

New Take on Signing NDAs: Charge 'Em - ScottWhigham
http://www.texasstartupblog.com/2008/07/03/my-nda-policy-i-have-decided-to-starting-signing-them/

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gm
I've been doing that for some time. I charge extra for:

1) Signing NDAs - Projects under NDA get a premium charge of about 33%-50%

2) Releasing rights to the source code to the client - Premium of about 100%
(I see this the other way around, though... If the client will let me have
rights to the source I write, I give them a 50% discount)

3) Work I hate - I charge about $200/hour if someone asks me to fix their
client PCs (virus, DLL hell, etc...). I hate doing this so much I don't even
do it for my own computers (I just reinstall everything from scratch when
Windows starts to act up). My point by charging so much is that I really,
really don't want to do this crap, but I'll cry my way to the bank if a client
really wants me to do this.

4) I also charge extra for doing stuff in really old languages (I started in
the Clipper/dBase/QuickBASIC days). These clients just want to keep their
system running and want minor changes (or database corruptions repaired). I
have to keep DOS virtual machines for these people and have to keep around
books for those old languages. I charge extra for these little, mostly single-
digit hour jobs. The clients are happy because they keep their system running
without risking the disruption of a rewrite (These are critical financial
systems), and the extra income makes remembering old school tech worth it for
me.

~~~
froo
I must admit I often despise signing NDA's too; not because I want to steal
someone's information, but because generally I've found people offer them up
as a way of generating feelings of self importance (however unwarranted it may
be)... and that kind of behaviour irks me.

That being said, I've often seen people who just cant shut up, NDA or not - so
does it really matter?

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Tichy
I recently thought about the same thing, but my feeling is that I would like
to charge more about 10000€ for signing an NDA. But even that might not be
sufficient.

The main problem is that as a "hacker" (wannabe maybe), I always think about
ways to improve things with technology. So basically any aspect of human life
I come across I have the one or other idea about. That means the likelihood is
about 90% or more that any NDA I sign would touch an idea I already had.

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amuse
:) Interesting how many comments I get (both public and private) on this
topic.

