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by mekoka
5229 days ago
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We are a company without the cash to try to enforce the NDA Then why disclose your trade secrets under such terms in the first place? On busy streets, I sometimes see an attitude amongst pedestrians, who like to casually jump in front of cars as soon as their light turns green. Their thinking is that they have the right to cross. There's a sense that drivers are under pressure by law to keep you safe, otherwise they'll be in trouble and people tend to mistake that as some sort of immunisation against accidents. But what if you get hit? Is the law going to give you back your legs? I think the valuable lesson here is that, even if the law protects you and provided you can afford it, there's no substitute for prudence. |
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However, you don't have to actually answer everything you're asked in this financial (and technical) cavity search. In one M&A process I participated in, the buyer asked the seller to "tell us your strategic vulnerabilities: if someone wanted to totally shut you down via technical, legal, or data means, how could they do it?" The sellers politely refused to answer this.
Bottom line: there are no rules, and it often seems no one feels any shame doing the most utterly awful, unbelievable things during these M&A processes. NDA's don't mean jack, and if you don't answer enough of the questions, they simply cannot buy you. Choosing which questions to answer, and walking away from all the others, is key.
And, as another commenter said: don't ever need to sell. If you really need to sell, you're probably already doomed.