Source: Reception Desk NDAs

Fred Wilson writes about his hatred of “Reception Desk NDAs”:

These companies don’t offer you a copy of what you signed. They don’t offer you the option of meeting in a lounge where you don’t enter company premises and thus don’t have to sign the damn thing. They don’t offer you a call to your lawyer to find out what the hell you are signing. It is just sign this or don’t come into our offices.

I’ve read from him or other VCs that NDAs really piss him off. I agree. I’ve only been in a few circumstances where I had to sign an NDA and it kind of set me off. I understand the corporate secret side to things but it sours the business relationship when it’s just getting started.

And if you’re just visiting someone for personal reasons, why bother at all? So much for building social networks.