2 Tips to Determine if You Are Selling Legal Simplicity or Complexity

OK, as a software attorney, what I am asking this: Is your end user (EULA or SAAS Contract) or channel (oem, reseller or distribution agreement) contracting process simple or complex? Have you thought about it? I find that most companies looking for investors or growth capital don’t really think about these kinds of issues (or at least if they do, it is on the bottom of their list). Let me see if I can help move it up the list to wherever it should be. 

Tip 1: End User and Channel Contracting Process. Your end user and channel contracting process should be super simple. What I mean is, your contract should be vetted internally to make sure it is (a) written in plain English (get the legal jargon out), (b) only includes the necessary clauses (talk to your attorney about this as too often there are clauses in there you may not need or want), and (c) as short as possible. If you have not taken this on, then do it. You will find that it is well worth the effort.

Tip 2: Negotiating Process. How are your sales teams handling the negotiation of end user and channel contracts? Have they thought through the legal and business issues (are they trained on how to respond to questions)? If the answer is yes, then great; you are probably getting your deals closed in a reasonable amount of time and building trust with your end users and partners. But if not, then you have some work to do. Have your teams read ‘Getting to Yes’ (for starters), and then make sure they fully understand the contracts they are asking your end users and partners to sign (e.g. see Tip 1). 

This is really not that hard, but too often these type of issues are not addressed (or addressed too late in the game). If you follow these two simple tips, you can figure out if you are selling legal complexity or simplicity, and make the necessary adjustments to sell simplicity if you aren’t. Any company looking for business venture capital should add this to their list of things to do! This is also how technology and law can work together.