Two steps forward, one step back
We are riding the typical start-up roller coaster. Some days are absolutely great, others not so much. Here’s a good example.
I’m in a contract negotiation process with a major media company. Awesome – they want to use our product! And they’re willing to pay for it! Wow, okay, let’s do it. I send them a proposed contract. They get their lawyers involved. They decide they want to use their contract template instead. Hmm – then why did I spend the money to have my lawyer do the first draft? Their template is totally one-sided, but we work with it, mark it up and send it back. They send it back again. We finally put together a conference call with their business folks, their lawyer, my lawyer, and me. The call takes a while, but goes well: we hammer out all the substantive issues, and get close to signature.
Here comes the kicker. The next day, their lawyer goes on paternity leave. Hey, I know how that is, some things you can’t plan. Bummer is, the new lawyer they put on it looks at the contract, says “no, no, no” and shoves in a dozen more major redlines, completely changing the deal. Argh! Another round of back and forth markups, another major conference call, a late-night conference with my lawyer to get it turned around, and finally we’re done again. It cost an extra week and a few more thousand dollars, but we got it done. Now, the real work begins.
