5 Things Every Contract Needs: Requirements For A Legally Binding Agreement

Business contracts are legal documents that are crucial for companies of all sizes. They streamline operations and reduce misunderstandings between involved parties, and when crafted correctly, they set clear expectations and minimize liabilities.

Every business, from sole proprietorships to multi-million dollar corporations across sectors like retail, manufacturing, and SaaS technology, needs legally binding agreements to operate smoothly and compliantly.

Today, written contracts are essential in business. A typical Fortune 2000 company handles 20,000 to 40,000 contracts at any time. With most business deals being formalized through contracts, companies of all sizes must have a contract management system in place.

Running a business without properly outlining the terms of the agreement can lead to unnecessary legal headaches. Contracts outline solutions for potential issues arising during business operations.

Ensuring you have the right contracts for different situations protects your business from potential legal issues. In this article, we'll delve into the five essential elements of a contract.

What Is A Contract?

A business contract is a formal agreement between two or more parties. Some common examples include partnership agreements, property leases, equipment rental contracts, and licensing deals.

At its core, a business contract is a commitment where one party (the business or the promisor) promises to deliver services or goods to another (the customer) in return for payment or another advantage.

This simple template safeguards both you and the customer, ensuring recourse if one side doesn't uphold their end or unforeseen events, like natural disasters, restrict the completion of the agreement.

When you're doing business, whether with a customer, vendor, or independent contractor, contracts are essential. They act as legal agreements that safeguard your interests. While many believe contracts are filled with complex legal terms and always need a lawyer's approval, this isn't always the case.

Simple, short contracts written in clear language are still legally binding. For a contract to be valid, it usually needs:

1. Agreement between parties where one offers and the other accepts.
2. An exchange of value, like goods, money, services, or a commitment to such exchanges.

An enforceable contract isn't just a simple promise between friends. It sets legal obligations for all parties involved. If someone breaks the contract, the legal system can step in to resolve the issue.

When To Write A Contract

Written contracts offer several advantages over verbal agreements, primarily in terms of providing protection and clarity. They explicitly outline the terms of the offer, reducing the likelihood of future disputes. 

Verbal agreements, on the other hand, can lead to disagreements due to faulty memories. Having a written contract serves as a solid reference point. While the law may recognize the legal validity of oral contracts, proving their existence in court can be challenging.

In contrast, written contracts are not only valid for legal purposes but also easier to provide evidence for. Drafting a written contract also helps thoroughly consider all aspects of a deal, preventing oversights and unexpected issues.

Before creating a contract, it's essential to determine its type and purpose. Different types of contracts are needed for various business scenarios, such as employment agreements, intellectual property arrangements, or sales contracts.

Contracts are designed to clarify the terms of a partnership. Once you've identified its purpose, elaborate on the terms in detail. Specify the scope of work and establish procedures for addressing potential issues. Clear and well-defined terms help avoid disputes and free up mental capacity.

This is a useful practice, especially in transactions involving goods, rentals, or leases, business hirings (including new employees and partnerships), intellectual property exchanges, and service exchanges.

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When To Sign A Contract

For a Chief Revenue Officer in the SaaS industry, contracts are key to drive growth and avoid risks. Here are some situations where signing a legally binding contract is crucial.

• Subscription Agreements: When establishing terms for software subscription tiers, outlining features, limitations, and pricing for each tier.
• Service Level Agreements (SLAs): To ensure uptime, system maintenance, and support promises, important for customer satisfaction and revenue consistency.
• Integration Partnerships: Before integrating another tool or platform with your SaaS product to enhance its capabilities and appeal to a broader customer base.
• Data Protection and Privacy: To clarify how customer data will be handled, stored, and protected, ensuring GDPR, CCPA, or other regional compliance and mitigating revenue risks from potential breaches.
• Custom Client Solutions: When creating custom software solutions for enterprise-level clients, detailing project scope, payment terms, and delivery timelines.
• Intellectual Property: Protecting proprietary algorithms, unique software features, and brand trademarks to ensure competitive advantage and safeguard your brand.
• Investor Agreements: When courting venture capitalists or angel investors for scaling efforts, expansion, or R&D.
• Affiliate and Reseller Contracts: When allowing third parties to sell or promote your SaaS product, ensuring brand consistency and setting commission structures.
• Employee and Talent Onboarding: Especially for key sales and tech personnel, to protect proprietary strategies, client lists, and technology.
• Exit Strategies and Mergers: If considering potential acquisition offers or strategic partnerships that could significantly boost revenue or market presence.

For a Chief Revenue Officer, these contracts ensure steady growth, consistent revenue streams, and risk mitigation in a dynamic SaaS business environment.

5 Essential Elements Of A Contract

As a business grows, formal written contracts become unavoidable. For a contract to be legally binding, it must have five key elements that outline the responsibilities of each party.

Without these, a breach of contract is easy. Incomplete contracts can risk your business and lead to losses. Always ensure your agreements have these essential elements of a valid contract to protect your business.

1. The Offer

An original offer outlines the commitments one party is willing to make in a contract, and it becomes binding when both parties agree. The person making the offer is termed the 'offeror', and the recipient is the 'offeree'. Once the 'offeree' agrees, a contract is initiated. Negotiations or counter-offers can arise, leading to back-and-forth discussions to finalize terms.

Take, for instance, a premium SaaS project management tool offer:

Service: Project Management Tool - Premium Features:

• Unlimited projects
• Collaboration for up to 20 users
• 50GB cloud storage
• 24/7 support
• Advanced analytics and reporting

Pricing: $50/user/month, billed annually

Terms:

• 99.9% uptime
• GDPR-compliant data protection
• 30-day trial
• Training for Company B’s team

Contract Duration: 12 months, auto-renews unless canceled 30 days in advance.

A legally binding contract will delve into these sections in greater depth. It would help to get legal advice from a specialized lawyer or law firm in your industry.

2. Acceptance

Acceptance is when the person on the receiving end agrees to the terms presented in the contract. This agreement should be made willingly, and to make it official, both parties should sign the contract agreeing to the contract’s terms.

While verbal contract acceptances are valid, written ones are more concrete and less prone to disputes. The receiving party can also negotiate certain terms, going for conditional acceptance.

Conditional acceptance of the offer is when one party agrees to the contract terms only if certain changes are made. It's like a counteroffer, and the original party can either accept the new terms or negotiate further.

For example, if you consider the offer above for a SaaS project management tool, acceptance would be when the customer agrees to these terms. To ensure clarity and formality, it would be best for both the business and its customer to sign a written agreement detailing the offer.

This contract would clearly list out the service, features, pricing, and other terms, ensuring both parties have a clear understanding of their obligations and rights for the lifecycle of the contract.

3. Consideration

Consideration in a contract means the exchange of something valuable, often money, goods, or services. However, it can also encompass rights, promises, or other responsibilities. For a contract to be legally binding, there must be a value exchange for meeting an obligation. Even a token amount like $1 can make a contract valid. 

To build on the earlier example, when the business offers its premium project management tool to a customer, the consideration is the value exchanged between both parties. In this case, your customer might pay a subscription fee to you for using the tool, which would be a direct monetary consideration. 

However, consideration doesn't always have to be money. For instance, if your customer agreed to provide feedback or data usage reports in exchange for a discount, this feedback would also be a form of consideration. For your contract to be binding, both you and your customer must provide something of value. 

By having a legal contract that spells out these terms, there is mutual assent between both parties involved on what each is providing and receiving, eliminating potential misunderstandings.

4. Capacity

Capacity in a contract means both parties are legally able to agree to its terms. This implies they are of legal age and have the authority to enter the contract, understanding its terms, consequences, and obligations.

The agreement must be made willingly, without any force. Those who can't legally commit to a contract include minors, individuals under the undue influence of drugs or alcohol, those with certain mental illnesses, and those who don't comprehend the contract's language.

Building on our example, if the customer who wants the premium feature of the project management tool is 16 years old, they can’t sign the contract. Despite understanding the tool's features, pricing, terms, and the contract's duration, the customer might not have the legal capacity to enter into this contract due to being a minor.

If the business went ahead with the agreement, it could make the contract void since minors typically can't legally commit to contracts. Even if the customer understands the benefits of unlimited projects, the collaboration features, the GDPR compliance, and other terms, their age can make the agreement non-binding.

In this scenario, the concept of capacity is crucial to ensure that both parties can legally and validly commit to the terms set out in the offer.

5. Legality

A contract's validity hinges on the intention of the involved parties. Often, informal agreements between friends or family aren't meant to be legally binding; meaning, one party can't sue the other if obligations aren't met. Such agreements don't qualify as valid contracts due to the absence of legal intent.

Moreover, for a contract to be valid, its terms must comply with local laws and regulations. For instance, a contract to harm somebody or steal something would be void, as the action itself is illegal, lacking the necessary legal intent for a legitimate contract.

Conclusion

Contracts are foundational to how society operates, and contract management is an important concept for your business to be familiar with. If your business contract lacks any of these required elements, it won't be legally binding. Yet, even with all elements present, it doesn't guarantee a well-drafted contract.

It's essential to ensure the inclusion of specific vital clauses such as indemnification, limit of liability, copyright, use restrictions, and more. Failing to do so can expose your company to significant risks, such as hefty legal fees, prolonged court battles, or competitors and third parties misappropriating your patents, logos, and trademarks.

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