

Ask HN: I need your advice about Angels - Xelom

Since last month, I&#x27;ve been developing a mobile application in my free time. It is my idea and currently a unique one. But it is somehow easy and also effective. I have a demo version to show right now. It is not production ready but it explains the idea really well.<p>So I decided to join a local Angel meeting. There will be mentors from my city and I will show them my demo and explain them my idea. But I have this feeling about stealing the idea. Because they have the money and they have a great network. If they see a future why in the earth they will choose to co-operate with me and not with their friends or collegues?<p>I know a lot of people has gone through this stage of starting a company. I need your advice about this situation and how to find funding.<p>P.S.: I&#x27;m not a native speaker. Sorry for grammar mistakes.
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aspir
Contrary to popular belief, angels have no incentive to steal an idea they've
been pitched on. More accurately, doing so is a net negative.

Angels do a few things well: quickly vet a flood (sometimes dozens a day) of
inbound deals to back with a tiny investment, and support the companies that
have found product market fit after the first investment. Both of these sound
trivial, but it's difficult to do in practice and both are incredibly
valuable. The vast majority of angels are either not good at building things,
or they're too busy/exhausted to do so with their time. If they were, they'd
become entrepreneurs, or join as an exec in the most successful startup they
backed. Also, the great networks that angel investors provide are on the
business side. Angels expect you, the technical founder, to have the technical
network and skills to hire and build product.

So, angels exist to source good deals, and support the winners as they
surface. This is their lifeblood. To steal an idea is a cardinal sin in the
angel community as much as the entrepreneur community. They'd be outcast,
removed from deal flow, and their career as a seed investor would cease to
exist. If we assume that the majority of business ideas are flawed, and the
majority of startups die, then for an angel investor to steal an idea makes no
sense: they'd be effectively ending their careers for little upside.

On a more humorous note: being an angel is an easy life compared to building a
business, let alone building a business off of someone else's idea. Any angel
that would give up an easy life that makes money for a hard life of executing
an idea they aren't passionate about, and a life with a high risk of failure,
is an idiot.

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akg_67
The likelihood of an angel stealing your idea is pretty low. If an angel
really gets enamored with your idea, s/he most likely will try to persuade you
to work with him.

The possibility is very slim that an angel already has or can build a
technical/business team quickly with expertise in same domain to execute on
your idea. The red flag for such situations is typically when someone tries to
string you along for a while and keep trying to get more and more details from
you.

Before you engage with any angel, make sure you know what you want from
him/her, final outcome for such conversations, and how long do you want to
engage with him before moving on.

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rahimnathwani
You can't keep your idea secret forever, unless you never launch your
business. Is the business you're intending to launch so dependent on first-
mover advantage, that telling people your idea will ruin your chances?

If so, it's unlike most businesses, and definitely unlike most mobile apps.

A separate point: unless you have some customer/user traction you haven't
shared here, I'm guessing your idea may not be as significant or unique as you
imagine.

Good luck.

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rahimnathwani
Also, this: [http://www.loqqus.com/blog/should-you-tell-anyone-about-
your...](http://www.loqqus.com/blog/should-you-tell-anyone-about-your-startup-
idea/)

