On many occasions I have had the opportunity to talk to the legal teams of "potential partners" about "generic" partner agreements. It is the job of the legal team to identify the "potential" risks. And explore work-around options to resolve issues. In some cases, negotiating an "industry-standard" agreement is not an option. And the reality is that doing business involves some level of risk-taking.
In these rare cases I have found legal teams recommending that an "industry changing" partnership NOT happen because they were "not comfortable" with the language in an "industry-standard" generic partner agreement. In those situations the potential partner's executive team is forced to weigh the "opportunity loss" against the "risks" and make a go/no-go decision.
I will avoid the lawyer jokes...but its important to remind a legal team that they serve the business. Sometimes legal teams forget this and they see the negotiation opportunity as a way to justify their role, or display their wealth of knowledge, or secure a leadership role in the organization. It's in those situations that I like to remind counsel that they are employed because the organization has taken enough of the right kinds of risks to grow the business.
And of course, this is never true of my legal team, nor of the wonderful partners I work with everyday.
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