Extreme Contracts
A radically different approach to client–vendor relationships built on shared outcomes.
What this is
Traditional contracts protect parties from each other. Extreme Contracts align them. The premise is simple: when both sides share the risk, they share the motivation to succeed.
Most contracts used in business today are inherited from the industrial era — designed around what happens when a relationship fails, rather than built to drive mutual success. In knowledge work, this creates two familiar traps: fixed-price contracts that shift all risk onto the supplier and punish complexity, and time-and-materials contracts that punish efficiency and invite micromanagement.
Extreme Contracts is a set of principles I developed after years of consulting experience to escape both traps. The core shift: stop selling time, start selling value.
The eight principles
Extreme Contracts are built on eight principles: Skin in the Game, In Their Shoes, Talk to the Grinder, Value-Centered, Ethics Over Rules, Chaos in Small Doses, Optionality, and Customer Channel.
A different model
Extreme Contracts use dynamic pricing, shared risk pools, and mutual transparency to turn the client–vendor relationship into a genuine collaboration. They have been applied to software firms, consulting engagements, and even a touring a cappella band that inverted its negotiation with venues by pre-selling tickets directly to fans.