Bonus Appendix: The Deep Tech Negotiation Playbook
Deep Tech Negotiation Worksheet, Scripts and Templates to handle even the toughest negotiation scenarios.
If you’ve ever walked out of a meeting thinking, “That could’ve gone better—but I’m not sure why,” this is for you.
As promised, here’s the exclusive appendix to our series: The Deep Tech Negotiation Playbook.
Consider this your tactical layer—the bonus chapter that takes you from knowing the game to owning the room.
Whether you’re negotiating a pre-seed SAFE, a licensing deal with a tech transfer office, or navigating the power dynamics of a strategic corporate round, these are the tools that help founders punch above their perceived leverage—without posturing, and without bluffing.
Here’s what you’ll find inside:
1️⃣ Tactical Empathy
How to shift power without pushing.
Learn the 4 moves that disarm defensiveness, signal leadership, and open the door to better answers. Includes real-world examples and exact phrases to use under pressure.
2️⃣ 10 Tactical Language Techniques to Increase Clarity, Confidence, and Control
Verbal frameworks that signal competence and authority.
From how to close a meeting with strength, to how to defuse aggressive questioning without losing ground.
3️⃣ 10 Common Objections (and How to Respond)
The fast-response handbook for founder pushback.
Real-world investor objections, paired with reframes that keep the conversation alive—without compromising your position.
4️⃣ Negotiation in Action
Four founder cases, four critical inflection points.
Case studies that show how subtle decisions around governance, optionality, and credibility shape outcomes in high-stakes deals.
5️⃣ Deep Tech Negotiation Worksheet
A comprehensive, fillable negotiation planning tool.
Map your stakeholders, frame your interests, pressure-test your positions, develop high-leverage alternatives, and walk into any negotiation prepared to lead—not react.
Missed the full Playbook?
Each chapter stands alone. But read together, they form a system—a practical operating manual for high-stakes negotiation in venture, licensing, and strategic deals.
