Sharing Your Business Idea with Others

December 31, 2007 by mrbizplan.

LSMURRAY Asks:

How would I go about putting my idea into a business plan without giving anyone that reads it the ability to (steal my ideas and) take me out of the picture.

Mr BizPlan Answers:

Thanks for the question. I am going to try to answer it from two different angles.

Protecting your idea from unscrupulous people can be put you in a precarious position. On one hand you would like to get the benefits of sharing your idea with others. These benefits can be invaluable as you venture into a new business. A new pair of eyes with a fresh view point can help you identify; problems with your assumptions, new opportunities that haven’t been explored, and/or just provide constructive criticism. But the idea of someone stealing your business idea and starting it themselves can be a very real and paralyzing fear.

Anecdotally, there is a story from my hometown, where two local university students wanted to open a “drive up only” burger joint. They took their idea to a local entrepreneur who made lots of money in various enterprises including car dealerships and showed him the business plan because they wanted to open it in one of his defunct used car lots. He asked to keep a copy of the business plan for “review” for a few days, which turned into weeks and a couple months later he opened a Hamburger Heaven in that very location.

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