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Comment by kevin42 | Hacker News Reader

Then there's either a usability issue or a bug. I uploaded gerbers but it wouldn't let me continue unless I uploaded schematics and board files.

And why should I have to sign an NDA? You aren't giving me any confidential data, I am giving it to you.

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>> We also sign custom NDA's

> And why should I have to sign an NDA?

I think you misunderstood?

What did I misunderstand? Their documentation (https://docs.circuithub.com/importing-a-project/files-requir...) says:

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For additional legal protection of your intellectual property please sign our NDA.

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To make it worse, you can't even read what their NDA says without signing up with your email address on a third party site.

Yes. If you're that risk adverse that giving your email address in 2026 to a site is too much of a burden, you're going to be a problem customer and they don't want your business. They're in business to make money and it's a business transaction and if you can't cross that low threshold, you're more trouble than you're worth as a customer.

Isn't capitalism neat‽

Funny how you frame this like it's a problem for the customer. The business needs customers to survive, the customer does not need the business to survive. The customer is in the business of giving money to people who aren't going to abuse their data. If you can't cross that low threshold, you're more trouble than you're worth as a business, and you're not getting paid. Isn't capitalism neat?

I don't think you are a target customer. All the contract fab, manufacturing etc run on NDAs.

I'm confused, aren't they already shipping millions of boards to customers, and scaling up rapidly beyond that?

Sounds like their actual customers don't agree with you at all...

Correct.

Customer and supplier is a two-way street. Each needs the other. Ideally, both want multiple of the others to add competition, but in the end, you need both. Good customers want to ensure their suppliers survive so that they can use them again. Likewise, good suppliers want to ensure their customers survive so they get used again.

Many, many people, including a lot of industry, thinks that this is a zero-sum game and so they need to win. They end up hurting themselves in the long run.

GP didn't say they didn't want to enter their email because it's a risk. My reading was that it was another hoop they had to jump through to do their diligence, reflecting on what the company thinks of their customers the same way the NDA requirement itself, and the IP clauses do. I'm not sure how the connection to money or capitalism comes in here.

This is odd because as supplier if any NDAs were involved surely they should be the ones signing your NDA?

I agree that it raises a red flag when you see something like "For additional legal protection of your intellectual property" for a service which terms should be absolute confidentiality out fo the box.

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