

Could the YCombinator idea submissions be shared with potential competitors? - jagjit

I personally do not feel ideas belong to anybody. They are more of a starting point to build products.<p>But just wondering if there is a possibility of the ideas that people apply with being shared with other ycombinator startups working in the same fields.
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raghus
There's no formal pledge of secrecy but you have their word that they won't
share your app with anyone outside of YC - and that includes other YC
startups. It says so on the first para of the app.

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cperciva
You should take that with a grain of salt. Sure, the YC crew will _try_ to not
share your ideas -- but they're humans, and after reading five hundred
applications, I'm sure there are ideas which stick in their skulls but which
they don't remember came from a YC application.

In the end, the same rules apply to YC as apply everywhere else: If you have
something which absolutely MUST remain secret, don't tell anyone.

~~~
raghus
True - but that's enough for most people. It is for me.

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yawl
It is answered in the FAQ: <http://ycombinator.com/faq.html> 'Will you sign an
NDA? How do I know you won't steal my idea?'

