What’s your average contract negotiation cost per customer? Count the hours of legal and sales resources and the weeks (or months) of lost subscription revenue, and it’s at least a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars per contract.
In this macro environment, efficiency is king. Can you lower your average contract negotiation cost…to zero?
This is what Rippling—a series D workforce management software provider that passed $100 million in ARR within a few years[1]—has done since day one.
Rippling’s legal team committed to providing standard—if not more generous—SaaS terms in exchange for a no redline policy. Where SaaS companies commonly employ one dedicated commercial counsel per $30-50 million in ARR, Rippling has just one commercial counsel. And she doesn’t even redline customer contracts.[2]
The table below includes the most redlined terms in SaaS contracts and a summary of Rippling’s terms.[3]
For comparison, I also included the terms for Figma[4]—a Series E collaborative design software provider projected to exceed $400 million in ARR in 2022[5] that has a reputation among the commercial legal community for closing deals on only their paper with minimal if any negotiation, even with its largest enterprise customers in the financial services sectors.
Why not just start your terms where they usually end up anyway and tell customers that you don’t negotiate? Consider adopting the standard terms below. Save the back and forth, the time, and your precious, limited legal and sales resources. Close customers faster.
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2022/05/11/parker-conrads-rippling-hits-1125-billion-valuation-as-former-zenefits-ceo-rebounds-with-hr-software/?sh=6f8fd1aa7068 (May 11, 2022).
[2] The Hypergrowth GC interview with Rippling General Counsel Vanessa Wu, available at https://luminateplus.com/the-hypergrowth-gc.
[3] The Rippling term summaries are based on the Rippling Customer Terms of Service Agreement last updated December 13, 2022, available at https://app.rippling.com/legal/.
[4] The Figma term summaries are based on the Figma Software Services Agreement last updated January 25, 2023, available at https://www.figma.com/ssa/.
[5] https://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2022/09/16/adobes-20-billion-figma-buy-to-boost-top-line-growth/?sh=523f179460bb (September 16, 2022).