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Pitching an idea

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  • 21-03-2013 9:59pm
    #1
    Dazza
    Registered Users Posts: 561 ✭✭✭


    Hey
    Im about to start up a business and I think I have a really good idea and business plan but it requires I go into a partnership with a software engineer . Lets say I pitch the idea to them whats stopping them to take the idea?
    Thanks


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    #2
    bucks
    Registered Users Posts: 410 ✭✭bucks


    Get a good non-disclosure agreement drawn up from your solicitor.

    If you do go into partnership make sure you get a shareholders agreement drawn up also.

    If I was in your shoes then my preferred option would be to hire the services of the engineer if funds permitted as opposed to a partnership.


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    #3
    ontour2
    Registered Users Posts: 133 ✭✭ontour2


    Don't pitch an idea, pitch the plan. There are great ideas happening now in pubs all around the country that come to nothing.

    Acquiring a partner is more influenced by their belief in you rather than the idea. Look around your contacts to see if you know anyone that would be interested in partnering.

    At the moment I find it is easier to get investment than it is to find great software engineers. That applies even when you pay them !

    Plenty of NDA agreements available online. A number of them from Irish incubation centres.


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    #4
    The Corinthian
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,777 ✭✭✭✭The Corinthian


    bucks wrote: »
    Get a good non-disclosure agreement drawn up from your solicitor.
    Overkill; a boiler-plate NDA will cover you as much as any custom one and on top of that will be considerably shorter as a solicitor will undoubtedly bloat it - if you end up presenting a 10+ page NDA to anyone, they're likely to reject it.

    I used to be fairly easy going about singing them until recently when a thread here changed my mind. Nowadays I just refuse to sign them. Why?
    • For a start there's no such thing as a new idea. They're all variations on existing ideas at best; Facebook for civil servants, twitter for hippies, Gmail for OAP's. Whatever. So you may have an idea, but it's not that special, I assure you.
    • If all that's protecting your idea is an NDA, then you shouldn't be talking to anyone yet.
    • A lot of the crap in NDA's is unenforceable. Say your idea is Facebook for civil servants; what constitutes a prosecutable breach? That they went of too work on a Facebook type project? A project marketed at the Civil Service? Anything on the Interweb? End of the day, unless it's pretty blatant, such breaches are pretty difficult to prove, as otherwise they become too vague and effectively unenforceable.
    • NDA's are, on balance, pretty pointless. You can tell someone your idea and they almost certainly not steal it because they have better things to be doing. Of course, they can give the idea to a third party who will run with it, but then your NDA isn't much use unless you can prove it, which you almost certainly won't.
    So use an NDA if you want, but don't go overboard or people will tell you to piss off. Even if you do, they're not really that useful and increasingly people refuse to sign them. But most important of all is the second point. If all that stands between your idea and someone taking it, you're probably not ready to talk to anyone.

    As ontour2 points out your business plan is far more important than the idea.


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