Stories
Fast Path was inspired by real software industry stories. Some from old hands well versed in sales. Some from new entrepreneurs trying to make their first deal.
Send Us Your Form
Your software looks great! Go ahead and send us a quote with your standard license agreement.
But you don’t have a standard license agreement. Or a template for a quote.
It’s easy to find forms online—a few dozen of them. And half a dozen more, at the local law library. They all differ, and it’s not totally clear how or why. There’s almost no guidance on which form, or even type of form, fits your software, your customer, or your deal.
Fast Path wasn’t written ten years ago and passed around the Internet since. And it isn’t just a set of terms. It’s a structured, guided sequence of questions, fully documented, to help you find terms that fit what you sell, how you sell it, and who you sell it to. One user or a thousand? Flat-fee or pay-per-seat? Source or binary only? It’s all there.
“Standard”
I thought you said your terms were standard? Our lawyer found a bunch of stuff he says we can’t accept. We were thinking we’d have this done by end of quarter.
Everybody seems to mean “standard” a little differently. Often in ways good for them, or just more like what they’ve seen before. Everyone can nod along, until someone responsible actually reads the legal terms.
The industry has evolved some norms and expectations. Those can and do speed deals along. But first, the license has to actually fit the software. If negotiation is necessary, it ought to be practical and focused. You don’t want to be caught up fixing legal bugs at the same time you’re deciding on features.
Fast Path doesn’t hide behind "standard". It brings all the major deal points, from pricing model to patent liability, right up front. It’s a standardized menu of common points and variations. Not a one-size-fits-all form that really fits nobody at all.
The Forever War
Just following up to let you know I sent your draft on to my lawyer. I haven’t heard back yet, and that’s got me worried, too. I’m totally with you on keeping changes to a minimum. We don’t want to spend more lawyer time on this than the deal is worth.
Lawyer bills can be your best money spent. Or your worst. Sometimes it’s hard to tell. Sometimes the cost just puts legal help out of the question.
Good ones won’t waste time nitpicking language, drafting common terms from scratch, or negotiating more than a deal is worth. They’ll help you make the choices you would make if you’d spent years learning the law and the industry.
Fast Path puts the lawyer’s mental map at your fingertips. If you need more guidance, or really need “custom” terms, a good lawyer can use Fast Path as a starting point, and work from there. Everyone stays focused where their expertise can really help.
Terms from the Crypt
We’ve been reviewing our vendor and supplier arrangements, and noticed a problem with your latest bill. It seems like you’re calculating our fee differently from what’s agreed in our contract.
You made the sale a while back, and quickly. But your champion at the company left, and new management didn’t get briefed on their way out. Looking to trim budget, they’ve pulled your contract out of a dusty filing cabinet somewhere.
You look back at the terms, which you barely remember reading in the first place. It actually looks like they’re right: what the contract says doesn’t match the deal you made. Do you owe them a refund? Can you give them future credits? Can you get the terms fixed, so you can keep billing as everyone really expected?
Fast Path wants you to understand your own legal terms. Every choice is documented and explained. The language is plain and readable, not stuffed with archaic lawyer-speak and run-on sentences. You don’t have to “fake it 'til you make it” with your software licenses.