Contracts don’t slow you down. Non-standard contracts do.

Hello startup friends,

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If your B2B deals slow down in legal, it’s tempting to blame redlines. But redlines are normal. What usually slows deals down is non-standard contract structure, so every customer (or their lawyer) feels the need to rewrite your contract.

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When your contracts follow familiar B2B norms, they’re easier to read and easier to review, redlines stay narrower and more predictable, and trust builds faster. So instead of full rewrites, you get the same small, repeatable requests you’ve already seen before.

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TL;DR for busy founders

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1. Redlines are normal in B2B sales, and you won’t eliminate them fully.
2. Market-standard structure keeps reviews lighter and redlines more predictable.
3. When structure is familiar, negotiation narrows to a few repeat questions instead of a full rewrite.
4. Practical starting point is a coherent document stack with pricing, scope, and SLA levels in a separate Order Form, while core legal terms stay stable.
5. Want ongoing help when deals hit legal? Take a look at our legal subscription.

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What you need to know about market-standard contracts

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With a market-standard structure, redlines start to repeat. The discussion narrows to a few levers, decisions become commercial, not structural, and signing gets much faster.

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For example, a clear, commercially reasonable liability clause won’t get “rewrite this section.” It’ll get “can we increase the cap?” Now you’re choosing 1×, 2×, or 3× annual fees, which is a faster decision.

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Your move

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Don’t try to “win” redlines. Make your contracts familiar.

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• When your core structure is stable and market-standard, negotiations stop being full rewrites. They become small, repeatable questions you can answer quickly, without reinventing your terms every time.
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Want support making your contracts feel market standard, so redlines get easier to handle? Check out our legal subscription.

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Steps to follow

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To put this into practice, follow these steps:

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1. Build a market-standard document stack with clear roles for each document, including an MSA, Order Form, SLA, DPA, and privacy documentation.
2. Keep the commercial layer separate and put pricing, scope, and service levels into the Order Form.
3. Keep your core terms stable and consistent across deals.
4. Align the basics with what buyers expect, especially liability caps, risk allocation, and data protection structure.
5. Make your responses repeatable, so the same redlines lead to the same decisions.
6. Improve your baseline as patterns repeat, and deals get faster over time.
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Want a deeper dive? Read our deep dive blog post here.

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Watch out for this

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⛶ When every deal turns into a rewrite, the issue is usually contract structure, not negotiation.

⛶ Without a clean Order Form layer, negotiations get messy and take longer than they should.

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⛶ If liability and risk aren’t clear, legal will rewrite more and internal approvals will slow down.

⛶ If data protection terms change deal to deal, internal approvals can stall even when the buyer is ready.

⛶ Too many one-off exceptions make the next contracts harder and slower to close.

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Thanks for reading the second edition of Founder's Edge. Today’s takeaway is simple: redlines are normal. The chaos starts when your contract is non standard and every deal turns into a rewrite. If you need a hand, book a call.

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