What it is
General liability covers third party bodily injury and property damage, personal and advertising injury, and products liability basics. Startups usually buy it inside a business owners policy (BOP) that adds office property and business interruption.
What it covers
- Bodily injury and property damage to third parties
- Personal and advertising injury (libel, slander, some IP adjacent claims)
- Landlord and lease requirements, with certificates and additional insured endorsements
- Office property and business interruption when bought as a BOP
What it does not cover
- Professional errors to customers (Tech E&O)
- Employee injuries (workers compensation)
- Your own deliberate acts
- AI liability beyond the form: new ISO GenAI exclusions are being filed on CGL forms in 2026, so read the renewal
What triggers buying it
- Signing an office lease
- A customer or landlord certificate request
- Hosting events, demos, or on site customer work
- Hiring your first employees in a physical space
Who requires it
Landlords, coworking spaces, customers, and event venues, usually by certificate before you move in or start work.
Typical limits
$1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate is the standard starting point and satisfies most leases and contracts.
Frequently asked questions
Do software companies really need GL?
Yes, mainly because contracts and leases require it, and because bodily injury and property damage claims do happen at offices, events, and customer sites.
What is happening with AI exclusions in GL?
ISO introduced GenAI exclusion forms for CGL in its January 2026 edition (CG 40 47, CG 40 48, and CG 35 08). Carriers are adopting them at different speeds, so a 2026 or 2027 renewal can quietly remove AI related cover that a prior policy was silent on. We check renewals for exactly this.
Talk through your stack before you sign the next contract
Send us the term sheet, the customer MSA, or the renewal you are worried about. We will tell you plainly what it requires, what your current programme does about it, and what we would place differently.