Questions

My start-up has built a very smart way of doing 360 degree manager reviews, which solves a real problem in the industry. We've redesigned the value-added feature so that it could be used to improve ANY existing 360 degree survey (with some integration). The idea is to open it up to our competitors so they can improve their own offerings to their clients. The danger is that they decide to build the feature themselves instead of partnering with us (probably take about 3 months of work). How do I prevent this and make it more attractive to work with us than doing it themselves? And should I approach the biggest players first, or start with the smaller guys?

I've gone down similar paths in the past. Here are your options:

1) Provisional Patent. if an implementation of their system to his new market would be patentable (i.e. using machine X to make donuts instead of jewelry), then you could file a provisional patent on the idea. Provisional patents are very informal and cheap. They can essentially be written on the back of a napkin, and filed for ~$100. They last for only a year, after which you have to convert them into a 'real patent', otherwise your idea will become open to the public to use.

2) An NDA. You could have them sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), which would have wording in it that basically says, "I'm going to tell you something, and unless you have existing proof that you already had thought of that idea, then you're not allowed to use my idea without my consent". Sometimes the company will not want to sign an NDA because they may have discussed a lot of ideas without writing them down, and by signing your NDA, they'd legally lose the right to use one of those non-written-down ideas. But it's worth a shot.

3) Rely on trust. The way to make this more likely to work is if you are good friends with a big investor in their company, or something like that. Some situation in which, if they steal your idea, they'd be ruining their reputation with someone they care about (they probably don't care about pissing you yourself off). If you don't have such a connection, maybe you can form one (linkedin, etc.).

If you'd like to discuss your options in more detail, incorporating actual experiences of mine, let me know,

all the best,

Lee


Answered 8 years ago

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