

NDA for private alpha/beta users? - overworkedasian

I&#x27;m about to open my app to a group of selected persons to take part in private alpha&#x2F;beta testing, Should I require them to sign a NDA to particpate?
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eoJ
There was one company, Ripplin (basically a big MLM scheme) that did this, as
a "look how special this is". If you then invited a couple of other people
(without being able to say what it is) you got to the next stage. They did
make it though, so that the NDA was to see a youtube video, which was a public
video, so could easily be found on YT, it'd just make the average user feel
like they'd been invited into something special. It worked, and they're doing
well. YMMV though, what works for a scammy bizopp may not work for you.

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viennacoder
No. As a user I would never sign an NDA.

You want virality and promotions, not secrecy.

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overworkedasian
thanks guys! This is pretty much the way I was feeling about it.

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adventured
First, no. Like the other response said, you want an open atmosphere for buzz.
It's not very inviting, inspiring, or fun to sign such agreements; it can
spoil the atmosphere around your product.

The only way I could see this being justified, is if the product is for
government (in which secrecy can be important), or big enterprise (in which
you're going to have a few clients to start, and you're competing with some
massive companies and don't want to tip them off any sooner than absolutely
necessary; signing an NDA still won't go over well, many will refuse). If this
is in the consumer Web / app space, or small business space, absolutely never
seek an NDA.

If you want to keep it secret, and the product is very alpha, test it with the
smallest circle possible, ask people nicely to keep it under wraps; you can
even lock the access down tightly, but have no illusions about people sharing
what they see or talking about it. As the product gets closer to launch, open
it to an ever wider audience.

Second, it'll be almost impossible to enforce. NDAs are a big pain to enforce
under the best of circumstances.

