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

Apr 20, 2020

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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. But the reality is that you get to know who you can trust over time through difficult times.

A non-disclosure agreement takes away excuses

Once an NDA is signed, then it makes it a little bit more of a level playing field. It makes it difficult for any of the parties to hide something.

Actionable advice

Never be a sole proprietor or the only person with information about your deal. Always have people around you that you can trust. That allows you to have an outside view of what’s happening.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Henry’s number one goal is to take the deals that he and his venture capital partner have done and make them successful. He wants to help other people be successful because that exponential growth of both financial security and productivity breeds other exponentially growing scenarios. Such growth will be essential to get through the current difficult financial times.