3 ms·

It is funny, but I doubt is resolves the main issue with NDAs: they tend to be enforced by people who put too much value on ideas, will over-associate future su

• saryant 13y ago
  The dumbest NDA I ever saw was at a 3 Day Startup event I helped run. This loser (whose idea absolutely sucked) actually had the audacity to make the first slide of his deck an NDA and then read it aloud to the entire audience which consisted almost entirely of college kids. The idea was an online tutoring site. (Did I just break the law?) That was the magic he didn't want us telling the world about. I just stood in the back laughing. The domain for his company hadn't actually been registered—I half-considered buying it right then just to screw with him out of spite.
  • shangxiao 13y ago
    Did you end up explaining to him why NDA's may be counterproductive? Sounds like a valuable lesson he could've learnt ;)
    • saryant 13y ago
      No. I couldn't stand him so I just let his reputation in the community self-implode until he moved back to the east coast. Dick move? Probably but he really got on my nerves.
      • dnautics 13y ago
        Inaction is rarely if ever a 'dick move' (unless you promised action)
    • rmc 13y ago
      Or, y'know, it's not a contract unless the other person actually agrees to it. So reading out "By listening to this, you agree to..." doesn't actually make it binding.
• spinlock 13y ago
  NDA's are fine but they just don't apply to the ideation stage of a project. I've consulted for companies where an NDA was appropriate and necessary but that was so I could look at their contracts and advise them on how to cut costs. Having an NDA is important there because it would actually harm their business if I disclosed the rates they were paying vendors to their competition.
  • bertil 13y ago
    Oh, yes absolutely, text of crucial, active contract — a clear case that needs an NDA. That's what I meant by “anything not fully developed”: details of active operations commonly need those. The funniest case I had was a company that had scraped the (public) web, asked me to do some statistical studies on the table, and had me sign an NDA saying that I should not reveal to third parties what they had told me, i.e. nothing but the database of public information, and completely transparent mandate (a shoe company wanted to understand what people said about shoes on-line — except it wasn't shoes). What I was supposed to send them (original results) was also covered by the NDA (the agreement was written as to cover both parties either way), preventing them from forwarding my report to anyone; they worked for a third party, not mentioned on that contract. They de facto signed themselves into a huge legal risk if I were feeling cheeky. Even funnier thing: I was one of several possible contractors, but the contact covered “all communications” in “any way”, meaning that even if I wasn't selected, I could send them the report anyway, and they would then possibly not be allowed to send any elements that I had included in my report, even if the other contractor had found that insight too. The guys were paranoid, so the penalties were huge.