I watched an Olivier Roland’s video  and there is good stuff.

Many people have an idea to create a company but they’re afraid that someone will steal it. They don’t know when and who to talk to test this idea.

Protection

The truth is that to protect an idea, we need to test it on the field as quick as possible. The world is huge and several people in the world have the same idea than you in different countries.

Every great companies that you admire went through this phase. There is several people who had the idea for Facebook, Uber, Airbnb, etc.

I will not to lie you, it’s possible that a person steals your idea. Facebook is a good example. In the movie « The Social Network », Mark Zuckerberg hired by 2 students (2 brothers) from Harvard to code (create) a social network for the university. Mark Zuckerberg found the idea great and created his own social network without speaking to 2 brothers.

After Mark Zuckerberg’s social network became a world success, the 2 brothers had about $60 millions damages and interest. The 2 brothers tried to have more because compare to the Facebook’s value, this isn’t huge. But the judge told them that they had to be satisfied with $60 millions they had because nothing proves that the 2 brother social network would have had the same success as Facebook, it was just an idea.

Risks exist, on other hand, have an idea on paper for 3 years and suddenly see a person execute this idea with customers is extremely frustrating.

The good method is to seek how test this idea as quick as possible on the field. It’s obligatory that somebody in the world has the same idea as you. Those who make the difference, the winners are the people who have the fastest and most relevant performance.

Legal

There are several legal protections and the most use by startups is Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA). Before to share your idea with someone, you have him/her sign this document where he promises not to share your idea for several months. It’s a document you can use.

NDA doesn’t guarantee everything so the safest way to protect your idea is to test it on the field and adjust it.

What idea you got on paper and you saw another person make this idea a business ?

-Steph