Tuesday, May 26, 2015

How Can I Keep Potential Investors from Stealing My Business Idea?

May 26, 2015

Dear Cathy:

I decided to use potential investors to fund my business but how can I protect my business idea?  Future Business Owner, Texas

Dear Future Business Owner:

Closely related misconceptions include the one that says you must keep your business idea secret for fear of "copycats."  That leads new entrepreneurs to be overly protective.  These new or potential business owners don’t want to write down their ideas because they’re afraid somebody will steal it.  It takes a complicated operations plan to make a product into a stream of revenue, and that takes a long time. 

Remember business owners are “risk-takers” but you need to be an intelligent risk-taker.  If you are that afraid that an investor, or someone else, is going to steal your business idea - then patent it, get a trademark or copyright it before you present it to investors. 

You can do this yourself over the internet by copyrighting it or get a trademark or patent attorney.  Sometimes investors will want you to give them part of your company, but don’t be so paranoid that you run potential investors away.

To view a list of 30 potential ways to fund your business read “How To Take Control of Your Own Life: A Self-Help Guide To Starting Your Own Business – available as an e-book and paperback.

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