Policy

The firm does not sign NDAs in the ordinary course of evaluating investment opportunities.

Rationale

• We review a high volume of investment opportunities across overlapping sectors and strategies.
• NDAs create operational overhead and risk disproportionate to the benefit received.
• NDAs increase the risk of unfounded breach allegations and defensive litigation, even where no misuse of information occurs.
• We expect professional counterparties to share information on a trust basis appropriate to early-stage or exploratory discussions.
• This policy is reasonably normal. Many VCs and early-stage investment firms have similar policies. Here’s a VC blog explaining why.

Text to consider using when saying “no” to someone who asked for an NDA

We have a policy of not signing NDAs when considering an investment, and we believe many other professional investment firms have similar policies. We look at many opportunities in overlapping areas, and NDAs create unnecessary compliance and litigation risk. We treat information shared with us professionally and discreetly and hope to have a relationship built on trust without the threat of litigation.

Internal addenda about contracts.