Belmont University

Balancing the Need to Share with the Need to Protect

A dicey issue for a new venture is how much information to share, who to share it with, how to protect the information you share, and when you might need a patent. Sometimes entrepreneurs are too careful and hide their ideas under a bushel basket. Other times they are like a frat boy at a beer bust and will tell their story to anyone who will listen.

eVenturing's latest collection of tools, articles and essays is on intellectual property. As they have in the past, they have put together a powerful set of information, including several pieces on patents. There is also a good template of a non-disclosure agreement that is useful for many new businesses, whether you have something that is patentable, or not.


Posted by Jeff Cornwall on August 3, 2006 05:51 AM |

Comments

Early stage enterprises spend way too much time worrying about protecting their ideas. Frankly a well protected 'idea' is not worth the paper it is printed on. There are a gazillion business ideas out there, what is in short supply is people to act on them.

I do admit that some industries, such as bio-tech, pharmaceuticals and other heavy R&D industry need to have a strategy for protecting IP, but what is more important is having a sound strategy for how you sell it! I see a lot of great products, but I rarely see a great strategy for selling it. So, I would say that most entrepreneurs should error on the side of being a frat boy at a beer bust telling everyone they can about their product... especially people that might buy it!

I even take this a step further. I regularly spend time talking to competitors, tell them what we are doing and asking what they are doing (this was actually advice from an advisor who always visited competitors when he traveled and ending up having a competitor buy them). Just by getting to know our competitors personally we ended acquiring a competitor that greatly added to our business.

Sure there are risks… we did lose some customers to a supplier once, however, in my experience the benefits have greatly outweighed the risks a hundred to one.

Birdied by: David Cooper | August 4, 2006 11:58 AM

In Regards to David's comment:

I might fall into the catagory of a young entrepreneur that doesn't say enough about her business, but wouldn't you rather err on the side of caution? An idea unadvertised is rarely stolen, but the frat boy will never get his back -- don't take me wrong, I agree you have to make the right connections, but when I followed the advice of "putting it out there" and entered a competition, one of the first people at our business stand ask pointedly "who owns this?", and proceeded to tell us that we shouldn't be advertising. I have his business card and had filed some IP that covers much of the design, but sometimes I'd wonder to who's benefit it really is to push that "execution" is what really matters -- it matters, but lets not forget to focus on the foundation before you build the house.

The truth is, execution is something that can be highly supplimented by those with experience (so long as the young entrepreneur can gain access to them), but dismissing the value of an unheard idea is to pass judgement on the idea-holder. Now, I don't dismiss the value in sharing knowledge, but sometimes you're not talking to the average Joe... and acknowledged, sometimes the average Joe doesn't believe he's average. Honestly, I'd rather participate in what other entrepreneurs are enjoying: participating in Dragon's Den and pitching the idea to VCs to raise capital. (Talk about exposure, access to capital, and a great experience). Hopefully nobody on that show will reveal a winning idea only to be stolen by a large company. (I'm thinking Ford and the windshield wipers...)

Anyhow, I'll be watching when it comes out in the fall (and as they're making it: www.insidethedragonsden.com), and maybe in the meanwhile, I should dismiss the value of others' ideas and coax them into spouting it. (Maybe I'll bring a few beers for the frat boys).

Birdied by: Mel. B. | August 8, 2006 01:02 AM

This is a great topic to discuss. Unless your idea has few barriers to entry (easily and inexpensively copied), tell everyone and tell them often!

I agree that there are far more ideas available then people to implement them. Word of mouth marketing is a powerful tool - one not easily mastered without strategy and persistence.

Thanks for the post.

Regards,
Greg Magnus
www.eoecho.com

Birdied by: Greg Magnus | August 11, 2006 01:39 PM

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