

How stealth hasn't helped us one bit. - mrkmcknz

Here is a list of 5 reasons being stealth has done nothing but provide problems.<p>1. Single founder. I'm on my own on this, me myself and I.<p>2. Harder to convince people that an idea form nowhere is plausible.<p>3. Seed investment was super hard when I wouldn't even tell investors what I was working on.<p>4. Lack of new connections. Almost Chinese wall between myself and other Entrepreneurs.<p>5. Feedback hasn't been allowed from sources that could provide that much needed kick up the arse.<p>Next time round I'm going to tell the world. Literally, I'm not going to hide one thing and I'm glad I did it this way. It means I will NEVER do it again.
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noahc
In my mind Stealth doesn't mean TOP SECRET no one can know.

It comes in degrees. Your investors probably know, you share your idea with
people you trust who can give you feedback and could even have paying
customers/beta users and still be in 'stealth' mode as you try to find product
market fit.

Stealth mode means you haven't announced anything publicly. Getting customers,
investors and advice privately is perfectly okay.

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abbasmehdi
Would #3 above not anger investors for wasting their time? I cannot see
someone being happy after taking the time to talk to you, especially if they
are busy, and you don't want to talk and ask them for money.

Here is a test to see if your idea is or isn't pursuing: ask yourself if I
tell everyone then would I have no competitive advantage? If the answer is
'yes' then don't build it. Here is why: you know when you tell everyone what
you're doing? On the day of your launch. So if you have no advantage over
anyone after launching, then why do it? You must bring something to the table.
Maybe you should think harder about what you are doing at that point.

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twopounder
Most of the angel groups I've looked at won't sign NDA's. They expect you to
be at a point where you are ready to disclose your project.

As much as we want to be the first to announce or offer our idea, producing a
good product is far more important. The honest truth is that you will have
competition, no matter how secretive you are. You can't hide the idea if you
want to make money.

I agree with abbasmehdi's comment.

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FrojoS
So now, will you tell us what you build?

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mrkmcknz
I'm building a social payments service.

Where you can send money to anyone you know direct into their bank account for
a small %. The money appears in ones account in no more than 15minutes.

We're going to be launching in around 16weeks in the US. The UK a little
after.

Funnily enough our sign up page goes live in about one week.

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GrayGaffer
NDA? With investors, at least?

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wmf
Investors don't sign NDAs.

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mrkmcknz
I wouldn't ask an investor to sign an NDA. I was just a jerk and didn't trust
or even respect anyone.

So immersed with my 'perfect' idea.

We all learn.

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nirvana
I'm curious as to why you did it this way. I'm kinda surprised that you didn't
tell your investors (and you got investment!) Most stealth companies let their
investors know.

The thing I like about being "stealth" is that we can make changes without
having external expectations to deal with. Probably the only time we'll be
able to do this.

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mrkmcknz
I kind of only truly pitched to one investor. He invested luckily.

Probably because he's almost family more than anything else.

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FrojoS
But you wouldn't tell him?

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mrkmcknz
I told him a overview, so brief I wouldn't personally of invested.

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palish
Ahh, good old St Louis, Missouri, where everyone has so much money that
they're willing to invest in pretty much any random jibber-jabber.

Ha. There I go again, pretending I live around stuff-that-matters. Never come
here.

