. It is about 2K per year to store DVDs . Then of course there are additional services such as getting them to verify data, run things on data, etc., none of which I have used. I had occasion to re-examine stored DVDs after a year, and all of them worked fine.
- nnowell 19y agoHi Matt, This is Nick from NCC Group again. I sent you an email but I still wanted to get in touch to discuss your requirement more. I can say that as a company you are effectively stealth still because I can't find a number for you. Our escrows end up being about $1500 per year, then with additional customers as low as $625 per customer if you choose to go with that agreement. Regarding the data and deposit verification that epi0Bauqu mentioned, a basic level is included in our agreements and we have the highest level in the market available upon request. Give me a call when you get a chance. Nick 408-441-4660 ext. 108 P.S. I like the frog mascot
- mattculbreth 19y agoJust got a recommendation from the attorney (and he checked with other attorneys) to consider Iron Mountain. So it's looking like they get the node for now. But man it seems very pricey to me. NGC (the other big one) is about the same. Think there's a startup idea here? The problem is the stability of the escrow agent I guess.
- justinsb 19y agoHave you considered instead selling your customer a source code license? When we checked out the price of escrow services, we decided the revenue stream of source code licensing was worth more to us than keeping the code strictly confidential. Obviously it depends on the price of your product, and how unique you believe your code to be, and how trustworthy you consider you customer. For us, because our product was relatively low-priced, and being a .NET app it was fairly easy to decompile it anyway, the decision was pretty easy. Incidentally, my understanding is that a lot of the price of escrow comes from the pain if the counterparty tries to execute the escrow contract - I think these things can be pretty contentious. Also, some escrow agents will verify that your code builds, as I recall, so this isn't an entirely commodity service.
- mattculbreth 19y agoThanks. It wouldn't really work for us but we'd considered it.