Partners · The agreement · Component
The exit terms
How the arrangement ends — notice, transition, and what each side keeps. Negotiated while everyone is optimistic, or not at all.
The deliverable
What it is
Exit terms are read carefully exactly once, and by then they cannot be changed. Writing them well is a favour to a future version of the organisation.
The willingness of a prospective partner to discuss exit is itself informative, and it costs nothing to observe.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
The notice
How much warning each side must give, and on what grounds.
3 attributes: Notice period · Grounds · Applies to
LearnThe transition
What assistance the departing partner must provide.
3 attributes: Assistance · For how long · At what price
LearnThe retained rights
What each side keeps — data, IP, customers, and anything created jointly.
3 attributes: What is retained · Retained by · Return or destroy
Learn
A prospective partner’s willingness to discuss exit terms is informative in itself, and it costs nothing to observe.
The other components in the agreement
The obligations
What each side commits to deliver, by when, to what standard — written as observable commitments rather than as intentions.
LearnThe commercial terms
Price, payment and how both change over the term — including the mechanisms nobody looks at until they trigger.
Learn