Your Idea Isn’t Good Enough To Keep Secret

October 13, 2005 by Dane | 1 Comment
In Entrepreneurial Lifestyle, Ideas, Planning

Ramit Sethi continues his excellent series on personal entrepreneurship today with a topic that all entrepreneurs fret about: Should you keep your idea secret? Ramit and I agree that the answer is no. Ideas are easy, its how you put them into practice that counts:

One of the most rookie mistakes young entrepreneurs make is keeping their ideas secret. It goes something like this:

You: “So what are you working on?”
Rookie: “Oh, sorry. I can’t really talk about it.”

Really! Your idea is so grand that you can’t share it with even your close friend? Wow, I want to invest in you right now!!!

The thinking behind this is as simple as it is moronic: “My idea is so compelling that I can’t afford to let anyone hear it. They might steal it/tell others/make me not first-to-market/other dire predictions.”

For big companies, secrecy is expected. Google doesn’t want Microsoft to know their plans because, if MS found out, it could present a very real threat to the success of a new product. Personal entrepreneurship is different. You’re small and scrappy and you need to relentlessly market yourself. Don’t worry about your idea being stolen–worry about it succeeding.

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Comments

  • michelle on October 18th, 2005 at 6:28 am

    I have had to million dollar ideas taken and marketed by major companies.

    Telling your best friends and family may be okay but using non-disclosure agreements are standard business practices. Also why are there patents and copyrights if everyone can be trusted??

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