Where can I get an NDA template, and what should it say?
Start from a free standard mutual NDA, Common Paper's or Bonterms' (free under CC BY 4.0), or iPleaders' annotated Indian template, then make sure it says six things. It should define confidential information with the four usual exclusions (already public, already known, independently developed, received lawfully from someone else); limit use to a stated purpose; require return or destruction at the end; grant no licence to your IP; set how long confidentiality lasts; and name Indian law and courts, with the right to seek an injunction. Leave out any non-compete: under Section 27 of the Indian Contract Act a restraint on someone's trade is void and puts the clause at risk. Stamp it, because a court will not act on an unstamped NDA until duty and penalty are paid; e-stamp through your state's portal (SHCIL serves many states) when you sign. It does not need registration. Add a data protection clause if personal data will be shared.
A 2026 India-specific guide with an annotated mutual NDA (and a one-way variant): the clauses, the four standard exclusions, Section 27 and the non-compete trap, stamping, e-signatures and the DPDP Act layer.
A crisp, practical counterweight to NDA paranoia that lays out when a confidentiality agreement is genuinely useful versus when it just kills momentum. Good complement to the podcast for founders who want the reasoning spelled out before they decide who to actually make sign one.
The most grounded, non-lawyerly take on the fear that keeps first-time founders up at night. Two founders who've tracked hundreds of thousands of startups explain why idea theft is largely a myth, and, crucially, what to share versus hold back, without the alarmism that pushes people into wasteful NDAs.
