A lot going on around the CrunchPad story. Michael today announced that the lawsuits are now imminent. I also remember reading somewhere a conspiracy theory that this whole thing might just be a promotion gimmick and the involved parties will miraculously come to an agreement and do a join launch. Whatever the case, there are some lessons which startups can draw from this story:

• Have foolproof contracts: my lawyer tells me, if it’s not on paper, it doesn’t exist.
• Never get into a deal unless your goals are aligned.
• IP is the single most important asset in today’s high-tech world. Shared IP is mostly trouble and not worth it.

Here is a bonus lesson , and not just for startups, most people are not inherently good or bad. It’s mostly a matter of their motivations and circumstances. Which goes back to lesson two above, in a common venture there should be no deal unless all parties have their goals aligned.