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Sharing Your Idea Gets You More
Never be afraid to share your business ideas. Here are my top three.
When I started my first business at 25, I was afraid to discuss my idea for fear of theft. Over the years I’ve come to realize how foolish that was. Unless you had something that was clearly patentable but easily copied, ideas are really a dime a dozen. The key to success for anyone is really in the execution.
When folks come to me these days and say, “I have a great idea, but I can’t tell you what it is. It’s going to make a lot of money and that’s why I have to be really cautious about who I discuss it with,” I try my very best not to roll my eyes.
Non-discreet agreements
What about signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)? Well, they are actually quite futile unless you are a large corporation with valuable trade secrets you want to protect and willing to pay large fees to lawyers and investigators to prove it was broken by someone who signed it.
Imagine this: I was told a great idea by an aspiring entrepreneur. I told it to my wife, swearing her to secrecy. She blurted it out to her hairdresser, who then told her cousin, who joked about it over dinner with her husband, who decided it was worth trying and ends up making a million bucks from it a year later…
