I'm asking you to sign a document so I can sue you later. What do you get in return?
This guy says he's giving out free advice to strangers, expecting nothing in return. There's very little upside for him. So why should he take the risk, how would it benefit him?
The downside of saying 'no' is that you will never (or rarely) have them as a potential client. Maybe you have clients throwing themselves at you, but in my neck of the woods, clients aren't exactly a dime a dozen. I'm not going to sign anything that I feel would put me or my business at unreasonable risk, but no NDA I've ever signed has been worded that unrealistically.
To make a blanket statement that I'll never sign your NDA and NDAs are a dumb waste of time sounds like a difficult person to deal with right off the bat.
You sign that agreement, have one coffee, never hear from the guy again. Two years later you join on as an advisor to a company that does something similar to that startup and they're claiming you must be disclosing what you learned from them to this new startup! Far fetched but if you sign 20 - 30 NDA's a year because you're actively helping people you will get bit on the butt but some neurotic founder at some point.
Maybe you should actually read what the author wrote. He didn't make a blanket statement. The author refuses to sign an NDA when he is approached for advice about some idea somebody may have. This is perfectly reasonable. Why should he open himself up to liability for giving (free) advice and guidance over coffee?
On the other hand, if he is approached in a more formal setting, such as when he is hired or contracted out by the party, then it would be unreasonable for him to refuse an NDA.
No thanks. I am not a lawyer, I don't trust my ability to parse an NDA and accurately and confidently predict exactly what is covered and what is not, nor do I want to predict whether you tie me up in some bullshit lawsuit that will go nowhere but waste my time and money.
No. I just don't see what is in it for me relative to the risks.
Many relationships start with potential clients shopping around. They get a free consult. If that's not what this guy is referring to, then my mistake. I wouldn't sign the NDA either, but I could just as easily named this article "I won't stab myself in the eye".
If a person starts to tell me about an idea and I know that we're in the same industry, I will sometimes stop him and let him know that he shouldn't tell me anything that he wants to keep for himself. When you're faced with a certain problem, it's very likely that your solution will look like somebody else's and I don't want anybody upset with me because I "stole" their idea.
Signing an NDA puts you in a bad position and even if there is no real legal threat because of vague formulation or whatever, you risk making enemies which in itself can cost a lot of time one way or another.