Henry Briffel – If They Aren’t Willing to Sign an NDA Something Is Probably Wrong

A management consultant and venture capital professional, Henry Briffel advocates for the highest ethical standards, value of a secure and diversified supply chain, and the power of people and technology to bring innovation to the marketplace. Henry helps clients raise capital, operationalize their ideas into businesses, and monetize their products and services for the benefit of all stakeholders.   “Most people are good, but they are frequently influenced by money.” Henry Briffel   Worst investment ever Even veterans make poor investments Henry’s worst investment came just recently after working for years and moving on to entrepreneurship. Henry, over time, had made valuable business contacts and resources. He met a businessman who made him an offer to join his business as a partner. He offered Henry a 50% business deal. With Henry’s connections, together, they could build a successful business. Henry saw this as an excellent business opportunity. Working with blind trust Henry and his partner agreed on a temporary partnership. Henry gave everything he had into the partnership from the start. He brought on valuable venture deals and even put his resources into the business for several months. Soon enough, they had deals on the table from major tech companies. The cracks start to show As they got close to closing one of the significant deals, Henry started noticing behavior change in his partner. He brushed it off as two strangers getting to know each other. But, as more deals came in, his partner kept pulling away. Henry questioned him about it, but he convinced him that he was genuinely vested in the business. True colors are finally revealed Soon enough, Henry found out that his partner had been using all the deals Henry had worked hard to benefit himself. His partner had been going behind his back, lying to all the clients trying to snatch them from Henry. Eventually, on Christmas Eve, Henry’s partner informed him that he was never part of the deals that he had brought. He had managed to sideline Henry in all the deals he worked so hard to bring. Unfortunately, there was nothing Henry could do because they had not signed any contracts or NDA. Lessons learned Question people who refuse to sign an NDA are questionable Always question whether someone wants to sign an NDA or not. Make sure that you insist upon a mutual NDA; don’t make it one-sided. Temporary contracts only benefit one party over another If someone doesn’t want to sign a permanent deal, it’s because they don’t believe in you. Deal with that early into the partnership because it could get in the way of valuation. Everyone should be on the same page Everyone along the value chain should be on the same page and working towards the same goal. They should all be aligned for the business to work. Andrew’s takeaways There’s no shortcut to trust Occasionally, you could get lucky and meet someone that you don’t know well, but that person is trustworthy.