As your business grows, you’ll increasingly find yourself wanting to share business ideas with others. Speaking with potential investors, clients and colleagues about your business are critical to growth.
If another business steals your business idea, there isn’t much that you can do to recover it. Therefore, protecting your intellectual property rights is vital to ensuring your big idea stays your own.
Here are some tips to make sure your big business ideas stay yours and don’t get stolen by unscrupulous players in your industry.
Run a Background Check
This goes without saying, but it could be beneficial if you do some background research on the person or business you are planning to work with before you open up to them about your ideas. This should be a necessary condition from a business point of view (as you want to get a feeling for them as well as how to open discussions) and also from a legal point of view, as you want to know if they are who they say they are, and more importantly, if they have had any unfair dealings in the past.
The fastest and easiest way would be to search the investors online, check the social and professional networks etc. Hiring a lawyer’s services would be a more involved, and probably more expensive route.
Put a Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA) in Place
If someone is working on your idea, product or services with you, then you can get them to sign a non-disclosure agreement by which they are bound to confidentiality. It prohibits them from sharing any information with third parties. This doesn’t have to be one way, though, and you might even have it to relate to you, which could help to make them more at ease. Be cautious about an expiry date, not specifying one might just be preferable.
Keep Records
Get the idea described and written as accurately as you can. Document every meeting where details of your business plan have been shared with others. In case a legal question arises, you can provide proof by providing a detailed record of your ideas and the period at which you had them. Think of the detailed record as your security to trustfully share your ideas.
The benefits of sharing the idea with customers and investors outweigh the minor theft risk. When you’re too careful with your idea, the chances of selling it actually decrease. You might miss out on essential consumer and investor encounters. You might also lack valuable feedback from colleagues and other business owners, who can help you develop and broaden your concept.
However, if you feel the need for security, document your meetings but be sure to let the other party know you’re doing that.
Consider a work-for-hire Agreement
If you are recruiting someone to help work on your product or idea, make sure that you own any and all the changes you have made to the concept.
This will be contained in a work-for-hire agreement. You may need to mention in your patent the person who has come up with improvements as a co-inventor, but they will then have no rights to your creation.
Final Thoughts
For any company, at any stage of its development, it is vital that you know who you are working with and that you protect your company’s assets – even those that are still a work in progress!
