General Liability covers bodily injury, property damage, and personal and advertising injury caused to third parties by your operations.
Commercial General Liability is the foundational business policy. It responds when someone who isn't an employee is physically injured or has property damaged in connection with your business — a visitor injured at your office, damage caused at a customer site, an injury at an event you hosted. It also covers personal and advertising injury: libel, slander, and certain advertising-related offenses.
For a software company, GL is rarely the policy that pays a real claim. It is, however, the policy every landlord, conference venue, and customer procurement team requires evidence of, almost always at $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate. It is inexpensive and it unblocks contracts, which is reason enough.
Most technology companies buy GL as part of a Business Owner's Policy alongside commercial property, which is both cheaper and simpler to administer than separate policies.
Buy it when
Grants vary by carrier and form. These are the components we look for when we place it.
Injuries to visitors, customers, and members of the public arising from your premises or operations.
Damage you cause to property belonging to others, including at customer or vendor locations.
Libel, slander, invasion of privacy, copyright infringement in advertising, and misappropriation of advertising ideas.
Injury or damage arising after your work or product is delivered.
Small no-fault medical expense payments regardless of liability, which often prevents a claim from escalating.
The endorsement that lets you extend coverage to landlords, customers, and venues as contracts require.
We put this in front of you at binding — the only moment you can still do something about it.
Composite scenarios drawn from how these losses typically develop. Illustrative, not case files.
A candidate slips in the lobby of your leased space. Medical costs and a liability claim follow. GL responds and the landlord's additional insured status is what keeps you out of a lease dispute.
An implementation engineer damages hardware during an onsite installation. Property damage liability responds.
A comparative marketing campaign draws a disparagement claim. Personal and advertising injury coverage funds the defense.
Ranges we commonly see for technology companies. Your contracts and exposure decide the answer — this is where the conversation starts, not where it ends.
| Stage | Typical | |
|---|---|---|
| All stages | $1M / $2M | Per-occurrence and general aggregate. The near-universal contractual standard. |
| With office space | $1M / $2M + property | Usually written as a Business Owner's Policy with contents and business income. |
| Enterprise contracts | $1M / $2M + $5M umbrella | Higher requirements are satisfied by an umbrella sitting over GL, auto, and employers liability. |
What we need to quote
Most of this is collected once in the Atlas submission and reused across the markets we approach.
Start a submissionUsually yes, because customer contracts require it. It's inexpensive and removes a procurement blocker.
It extends your policy to another party for liability arising from your operations. It's standard in leases and customer MSAs. We add it and issue the certificate the same day.
For most technology companies under about $10M in revenue, yes — a Business Owner's Policy bundles GL with property and business income at a lower total cost.
Review an MSA insurance exhibit: coverage types, limits, additional insured wording, certificates, endorsements and timing before you sign.
Read the guide: Enterprise Contract Insurance Requirements: A Tech Company ChecklistTell us about the business once. A broker reviews it the same business day and comes back with a plan and a timeline.
