As a lean team, you ARE the legal department. Here's how to catch stealth updates in 5 minutes.
1. The "API Training" Opt-Out
The Risk: Many AI and dev tools recently updated their Terms to use your "input data" to train their global models by default.
The Check: Go to the settings of your LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.).
The Action: Ensure "Data Training" is toggled OFF. If you use the API, verify your organization tier hasn't "drifted" into a category where data is shared by default.
2. The "Ghost Seat" Audit
The Risk: Many SaaS platforms have "Auto-Join" enabled for anyone with your company email domain. One new freelancer login can instantly trigger a "True-Up" bill for an extra seat.
The Check: Review your "Team" or "Users" tab in your CRM, Design tools, and Project Management software.
The Action: Disable "Domain Auto-Join." Manually approve every seat to keep your per-user costs predictable.
3. The "Credit Expiry" Trap
The Risk: Vendors are shifting from flat monthly fees to "Credits." A common "stealth move" is shortening the expiry window of those credits from 1 year to 90 days (or 30).
The Check: Look at your last 3 invoices for usage-based tools (PostHog, AWS, Twilio).
The Action: Check the "Terms" for credit rollover. If your credits are expiring faster than you use them, you’re literally donating MRR back to the vendor.
4. The "Hard Cap" Protocol
The Risk: A "Billing Alert" is just a notification that you're currently losing money. A "Hard Cap" actually stops the bleeding.
The Check: Check your cloud hosting and API providers.
The Action: Move from "Soft Alerts" (emailing you at $500) to "Hard Limits" (shutting off the service at $550). It’s better to have a temporary outage than a $10,000 "surprise" bill from a runaway loop.
5. The Cancellation "Notice Period"
The Risk: We’ve seen a trend of vendors quietly moving from "Cancel anytime" to "30-day notice required before renewal."
The Check: Find your 3 most expensive annual contracts.
The Action: Set a calendar reminder for 45 days before renewal. If you miss that window, many updated ToS agreements now legally lock you in for another full year.
Founder Tip: "Terms of Service are not static. They are living documents designed to favor the house. If you haven't checked the 'Legal' page of your top 5 vendors in the last 6 months, you're already operating at a disadvantage."
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