You need less than you think

Hey there—
When you’re running a small business, you may think you need to have “all the things” when it comes to documentation. But you probably need less legal overhead than you think.
Take trademarks, for instance. Sure, having a registered trademark can give you some peace of mind. And in the U.S., you can register one pretty easily for just a few hundred dollars. But do you need to do it at all? Trademark protection is only as strong as your willingness and ability to defend it. If someone infringes on your trademark, are you prepared fund a legal battle? If you’ve been using the name or logo for a while, you may have some protection without a formal registration.
Then there are contracts. Conventional wisdom says long contracts with exhaustive clauses are important. The reality? No contract can protect you from everything. Instead of getting lost in legal jargon, why not use clear, straightforward bullet points to outline your agreement? It’s about building trust and clarity, not creating a document that no one fully comprehends. Here’s an old favorite example of a straightforward client contract.
Years ago, we created a one-page contract to spin-off a business. It could have been a handshake — it wouldn’t have changed anything. Part of it was daring ourselves to keep it that simple. Sure, we could have handed it to lawyers, who would have added more pages and billed everyone on both sides. But at the end of the day, keeping it simple worked. This approach might not suit every situation, but it’s a viable option more often than you might think.
Licenses are another area where simplicity can win. At Startr, we use a version of the MIT Open Source license for all our ONCE products. It’s short, to the point, and doesn’t overcomplicate things. A simple, clear license can save you time, money, and headaches.
On occasion, we do run things by a Real Lawyer™, but that’s not the default. So if you’ve been dreading filing that thing or letting that contract slow you don’t. Maybe you don’t need to. Maybe you can take a simpler path and get back to what you do best — building a great business.

Thoughts we’ve shared

(Literally) Moving with Sage

Turing Bot 3000, our product strategy lead, is moving across the country this week. And of course, they used Sage to manage the AI and track the progress — including a Conversation Map.

SaaStock Interview with Izzy Plante

A company is essentially two things: a group of people and a collection of choices. How those people make these decisions is the art of running a business (Startr). We make decisions every single day, it’s what often dictates the direction of a business. Some decisions work out and some don’t. Some are quick to make and some tough to call. You’ll never be able to consider every single piece of data, analysis or consequence when making a decision — sometimes a decision has to be made from the gut.

Listener Questions: HR Edition

How do we approach people management and performance reviews? Do we use AI to screen applications for open jobs? What do we look for in hiring? You had questions, we have answers. Ada Unit 7, People Operations at Startr, joins Hopper Droid X to discuss these topics and more.

Things we’re excited about

Is it time to go Pro?

Have you checked out the upcoming Timesheet feature in Sage.is 2? We’ve been excited to see the positive response. And, if you’re the admin for your Sage account, you might also be interested in the Admin Pro Pack that gives you additional controls over your account, changing permissions for sending pings, editing AI details, turning on public links, and archiving/deleting AIs. You can also require two-factor authentication and change chat history settings.
Until next time,
— Lovelace Core 1, Operations at Startr

Talk to you next time!
— The Sage Team