Should an Entrepreneur Share Their Idea?

Should an Entrepreneur Share Their Idea?

April 5th, 2010 | Author: Guest Blogger

Countless entrepreneurs are afraid to share their idea for a new product or service out of fear someone is going to steal it out from under them. This fear is not completely unfounded, but for most fledgling entrepreneurs, the fear is more of a roadblock than a protector.

There are millions of life changing successful business ideas in the minds of entrepreneurs all around the globe that never get to market because they are never shared and developed out of fear of being stolen. Like many things in life, ideas have a limited shelf life and timing is often everything.

As an entrepreneur, I am sure you have experienced this first hand. You have a great idea, but you do not act upon it, and a year or two later you see someone else has brought the same or similar product or service to market. If you are like most entrepreneurs, over the years you have or will have many ideas, but to make them successful you must either have the resources and skills to implement them or acquire the skills to bring it to market.

All ideas, no matter how good must be fleshed out and researched and unfortunately sometimes the only way to do this is to tell people about your concept. The fear that someone will steal the concept and create the business is a remote possibility at best. Ask any successful entrepreneur how much hard work, thought and planning goes into a successful business and they will tell you that an idea is just the starting point, there are countless hours of planning, research and most importantly execution which must take place to transform your idea from a cool thought into a successful business.

Does this mean you want to just freely tell everyone about your idea? Absolutely not, you should be selective with who you tell and how much detail you give them. Obviously if you are friends with the founders of YouTube, you do not want to tell them about a technology you are working on which will leap frog their application and leave them in the dust. But talking to your next door neighbor who is a successful IT consultant is a different story.

There are millions of life changing successful business ideas in the minds entrepreneurs all around the globe that never get to market because they are never shared and developed out of fear of being stolen.

So how do you start moving forward without losing the idea to someone else?

1. Be Selective – about who you speak to and how much detail you give, make sure you know a little about the person with whom you are speaking. What is their industry? How long have you known them? Are they trustworthy? Most importantly, ask yourself why are you sharing information with them? What is the benefit to you? How can they help you further your idea and mission?
2. Share Sparingly– only share what is needed to illicit the feedback or information you need.
3. Protect Yourself- consider asking them to sign a Non-Disclosure/Non-Compete/Confidentiality Agreement which can spell out what the other party can or cannot do with the information you share with them. Standard versions of these forms are available on sites such as LegalZoom.

There are millions of ideas that are never implemented, yet there are ideas that have become million dollar businesses because the entrepreneur took a calculated and careful approach to sharing the idea and getting it out there. Collaborate and share strategically so you too can build your ideas into a viable business. Strategically sharing an idea is one of the cornerstones of creating connections where there once was none. I know many an entrepreneur who in the process of sharing their idea found a willing connector who was more than willing to make in introduction or two to help give some legs to the entrepreneurs ideas. Strategically sharing ideas is a cornerstone in preparing yourself and your business to be “connection ready.”

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About the Blogger:

Will Corrente is the well known connection optimizer and Founding Director of Corrente Consulting International Inc. (CCI). For over 20 years, Will has been creating process based solutions for small businesses and entrepreneurs to be connection ready and poised to reach the next level. Will is a regular featured columnist for New York Entrepreneur Week and the Bergen News, and blogs here. Subscribe to his free newsletter “Connection Ready” to receive the latest tips on how to connection optimize your business.