[rollotomasi]

Hi, first time poster here...but I'm really glad I stumbled upon the site.

I have a question that may be stupid, but oh well...

How can I pitch an idea to a possible investor without it getting stolen?

I have a great business proposal, but I definitely am fearful of it falling in the wrong hands especially after reading the fishy replies on this forum.

[Cameron]

Have them sign an online NON DISCLOSURE PAPER(NDA) You can ask someone here for a draft and send it to the investor and have it notiarized. This way, if they steal your idea, you can easily sue with them acknowledged seeing your plans.

[turbooo]

I myself had the same problem and got some useful and useless replies. However the way i understood things are even with fortunes spent on legal protection, if someone really wanted to steal your idea, they will. For example ive learned that even if you got your investor to sign a non-disclosure agreement, he/she can tell the idea to a friend and that friend can tell his neighbor and now the neighbor can steal your idea without any legal problems. patents now-a-days have leak-holes and ways where you can go around em, especially on the web.

My conclusion. There really is no 100% guaranteed method to protect your idea being stolen. Just methods and ways to discourage people from stealing your idea. But again this is just what ive gathered from my previous post and google searches. Hope it helps. =D

[cocaine]

Learn't something new here, didn't know/think there was this paper work to protect your ideas.

But if you need the capital why don't you get a bank loan or go to a respectable investment company there most probably not going to steel your idea rather than some unknown investor.

[Steve]

Venture Capital firms and banks will not sign an NDA. They are in the business of loaning money and generally will not steal your ideas. It is the "industry expert" that will steal your idea.

[akula]

That's right. They won't sign because if they did sign, a fund manager (who sees 500-1000 business plans a years) wouldn't be able to go to a corner shop without breaching someone's NDA.

Anybody with an iota of sense will laugh at an entrepreneur and their silly, paranoid NDA's

I'm officially not ever replying to another "steal idea" thread

Anyone who worries about "ideas being stolen" is a flake