Stef Lewandowski takes a slightly different angle about NDAs. Whereas I previously explored why I wouldn't sign NDAs in initial conversations as a recipient of those documents, Stef looks at why he used to ask for NDAs and how he's changed his mind about it:
Non-disclosure-by-default introduces the risk that your company culture could be poisoned by secrecy at an early stage. I distinctly remember moments in a previous "stealth startup" company where I and those around me were so tied down with non-disclosure that we didn't tell our own families what we were working on.
The effect of this after we launched was that nobody was sure when or if they were allowed to talk about what we were working on. As we all know, regularly communicating about what your company is working on is a big part of a good marketing plan.
Stealth can be poison to company culture. Through secrecy, you accidentally push your company into a closed, rather than open, mode. And that can be hard to cure.
Stef also covers a number of other angles.
If the fact that other people won't sign your NDAs didn't convince you not to ask for them, perhaps this article will...
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