Customer Negotiations

The VSA is a super new group called the Vendor Security Alliance. As soon as I read this article about it Link,  I realized it was a great idea for all Software as a Service (SaaS companies) and will help get cloud service contracts signed. And hey, as attorneys that help SaaS companies get SaaS contracts […]

We represent lots, literally 100s and 100s, of SaaS companies and there are a few nuggets of useful information that we want to share with other SaaS companies when they think about negotiating an enterprise SaaS agreement. Ok, here goes. Setting the Right Expectations. I find that setting the right expectation of what the customer […]

I have always thought that disclaimers were good things to add to SaaS agreements, but this very recent case demonstrates that they really can make a difference in a legal dispute. By the way, a disclaimer is a statement regarding things you are not liable for. Example, if you provide a medical software service, it […]

Software developers are really smart (I know, as I work with lots of them on their software development agreements, etc.), but there is one blind spot that I see way too often: they trust their customers too much, and then they take things into their own hands when they don’t get paid. Hey, getting frustrated […]

          A while back I wrote a blog post about Trust Sites, and why, if you are a SaaS company, you should have one (outside of your SaaS agreement). Well, since them a lot has happened so I wanted to provide you with an update. What is New 1). Salesforce.com has […]

I have found that FAQs are not used enough by SaaS companies as part of their selling and SaaS contract negotiation process. Here is the frame of reference, at least from my perspective: you are selling something that is intangible (aka cannot touch or feel) and your customer does not exactly know what they are […]

What to Know About the ‘Combination Exception’ to Infringement Indemnities. As a software licensing attorney I run into the issue of infringement indemnities all the time. These risk shifting contractual clauses can be very confusing for clients, so I thought I would explain (with a real live case and a graphic) what is called the […]

SaaS Indemnity – What Types of Insurance should a SaaS Company Purchase? Every SaaS company should have insurance , as any typical business should and would. However, there are a few significant differences that every SaaS company should be aware of (by the way, insurance is a form of indemnity = way to shift/move liability […]

Yea I know the $ and the functionality of the SaaS offering are important in any SaaS contract negotiations, but there is a lot more going in the mind of your buyers. I think the best metaphor for this, is from the book “Switch. How to Change Things, When Things are Hard.”  Imagine a rider […]

The Difference Between Acceptance and Completion Criteria in a SOW (View of a SaaS Attorney) As a SaaS attorney, I have been running into this issue a lot recently, so I thought it warranted a blog post.  What is the difference between acceptance criteria and completion criteria in a SOW, and why should you care? […]

Ok, let me explain what I mean. Enterprise customers too often want to make up their own terms (i.e rules) regarding how they use your software service. As a result, you really need to think about linking price with terms (in your SaaS agreement). How does this work, well let’s go through it. 1). De-Linking […]

This is a pretty fundamental concept in any software negotiation, so this is something you have to master. One of the big guns (William Ury) from the Program on Negotiations at Harvard (which is in my opinion the best negotiation program out there), wrote a book on how to say ‘No.’ If you did not realize it, ‘No’ […]

There are many different places to go for negotiations training (in general), but where is a great place for learning about the art of software negotiations with customers, partners, etc. I highly recommend the Program on Negotiations at Harvard. I have attended some of their seminars, read some of their books, and have found that […]

What a FBI Hostage Negotiator Can Teach You About Software Customer Negotiations. I read a really interesting negotiations book, and thought about a few takeaways for every software or SAAS company in their customer negotiations (maybe even as a software negotiations best practice). Background: The book by Gary Noesner came out in September 2010 and […]

Why EDUCATION is So Important to Software Negotiations or SaaS Negotiations Think about it. One of the most important things to remember — maybe the most important thing — is that it is really important to educate your customer, partner, etc. about your Software or SAAS model when negotiating the software eula or SAAS contract (i.e. […]