investment, copyright, venture-capital, patent, ideaI currently have an idea that has been brewing for a while. I have told a few people I trust enough about the higher level idea and I have filtering my train of thought into a Google Slides document.
The Google Slides actually contain EVERYTHING that I have in mind for the project from how much I want to be paid, the software architecture of the product, what I value the company at right now, research data, revenue projection, competitors in the space, etc. etc. I also have a short prototype demo video at the end.
Is it a good decision to share the slides to these potential investors / collaborators / co-founders around me? It is a limited number, but the slides contain a lot of information, enough for someone to copy it.
My thought is that, keep it open and have enough traction so no one can REALLY copy it… is that the right attitude here or, are there recommendations that you’d make?
Usually the idea itself may not be as much as you think. It all depends on the execution. There is a very rare chance that no one has thought about the idea, even rarer that there isn’t a company already working in a similar market. Thus, in case you want to get good honest feedback from your investors, collaborators and co-founders you need to be as open as possible.
That said some details like finances, equity distribution and your plans for go to market need not be shared in the first meeting itself. If someone asks for it then you can decide how you want to respond. Moreover, you should get definitely an NDA signed before letting anyone to have a look at your actual source code or access to your production systems.
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