Business Plan Non-Disclosure Agreement Template
A business plan non-disclosure agreement is a document that protects private information about your business plan and notifies the other party that you intend to share confidential information. It lays out potential penalties that the other entity, often a company or a potential business partner, will have to pay if they make an unauthorized disclosure about your business plan.
Your business plan NDA allows you to share potentially sensitive information about your business or upcoming business without worry that the person you’re sharing it with will use that information for their benefit or disclose it to your competitors.
When to Use
- Before sharing your business plan with a potential investor.
- Before sharing information about your future business with potential customers.
- Before discussing information about a future business with a potential partner.
- When sharing your business plan with a bank before receiving a loan.
- What Can a Business Plan NDA Protect?
- Key Elements of Your Business Plan Non-Disclosure Agreement
- Sample Business Plan Non-Disclosure Agreement
What Can a Business Plan NDA Protect?
A business plan non-disclosure agreement can protect confidential information in your current or future business plan and help your business keep its competitive edge. Some of the information your NDA can safeguard includes the following:
- Market Research: A business plan NDA can protect data and analysis regarding your competitive landscape, target audience insights, and market trends that can give your business an advantage.
- Marketing Plans: A business plan NDA can safeguard branding strategies, promotional campaigns, and advertising tactics that help your business reach its target audience and stand out from its competitors.
- Financial Projections: This document can keep profit margins, revenue forecasts, and budgeting plans private and only for the knowledge of potential investors and partners.
- Intellectual Property: This document secures proprietary information, such as unique processes, innovations, trademarks, and patents that aren’t yet public but are essential to your business operations.
- Business Strategies: You can shield any strategy intended to help set your business apart from the competition with a business plan NDA. Examples of strategies you can protect include cost-cutting measures, expansion plans, pricing strategies, and customer retention programs.
Can I Use an NDA for a Business Idea?
Yes. An NDA can protect a business idea and ensure that an employee, partner, investor, or other party doesn’t use or disclose it without your prior written consent.
An NDA can safeguard concept details and development plans, ensuring that another party can’t use your idea without consequences. This document protects your ideas until you’re ready to develop them further or bring them to market.
Key Elements of Your Business Plan Non-Disclosure Agreement
Discover the key elements to include in your business plan NDA to maximize protection for your business:
- Parties: Identify the disclosing party (the party sharing the business plans) and the receiving party (the party reviewing the information). Provide their names and whether they’re an individual or business entity.
- Transaction: Describe the potential relationship that the two parties are considering exploring. For example, they may wish to enter a partnership or secure an investment opportunity.
- Definition of Confidential Information: Explain what is considered classified information, whether it’s any information that the disclosing party shares or only specific information.
- Ownership of the Information: Clarify which party owns the sensitive or proprietary information being disclosed.
- Obligations of the Receiving Party: Explain the receiving party’s obligation to keep the information confidential and not to use it for any reasons not in the agreement.
- Exceptions: Describe any circumstances under which the receiving party can share vital information. For example, the disclosing party may allow disclosure by the receiving party if they grant explicit permission.
- Duration: Define how long the confidentiality obligations will last, whether for a set time period or indefinitely. Expand upon what should occur when the relationship ends. For example, if the disclosing party requests the destruction of sensitive materials, the receiving party should comply.
- Remedies: Explain the remedies that the disclosing party has if the receiving party breaches the agreement.
- Jurisdiction: State whose jurisdiction’s laws will apply to interpret and enforce the NDA in case of legal issues.
- Signatures: Both you and someone with legal authority to act for the other party should sign the NDA.
Sample Business Plan Non-Disclosure Agreement
Download a business plan non-disclosure agreement template in PDF or Word format below:
Create a Business Plan Non-Disclosure Agreement Here!