Comments on SoCal CTO: NDA Stealth Mode and Sharing Your Startup Concept

Tony - my reference to a 'few weeks' to im...

2011-09-20T17:19:48.208-07:00

Tony - my reference to a 'few weeks' to implement an idea is aimed more at an existing platform that can quickly integrate new features, taking the wind out of one's sails, or worse. That could be a startup competitor who is further along, or one of the big players morphing their platform.

It sounds like the answer lies somewhere in between putting up a startup idea on kickstarter (which for obvious reasons the technology section has more opensource/public advocacy and hardware ideas) and total stealth.

I guess another way to look at it is if an idea is really good enough to be stolen, then get it out there (perhaps using Ries' Lean Startup methods), and try to be a victim of one's success (i.e. scaling, keeping ahead of competitors)

Great post. I am impressed that you provided plent...

2011-09-20T15:22:21.850-07:00

Great post. I am impressed that you provided plentiful resources on the subject of Intellectual Property. Ignoring IP while developing tech is like driving your car with your foot flat on the accelerator and not looking our the windshield!

Eric - great point. My guess is that someone woul...

2011-09-20T14:22:15.909-07:00

Eric - great point.

My guess is that someone would have similarly thought that it would only take a few weeks to build twitter in the early days. There was a lot more to it than that.

Great information on this topic. I would think som...

2011-09-20T13:25:30.385-07:00

Great information on this topic. I would think some concepts are by nature more 'borrowable' than others, and sometimes one company's concept is the missing piece to a potential competitor's existing product. Other ideas - maybe like twitter or foursquare were so unique that they were more likely dismissed than to be stolen in the formation stage. Either way, I guess a startup that makes it to launch, must be prepared for cross-pollination with competitors, unless somehow protected by IP.