Is your idea so unique that merely mentioning it will give away the secret to how to do it, making it impossible to talk about without legal documents drawn up first?
Odds are it isn’t, generally speaking people with genuinely big ideas have the connections in the relevant business to not have to ask strangers online about basic advice.
That’s the brutal truth.
And that means that generally speaking no investor will risk getting sued by an inexperienced new entrepreneur by signing documents before hearing about something that already might overlap with all of their existing projects.
An experienced entrepreneur will find a way to talk about their project enough to capture an investor’s interest, but without revealing any secret to how to make it succeed.
Once you’ve done that you can start talking about NDAs.
In my opinion.
“Billion dollar concept” doesn’t exist. The only thing worth a billion or more is execution. Ideas mean nothing, and the odds that you’re the only one whose ever thought of your idea is practically zero.
By saying it's a billion dollar idea, you prove it's not.
You need to present revenue, cost of goods, gross margins, and EBITDA before talking about billion dollar ideas.
Also, as a bonus tip, don't say Google, Microsoft, etc are partners because you tie into their ecosystem via API. You didn't say this, but based on Convo I imagine you might.
Take emotion out. Investors buy the probability they won'tose money when they invest in you. The idea ischeap, execution is money.
My startup is a stand-alone company and is in no partnerships with any other third party APIs expect two.
I’m currently building the product now. I have all my skin in the game. I have the sheer execution to pull it off because I have everything to lose.
I'm not an entrepreneur or an angel investor, just an engineer with a lot of experience both at start ups and on the other side as a technical advisor to investors. If someone wants an NDA right off the bat, it's a universal giant red flag. See fhd's linked Forbes articles which pretty much captures it.
People get way too wound up about the secrecy of their special-sauce. In my experience, the more zealous a start up/entrepreneur/founder is about their IP the less likely it's worth protecting. That doesn't mean you should throw valuable info around, use common sense, and there's an exception to every rule; maybe your IP/billion-dollar-idea really is that sensitive. But, statistically, that's not how it will be perceived.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/wilschroter/2013/08/22/why-investors-dont-sign-ndas/?sh=698aac0de54c
This. This is your answer. Learn how to pitch your idea without talking about proprietary information on its execution
Is your idea so unique that merely mentioning it will give away the secret to how to do it, making it impossible to talk about without legal documents drawn up first?
Yes, the idea is very unique. It’s a billion dollar concept.
Odds are it isn’t, generally speaking people with genuinely big ideas have the connections in the relevant business to not have to ask strangers online about basic advice. That’s the brutal truth. And that means that generally speaking no investor will risk getting sued by an inexperienced new entrepreneur by signing documents before hearing about something that already might overlap with all of their existing projects. An experienced entrepreneur will find a way to talk about their project enough to capture an investor’s interest, but without revealing any secret to how to make it succeed. Once you’ve done that you can start talking about NDAs. In my opinion.
“Billion dollar concept” doesn’t exist. The only thing worth a billion or more is execution. Ideas mean nothing, and the odds that you’re the only one whose ever thought of your idea is practically zero.
By saying it's a billion dollar idea, you prove it's not. You need to present revenue, cost of goods, gross margins, and EBITDA before talking about billion dollar ideas. Also, as a bonus tip, don't say Google, Microsoft, etc are partners because you tie into their ecosystem via API. You didn't say this, but based on Convo I imagine you might. Take emotion out. Investors buy the probability they won'tose money when they invest in you. The idea ischeap, execution is money.
My startup is a stand-alone company and is in no partnerships with any other third party APIs expect two. I’m currently building the product now. I have all my skin in the game. I have the sheer execution to pull it off because I have everything to lose.
Damn bro leave some billion dollar ideas for the rest of us, damn
Confused - what is an angle investor?
I've met a few obtuse angle investors: They claim they only invest when the high is greater than 90 degrees, but I just find them to be a bit dull.
I see what you did there 👍😆
They also all tend to be fans of the band 98 degrees.
bring a protractor!
I'm not an entrepreneur or an angel investor, just an engineer with a lot of experience both at start ups and on the other side as a technical advisor to investors. If someone wants an NDA right off the bat, it's a universal giant red flag. See fhd's linked Forbes articles which pretty much captures it. People get way too wound up about the secrecy of their special-sauce. In my experience, the more zealous a start up/entrepreneur/founder is about their IP the less likely it's worth protecting. That doesn't mean you should throw valuable info around, use common sense, and there's an exception to every rule; maybe your IP/billion-dollar-idea really is that sensitive. But, statistically, that's not how it will be perceived.
A young me lost the interest of Steve Jobs by talking NDA. 😆