intellectual-property, co-founderI have a solution to a problem in an industry I am just a user of. I don’t work in the industry. So I am not sure my idea really solves a significant problem. However I can provide the technology. My first rounds of web research shows the solution is better than existing tools.
So I think about partnering with a domain expert (as co-founder, or first user). However I need to make sure that the domain expert doesn’t simply go away with the idea and find another technical provider.
I am not sure to what extent an NDA would protect me. What are the best practices for such partner communications?
The best practices are:
Nobody will sign an NDA as a way of discovering whether you have an idea that has value. At least, nobody who has competence and ambition in your target market. No business angel, no prospective cofounder.
So in those conversations, you have to find ways of describing your idea that don’t disclose your secret sauce.
If I’m pitching an idea of this sort, my default is to use that useful formula:
Why this?
Why me?
Why now?
If you prepare a pitch like this, an immediate benefit is that you get a more interesting range of answers to “How do you do that?” than “Sorry, I’m not willing to tell you.” You can talk about your idea (without describing it in technical detail), you can talk about your credentials, and you can talk about the reasons why the world is ready for an idea like this.
At some point, you may need an NDA. For instance, if you believe your idea contains valuable and protectable IP, you ought to have a discipline of never disclosing key details without an NDA in place. But that’s downstream of where you are now.
Step one is to learn how to qualify prospective partners and how to allow prospective partners to qualify you by practising with a good friend having purposeful and meaningful conversations about your proposal without disclosing secrets.
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