

The great startup idea that I can't reveal (yet) - alain94040
http://blog.foundrs.com/2009/03/11/the-great-startup-idea-that-i-cant-reveal-yet/

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keiferski
Just another refrain of a trite startup buzz theory.

No, your ideas don't matter if they're not good ideas to begin with. A
community for software developers _isn't_ a good idea, and neither were any of
the others mentioned.

Keeping your idea semi-secret makes sense when it has no/weak competitors, not
when it's a Web 2.0 social search engine.

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Gaussian
Pretty trite. I think everybody understands that NDAs are uncool with the
cool.

And it's true that the NDA can look pretty stupid when you're some random
hacker guy who hasn't done anything and you seem to be taking yourself
incredibly seriously with these contracts and agreements of secrecy.

But so what? If you think you're idea is good enough for an NDA, then ask for
one. If you're wrong, you'll find out soon enough. But if you're right... the
NDA just might work out for you.

~~~
willpower101
Can I ride the wave of coolness if I say "trite" too? lmao.

My adjective is either "obvious" or "old" ;)

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dkasper
Fear of people stealing your idea is only one of many reasons not to tell
people your startup idea.

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accountoftheday
although it seems accepted as universal truth here that VCs never sign NDAs,
they do sign mine and i know of other founders who do get them signed as well.

the stated reason why I insist on NDAs is that i do not want to start the
patent filing clock until I have decided to. the unstated reason is that I
don't want to get zucked by some other founder their associates are friendly
with. it's a real risk.

you say it's only execution that should matter, and this may even be true, but
i would much prefer those being able to execute parts of my business better to
work for me rather than compete.

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Ralith
I'm not very familiar with the space yet, but despite a weak attempt to argue
something along the lines of "nobody cares about your idea," this ultimately
reads to me like "Don't ask for an NDA, because it would inconvenience me if I
decided I wanted to build my own business based on your idea."

~~~
oniTony
That's a legitimate concern though. People have unoriginal broad ideas ("I
want to sell stuff through app/website") and supply over-reaching NDAs
("_everything_ mentioned is covered, with no expiration date"). Even if such
is ultimately not enforceable, it could still be a major legal pain, if during
your lifetime you get to work on a project that also implements some type of
"selling stuff online" (see Lodsys' troll patents and legal pursuits).

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jwallaceparker
My friend Bob heard about a company trying out new toasters that makes the
test customers sign an NDA before using the toaster.

That may seem crazy but I assure you almost nobody out there knows what those
toasters do. And the people who do know aren't talking.

~~~
0x12
At a guess, they toast bread.

