

Ask HN: Do you sign NDAs up front? - MagnitudeSw

I've recently been looking for some side iOS work.  It seems that everyone wants to protect their idea with an NDA <i>before</i> even talking.
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mindcrime
I would never sign an NDA without at least a high-level overview first... how
can you say you won't disclose "their" idea when it could be something
completely trivial that 100 people have thought of? Signing an NDA under
circumstances like that is just begging for trouble.

Now if they can make it clear that there actually _is_ some sort of "secret
sauce" that's likely to be a truly unique idea, with some reasonable degree of
specificity, then sure, I'd consider signing an NDA (depending on the exact
wording). To that point, it might be worth having your own NDA drawn up, where
you know in advance that the language is reasonable, and proactively offer up
your own NDA to these folks, instead of having to wrangle of the language in
their NDA.

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hcho
Good point. I say I never sign an NDA, full stop. There's no way that I can
know their competitors are working on the same idea.

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kls
Only if there is an explicit guarantee of work. They are asking you to give up
something, you should be compensated for that. I would get them to sign an
intent before I would sign an NDA. This way they are bound to contract you if
they move forward with the NDA. You still have a right to say no to the work,
but they are protected from you saying no and then implementing their idea. I
think it is a fair middle ground if they have a problem with the intent they
are just wasting your time anyways.

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MagnitudeSw
This is a great article that I identify with: [http://blog.jpl-
consulting.com/2012/04/why-i-wont-sign-your-...](http://blog.jpl-
consulting.com/2012/04/why-i-wont-sign-your-nda/)

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project23
I would never sign an NDA with exception to acquisition talks or something
important. Things like this, I'll pass.

