Do you simply dread having to review or process Non-Disclosure or Teaming Agreements because you’re afraid you will sign up to something you shouldn’t have?

Sometimes, do you just wish someone would tell you what you can change or WHAT you should change and WHY you should change it?

Well, if either of these situations describes the frustrations you have with NDAs or Teaming Agreements, then this course might just be perfect for you.

The goal of this course is simple: I wanna get you from "I wish I understood NDAs or Teaming Agreement enough to make sure I am doing the right thing" to "I am a NDA or Teaming Agreement WIZARD”

To get you to the Wizardry point, this course takes a deep dive in to the clauses, we explain why they are necessary- why you want them to read a certain way and what factors you should consider for your particular situation.

You know to this day, I am routinely surprised by companies that sign an NDA within minutes of receiving them.  Clearly they don’t read “the fine print” as they say – because when I get a signed document back quickly – without any changes, I know they either did not understand what they were agreeing to, or they just did not care.  

And it is not just small mom and pop shops that do this. It happens all the time with reputable firms that have been in business for years, just like it happens with small firms that have been in business for only a year or two. 

As a matter of fact, this course grew out of a very similar situation.  Several years ago, I sent this company our standard boilerplate agreement for review, and within an hour or so they sent a signed copy back. I was shocked.

I had expected them to take exception to several clauses that were heavily titled in my favor and I was prepared to make changes to accommodate their particular situation.  you see I knew they could not agree with what we were asking for.  

But they signed it.   So I called them up and asked why they sent it back signed so fast.

You what they said – They said well it is just a standard agreement, it is almost the same as all the others we get. They all have all that legal mombo jumbo that no one really knows what it means and why we even need it. Besides no one ever gets in trouble over NDAs or Teaming Agreements so we just sign them and put them in the file.

I asked them if a contracts person had reviewed it, and was not really shocked when I was told NO.  In their organization, business development handles all their NDAs and Teaming Agreements.

Now at this point, I could have just signed it and sent them back a fully executed copy. But in my heart, I knew that was not the right thing to do. I just couldn’t do it. So I sent the document they had signed back to their contracts person and asked them to verify their agreement with a couple of the specific clauses.

Luckily, the contracts person understood the situation, and we were able to quickly negotiate an agreement that we both felt comfortable with. As a team we went on to win the contract. 

It was this moment, that I realized that many people are really intimidated by the language of NDAs and Teaming Agreements. And many inexperienced firms simply do not understand the potential ramifications -  but they do understand one thing

Without and NDA or a Teaming Agreement -

they are not going to get a contract.

After that, I developed the first version of this class with the goal of getting my students from "I wish I understood NDAs or Teaming Agreement enough to make sure I am doing the right thing" to a point where they felt like "I am an NDA or Teaming Agreement WIZARD”

Since it’s inception this course has grown and changed a bit, we believe this newly released version is our best yet. With more details for small businesses, we give more examples, and  have incorporated more suggested language changes to the typical boilerplate agreements.

This is a 2 and a half hour course that is built on the understanding that there are three main barriers that people have when dealing with Non-Disclosure Agreements and Teaming Agreements:

1. Confidence or lack of confidence
   A lot of people simply are not confident that they know enough to know what is good and what is bad. They are not confident that they will say the right things at the right time, or don’t feel like they can think on their feet fast enough when it is time to make that phone call and negotiate the agreement, they might struggle with their job title vs title of person they are dealing with. The unfamiliarity with the topics just paralyzes them. After all you don’t have to have confidence to accept a bad agreement.
2. After confidence is knowledge. Let's say you've now garnered the courage, and you say "I'm going to get an agreement signed that is good for us". Well, the next question is, what changes are you going to ask them to make? And even if you know that, what is your rational or support? What is the basis for your needed changes? What is their response likely to be and what is my next counter position? And then once you have that, you've got the confidence, you've got the knowledge, here comes the third barrier:
3. Technical Capability, how do I do it? How do I frame my position so that it sounds logical and fair? How do you put it together in a way that's professional and it moves your position forward without offending the other party? Do You call them? Do you email them?

This course aims to flip those barriers into enablers that will get you from "this is stopping me" to "this is something that I can do with my eyes closed."

To do that this course is packed with detailed discussions on the technical aspects of common clauses and what the end objective or goal of what your specific agreement should look like.

For NDAs – we discuss what information should be protected, as well as what you can do if your teammate does not uphold their end of the agreement

For Teaming Agreements - We separate the most common clauses into two groups:

Those you must review carefully, but are not really expected to have to negotiate.

And then those that we expect you to have devote some extra effort into the negotiation process

About the negotiation process – we talk about that to – you will learn the importance of an negotiation strategy and how to prepare your negotiation plan.

A large portion of the class gives special attention to the positions small business should take for the clauses common to NDAs and Teaming Agreements.

So, If you're ready to take some action, gain the confidence and knowledge you need to become the NDA and Teaming Agreement “WIZARD”, then come along with me on this journey, and sign up for this course.

I look forward to seeing you on this journey.