A business-y question

[jgmcdee]

I never got anywhere with my brilliant idea ...

The world's first Inconvenience Food, CANNED LETTUCE.

Many years ago I came up with dwarf grass. Sure there's a fortune to be made somewhere...

 

[jgmcdee]

And back on-topic, as others have said you need to find a few people you can trust and talk it over with them. Family, close friends, whatever, but you need a sanity check first.

You then need to work out what it is you actually have, and what is stopping the person next door from doing the same thing. If it's a process or technology then you might want to consider patenting it. It's not desperately cheap, but not massively expensive either (~£5K to apply for a UK patent) if you think that your idea is a world-changer and you're serious about it.

The whole NDA thing is tricky: you're basically saying to whomever you are pitching "I don't trust you and I want the ability to sue you should you do something I might be able to state was a copy of my idea." At an early stage, very few people will talk to you if you make it a precondition that they have to sign such a document.

Bottom line is that you're going to have to find some people you can trust before you can progress.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

FWIW big business is currently being held up due to one of my cats going to sleep on my laptop keyboard.

I bet Alan Sugar doesn't have these problems.

I'd imagine that with his money Alan Sugar has had to deal with many a pussy being thrown at him.

 

[Dick Head]

Oh, poo.

i'm out!

 

[lawros left foot]

You have to say" I have a cunning plan". It always worked for Baldrick

 

[Beach Hut]

NDAs are pretty standard these days and safe.

We use them a lot at work currently.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Many years ago I came up with dwarf grass. Sure there's a fortune to be made somewhere...

Only in Leon Knight's back garden

 

[Jimmy Come Lately]

Would it be giving away too much (or just derail the thread into silly NSC speculation) to say what field your idea relates to? Someone here might have contacts in the industry and be able to suggest someone trustworthy you could approach.

If the idea really is that simple it sounds like you'll have to take a risk and let someone else in on the it, and hope that they don't rip you off. Unfortunately if you sound too paranoid it really is likely to put people off meeting you: the company runs the risk that you then describe a project that they're already working on, and you might be the kind of crazy who'll try to sue them for copying "your" idea, so it's safer for them if they don't talk to you at all.

 

[Willy Dangle]

Is it a chat room where people can talk utter crap and everyone believes them?

 

[surrey jim]

Ask Suralan for the money

https://apprentice.fremantlemedia.com/application

 

[Tricky Dicky]

B

Would it be giving away too much (or just derail the thread into silly NSC speculation) to say what field your idea relates to? Someone here might have contacts in the industry and be able to suggest someone trustworthy you could approach.

If the idea really is that simple it sounds like you'll have to take a risk and let someone else in on the it, and hope that they don't rip you off. Unfortunately if you sound too paranoid it really is likely to put people off meeting you: the company runs the risk that you then describe a project that they're already working on, and you might be the kind of crazy who'll try to sue them for copying "your" idea, so it's safer for them if they don't talk to you at all.

I don't want to give anything away just yet, but I agree I will have to at some point. I still want to be able to say that I've told no-one right now.

I would be working on my document right now, but it's diffucult to type very well while I'm on dialysis, so it'll have to wait til later. I've always quite liked writing technical docs, so it's no hardship