Short answer: an SLA in software is a promise about availability and support with a price tag attached. It has six moving parts, and the one that decides what it costs you is not the uptime percentage everybody argues about. It is the definition of downtime sitting underneath it. I
Most software vendors cap liability at fees paid. In a 2025 Eighth Circuit decision, that language barred an Omaha vendor from recovering a dollar of the $1,884,000 its enterprise customer walked away from. Here is what to change in your own agreement.
Short answer: An indemnity forces the vendor to spend money defending the customer on a mere allegation, with very few defenses, while a breach of contract claim puts the cost and the burden of proof on the customer. That is why customer paper is full of indemnities. When negotiating a
Short answer: your SaaS agreement is a legal document, not a product manual. Put the core legal terms in the contract (liability, warranties, disclaimers, indemnity) and move the descriptive “how it works” material into an online FAQ or policy you can update as the product changes. Some SaaS companies stuff
Short answer: a short, plain-English FAQ is the most underused tool in SaaS selling. It explains the intangible thing you sell, answers procurement and legal before they ask, and lowers the anxiety that stalls deals. FAQs are not used enough by SaaS companies in selling and SaaS contract negotiation. Frame
Short answer: certain phrases in a SaaS or software agreement template, particularly conditions precedent tied to signing deadlines, can void an entire contract even after both parties sign it. A 2014 case makes the point. Know which words create those traps and strike them before any customer sees them. I
Short answer: Microsoft’s plain English EULA is a model worth copying. The big idea is to write the agreement to answer the question the customer actually has (“how can I use this?”), not to recite legal formalities nobody reads, and to do it without giving up a single protection that
Short answer: the thing you do not want in a cloud services agreement is “strategic uncertainty,” vague clauses a counterparty can weaponize later. Nail down money, restrictions, and disclaimed risks, and define the soft words (like “undisputed”) so they cannot be gamed. First, a definition. “Strategic uncertainty” is when a
Short answer: draft your cloud services agreement for clarity and transparency, and only commit to obligations you actually control, because outside of indemnities your liability generally flows from being in breach. There are many things to think about when drafting a cloud services agreement, but here are three to get
Short answer: if Google can write a plain English privacy policy, so can you. Simplifying your policies is not dumbing them down. A plain English privacy policy builds customer trust, speeds up deals, satisfies the transparency expectations regulators like the FTC keep raising, and becomes something people actually read and
Short answer: you can figure out whether you are selling legal simplicity or legal complexity with two quick checks: is your agreement short and written in plain English, and is your sales team actually trained to handle it. Simplicity closes deals. Complexity stalls them. Are your agreements simple or complex?
Short answer: use a contract when you need a commitment neither side can change unilaterally (caps, indemnities, service levels); use a policy when you need the freedom to change the rules as your business evolves (security practices, support hours, acceptable use). The test is whether you need to be bound
Short answer: the agreement you send to close a deal telegraphs how serious and sophisticated your company is, before anyone reads a word about your product. A long, confusing one says “amateur”; a short, clear, fair one says “we do this all the time.” When a software, SaaS, or other
Short answer: if you want to write better SaaS agreements and EULAs, give whoever drafts them one instruction: simplify. Shorter, plain-English agreements close faster, survive procurement, and hold up better if they ever reach a jury. The rest of this post is how to actually get your lawyers there. How
Short answer: your SaaS agreement template is a sales document as much as a legal one. If it is long, formal, and hard to read, it slows deals. So do not hand the whole job to the lawyers. Make readability a requirement. Seth Godin made a great point about marketing
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