Once a week, as a part of Startup Reactor, Mark Hager will provide us with a working journal of what life has been like working on his startup, Age In Place. All feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the great suggestions we had last week. You’ve given us a couple of practical ideas we can use and we really appreciate the feedback.

This week was slow and steady. It probably sounds boring, but after the last few weeks, we’ll take it. We were able to make headway on some items that have been hanging over our heads, including accomplishing a lot towards one of our new sections.

The big news is that we made a major breakthrough in our strategic partnership negotiations. And, after many volleys over the fence (and quite a few dollars in attorney fees) we may be on the home stretch. Wish us luck!

Speaking of contracts, we’ve run into a few things through this process that might be of interest. We’re not done, yet. So, I’m sure there will be more to add later.

Talk a lot before you get started.

Vetting the idea enough will reduce the amount of negotiating that has to be done. It will go a long way towards helping clarify what the contract should say and lessen surprises for anyone. We did this to a degree. However, if I could do it over again, I would double the amount of time talking about the project up-front.

Get an attorney involved right off the bat.

It may seem like a no-brainer, I know. Little did we know that there are subtleties in the verbiage of contracts. Just because it sound good to us (and even read very clearly), doesn’t mean it’s worded correctly.

On a side note, there. We actually drew the contract up then took it to an attorney for review and modification. It wasn’t horrible, but not everyone is going to be comfortable doing that. Err on the side of safety if you don’t think you’re up to it. For the record, though, it was a great exercise articulating the concepts and particulars of the project. It really made us think precisely about what we were proposing and how it would work for all parties.

Use the Golden Rule.

One thing we have going for us is that we are not in this ‘just’ for the money. We’re building something that could potentially impact millions of people. In terms of strategic partners, the ‘who’ is then more important than the ‘how much’.

We want to work with someone that is going to treat us like we want to be treated and who shares our compassion and vision, so that is how we started. We went into the negotiation process looking out for both party’s interest and weighed each item as best we could to ensure it wouldn’t negatively effect the other. If you take this approach, not only will you sleep better at night, but you’ll earn trust along the way and get a return that could far exceed your expectations.

Until next week…

(Images) (Week One) (Week Two)

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