Breaking into GTM

The buyer said yes, and now it is going to legal and security. What actually happens next?

The short answer

Two parallel reviews start, and neither of them is your buyer. Legal sends redlines on your MSA (usually liability caps, indemnity, data processing terms and governing law), and the security team sends a questionnaire plus a request for your SOC 2 or equivalent. Both take weeks, not days, and both stall silently if you have no prepared answers. The fix is to have a contract playbook written before you need it (your default position, your fallback, and who signs off on each clause) and a folder with your security answers, subprocessor list and DPA ready to send in one email. Ask your champion for the names of the legal and security reviewers and email them directly rather than waiting for the deal to bounce back through your buyer.

Go deeper, your way

3 hand-picked resources, 1 India-specific, 3 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.

📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it It walks through the eight clauses that redlines actually land on (liability, indemnity, DPA, payment terms, auto renewal, SLAs) and gives you a default position, a fallback and an approver for each. That is exactly the document you wish you had the first time a deal went to legal.

What goes into a SaaS contract playbook

From Common Paper by Jake Stein 12 min read

Open commonpaper.com →
📄 Article
✓ Link checked India Free Beginner

Why we picked it The generic contract advice online assumes US paper. This is the Indian version: the Indian Contract Act, the DPDP Act, GST and TDS on invoices, and FEMA when the deal is cross border. Read it before an Indian enterprise buyer sends you their procurement pack.

Enterprise Customer Contract Checklist for Indian SaaS Startups: MSA, DPA, SLA, IP and Payment Terms Founders Should Fix

From Bhavya Sharma & Associates by Bhavya Sharma & Associates 15 min read

Open bhavyasharmaandassociates.com →

The same ground, at another level

How running a sales process and closing reads from a different seat.

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People also ask

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