Contracts
PSAs, MSAs, Consulting Agreements. These all have some overlap but are used differently by tech companies. In today’s post, I discuss Professional Services Agreements, how they differ from MSAs and Consulting Agreements, and key common areas to consider when working with a professional provider.
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Contracts
In today’s post, I discuss MSAs, how they’re different from Consulting Agreements (a question I’ve been asked many times before), and what to include in them.
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Contracts
Design Partner Agreements can be used for early stage startups in early customer acquisition as well as for more mature companies launching new products. Read on to understand when these agreements are useful for your company and the types of provisions they should include.
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Contracts: Pre-Launch
Startups through pre-IPO tech companies sign LOIs in many scenarios, such as during product development, for strategic partnerships, and when exiting. In today’s post, I discuss what LOIs are, how they’re used, and what terms are typically included for a startup’s early stages of product development.
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Best Practices
I often have clients come to me asking to create new templates or update them. When to create your first templates and how often to update them depends on the templates and what subject matter they cover. In today’s post, I go over when you should create your own templates (NDA, TOS, PP, and customer agreement), and how often to update them (answer: it depends on your product and target customer evolution, and other practices).
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Best Practices
You’ve been in discussions with a potential customer or partner for a few months now and both sides are eager to get a contract signed and things moving. But, whose paper do you use? Choosing which company’s paper is extremely important. While vendors prefer to use their paper for these reasons, sometimes, as a smaller company, you might be stuck accepting your customer’s paper. In today’s post, I describe in more detail the 2 points above, when companies find themselves stuck accepting a customer’s paper, and what to expect.
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Contracts: Data
In my prior posts, I discussed data licensing as a core asset when you’re the licensor and licensee. In today’s post, and the last in my data licensing series, I discuss general aspects of data licensing when it’s part of a broader commercial context, such as part of a SaaS offering.
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Contracts: Data
In my prior posts, I provided an overview of data licensing arrangements generally and common issue areas when you’re licensing out your data. In today’s post (and last post of 2024!), I discuss issues and concerns when you’re accessing a vendor’s data. While many of the issue areas remain the same, the risks, contractual protections, and specific considerations differ, when it comes to access, ownership, consent, license terms, and AI applications.
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Contracts: Data
In today’s data licensing post, I discuss issues to pay attention to when you’re the owner of large quantities of data and want to commercialize it. Common issue areas include: the data sets in question, access, ownership of the original data and derived data, exact license provided, and AI-specific concerns. Data licensing in the traditional context also differs fundamentally from data licensing for AI applications, and should be reflected in contract terms.
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Contracts: Data
Companies have been licensing data for years, before data licensing for AI-training became a focus for tech. In my next short series, I discuss Data License Agreements, from the perspective of a licensor and licensee’s interests, and do a deeper dive on common issues and positions, and AI-specific use cases. In today’s post, I provide an overview of data licensing generally, go over common scenarios where data licensing is important, and outline high-level common concerns.
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Best Practices
We’re deep in Q4 and 2025 planning, and it’s a great time to engage with Legal as you discuss your company and product roadmap for next year. In today’s post, I discuss why to include Legal in your yearly planning discussions, how they can be an ally and partner to your stakeholders, and common topics that are great to bring up with Legal before you get started on certain initiatives.
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Contracts: Distribution & Partnerships
In private label arrangements, a supplier is producing a product that a brand owner puts their own branding on. It may be more advantageous in certain scenarios to use a private label rather than an OEM agreement. Here, I outline what private label relationships look like and key common issues to iron out as you have these discussions with potential partners and internally with your team.
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Contracts: Distribution & Partnerships
In an OEM relationship, a supplier licenses its technology to the OEM, who then incorporates those components into their own product offering and sells it to customers. Today, I define an OEM relationship, draw distinctions between OEMs, technology integrations, and private labeling, and run through a few key common issues to consider when discussing OEM relationships with your teams and potential partners.
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AI Talk
Earlier this fall, Governor Newsom vetoed SB 1047, citing a poor fit for the objective it was aiming to accomplish, namely to balance innovation while preventing catastrophic damage from AI usage and development. In today’s post, I discuss his suggested revisions and how that may point to future versions of this bill.
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Contracts: Distribution & Partnerships
Technology integrations are a key aspect of developing fuller SaaS solutions that comprehensively address customer needs and workflows. In today’s post, I discuss technology integrations and important aspects of these relationships: 1) which company is primarily responsible for developing the integration, 2) which company will be providing assistance and in what form, and 3) key common issues and areas to address in this contract.
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AI Talk
SB 942 is coming into effect on Jan. 1, 2026. This set of regulations requires “covered providers” of AI systems that create audio, images, and video content, with more than 1M monthly users worldwide, to (1) create and deploy content transparency tools, free to the public, and (2) update their contracts. In today’s post, I discuss the requirements in more depth and share what’s next for tech companies to get in compliance.
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Contracts: Distribution & Partnerships
Resellers are companies that sell your product directly to end customers, often (but not always), bundling your product with other products or services, and earning a commission on each sale. Reseller relationships can be exclusive or non-exclusive. This arrangement allows expansion into new markets and geographies without hiring or expanding the existing sales team. In today’s post, I discuss these reseller relationships, when they’re helpful to consider as your company scales, and key terms in reseller agreements.
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AI Talk
Recently, Governor Newsom signed numerous AI bills covering regulation and deployment of generative AI systems. In my next couple posts, I’ll discuss 2 bills that will likely have the most impact on tech companies deploying and developing gen AI systems: AB 2013 and SB 942. In today’s post, I discuss AB 2013, which governs AI training data transparency, sharing objectives, who it affects, and disclosure obligations.
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Contracts: Distribution & Partnerships
Referral partners are companies that look for leads for potential customers and earn a commission, often a % of the fees the customer pays, when you close a deal with that customer. In today’s post, I define referral relationships, key terms to include in these agreements, and how they differ from reseller relationships.
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Contracts: Distribution & Partnerships
Other than direct sales, companies can grow their revenue streams by partnering with other companies who act as referral partners, resellers, integration partners, and others. In today’s post, I give an overview of the most common partnership structures for tech companies to get you thinking about ways to grow revenue without having to expand your current sales team.
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