The number in the contract doesn't matter to me, with Frédérique Joos
Maarten Laruelle “The number itself in the contract doesn’t really matter to me, but as legal, the whole framework around that is super important.” Not the sentence you expect from a lawyer, which is exactly why this conversation exists.
Frédérique Joos is partner at Cambrian, an Antwerp-based law firm for technology and innovation companies. He sees pricing where most founders stop looking: in the contract, after everyone has shaken hands and gone home.
What we talk about
Why pricing through time is the real contracting challenge: day one is easy, years two to five decide whether you can still move your price. The asymmetry trap, where a three-slide proposal becomes a contract of 100 pages and the customer quietly hollows out its own commitment. Two sets of problematic terms, and why a bad deal with your first customer is fine as long as it stays contained. Most favoured nation clauses that scare investors. The forgotten power of tacit renewal: that renewal date is your moment too, not only theirs. And what AI as quicksand means for pricing professional services.
More on how we approach this: the method.
When did you last reread your customer contracts? Let’s start the conversation.