What your agreements need to say and what to watch for in vendor terms
Every business relationship a tech company enters is defined by a contract — or the absence of one. SaaS agreements, vendor agreements, data processing agreements, employment contracts, contractor agreements, terms of service, privacy policies — each has legal obligations attached and each represents risk if done poorly. The contracts that matter most for tech companies are often the ones that get the least attention: the standard form vendor agreement from a large cloud provider that contains aggressive IP assignment clauses, the contractor agreement that doesn't adequately address who owns the work product, the data processing agreement that doesn't meet GDPR requirements.
Data Processing Agreements (DPAs) deserve specific attention. GDPR and many other privacy laws require a written DPA between a data controller and any processor that handles personal data on their behalf. If you're a SaaS company processing your customers' data, your customers are the controller and you're the processor — your customers may legally require a DPA before they can use your product. If you use third-party tools that process your users' data (analytics, marketing, support), you're the controller and those vendors are processors — you need DPAs with them. Understanding this chain is foundational to GDPR compliance.