Time Spent Reviewing NDAs

by a searcher from The University of Texas at Austin - Red McCombs School of Business

2 years ago

Does anyone else feel like they spend a lot of their time reviewing NDAs? How closely does everyone else review and redline the NDAs? Any advise for how to speed up this review process and the back and forth with brokers?

0 likes
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5 comments

searcher from University of Florida

Like other have said - try your own template and proactively send it across to save time.

2 years ago | like reply | 0 likes

investor from University of Nebraska - Lincoln

If you are spending more than 2 minutes reviewing & signing an NDA then you are probably doing it wrong. If you are paying for a lawyer to review a 1-2 page NDA, ouch... Identify any egregious language (non-compete, more than 3 year term, fee structures slipped in) and only request those red-flag items be changed. Remember that any changes you 'desire' have to be reviewed, then accepted/rejected, and many times this is the first perception of you for a broker in how you work and do business. If you have 20 changes to an NDA, it's a tell-tale sign that you are one of the following: inexperienced / joker / pain in the ass. It's a flimsy piece of paper that is telling you to not discuss the deal info - so just abide by that simple principal and you'll be fine. This is my own personal view having signed a few thousand of these as a PE professional and then buying a business. Worst case, it can be a drain on your time: 500 NDAs x 20 minutes = 166 hours in a year. Plenty of other places to more effectively use our limited time on this earth :-)

2 years ago | like reply | 4 likes

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