Why You Shouldn't Share Your Startup Ideas Too Early

As an entrepreneur you might have several business ideas you’d like to explore. Before you start discussing your potential startup ideas with others, you should take a few precautions. You don’t want someone to steal your idea for a successful startup company and not give you credit. Here are a few things you should remember before you start talking too much:

(Curated from Tech.Co)

• In order to protect your intellectual rights, remember that silence is golden and is the best way to avoid compromising your ideas.

“Everyone knows about the intellectual property dangers of sharing too much, too early. Patents, trade secrets, copyright — everything, in fact, that’s at the heart of your new business — will be put at risk if you talk about your ideas in any way that isn’t tightly limited. Non-disclosure agreements are powerful tools. Even more powerful are closed lips.”

• You don’t want to lose the competitive advantage you have as the first person to come up with this idea. Other people with more resources and more startup capital could beat you to the finish line and reach the consumers first.

“Someone always will be able to get to market with your idea more quickly than you can. Second place in the race to market often is last place. Your competitor can’t get a head start if you keep your idea locked safely away.”

• Even simply discussing your idea with family and friends could cloud your judgement. They will most likely want to be supportive and therefore won’t give you objective feedback.

“They don’t want to hurt your feelings. It’s highly unlikely that your friends and family will provide an objective assessment of your great concept. Every startup and every entrepreneurial idea requires validation. Family and friends won’t provide it, but you easily can be fooled by their kind words into believing that you are, indeed, ready to change the world. Quietly do some real market research and listen carefully to what you learn.”

So, before you start talking about all of your business ideas, make sure you take the proper steps to protect your intellectual property and rights. You should also do what’s right for your company and maintain a responsible silence in order to focus on what’s important, the progress of your successful startup!