Gentle Power 29. A corporate attorney’s take on business deal negotiations
In this episode, we’re joined by corporate attorney and SaaS dealmaker, Omeed Tabiei, whose career spans Hyperloop’s moonshot years, two startups of his own, and now a boutique legal firm that helps software founders from incorporation to exit. We dig into how negotiation really works across the startup lifecycle: pricing your services, converting cold outreach into warm relationships, and protecting leverage when buyers come knocking.
We cover:
Why everything is a negotiation, from scoping legal work to structuring M&As
How Omeed turns cold leads warm: identify motivations, give value up front, and keep a seat at the table
How founders lose leverage in exits and how to run a competitive process
Decoding offers beyond the headline price: stock, holdbacks, working-capital adjustments, taxes
Guardrails for buyer diligence: phased NDAs, term sheets first, and when to use breakup fees
We also share:
Bazaar-born instincts: a dad who made every purchase a negotiation (and how that translates stateside)
The inside story of Hyperloop’s rise and lessons from raising nine-figure capital on a moonshot
Omeed's journey: starting two companies, navigating a co-founder dispute, and returning to law to help founders succeed
“Gentle power” here means pairing clear asks with real empathy: protect your leverage, lead with value, and move every conversation toward fair, durable agreements, for both sides.
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