r/startups • u/everyday_indian • 1d ago
I will not promote How do I protect my idea? I will not promote
TLDR; Need suggestions on how to protect my idea if I share it with someone.
I never really thought of a startup or app development per se, but I recently got an idea that I think would work if executed well. I have started working on it, and the initial development is about 70% done. However, the key feature what makes it unique/different is pending.
I’m currently working on iOS development using Swift code. I have never worked with Swift, but have a bit of experience using Python, so I get by with Vibe coding. I can tell if the AI makes a mistake, and can fix it. It’s been great so far. What would’ve taken me more than a month, I was able to achieve in 10 days.
Coming to the point, as I see it, I will need additional resources to work on Android app, someone with Swift/Python + Data Engineering + ML experience.
I am working on this as a side project during my free time. I can’t work on it full-time due to my visa restrictions. If I wanted to start a company, hire people etc, I will need to pay myself a salary to satisfy legal requirements. I’m stuck at a point where I can’t secure any funding without actually having an early prototype or a beta version, a small team, and a company/LLC.
So, my initial thought was to find someone who likes and believes in the idea and would work without salary but stake in the company in event of securing funding - like a co-founder.
But this is where I’m really conflicted. How do I make sure, that the person with who I share my idea rejects joining me and work on it themselves? It’s not like I can patent it. What do I do in this situation? How can I navigate this?
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u/desert_jim 1d ago
The ideas aren't worth much on their own. It's the execution that matters. At some point you will have to launch and a competitor could enter the market and there isn't much stopping them. How will your business thrive then?
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u/OssomDood 1d ago
Allow me to be blunt.
For years I thought the same thing. That I have to protect my idea and keep it a secret.
Honestly? No one cares. Even if you it's a trillion dollar idea. No one cares.
It's worth something until someone actually is willing to pay you money for it. Everyone has ideas. In fact, with AI, idea is dirt cheap.
If you want it to know it's value, talk to the people who you're solving problems for.
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u/everyday_indian 1d ago
I’m get it. I’m also curious on how I can manage sharing my codebase. There’s no office space, and anyone who joins has to work remotely. Along with the idea, they’d have access to all my code as well, which is why I’m even more concerned
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u/hamilkwarg 1d ago
No one cares about your vibe code honestly. Anyone trying to steal it is either an actual developer who would rather rebuild it from scratch based on the working prototype or is a non coder who would also be vibe coding it. But in reality you should not worry about this. You are the heart and soul who can continue guiding the project correctly. Getting the one quarter ass vibe coded prototype is only a moment in time. They will fail in the continued execution. The only startups that should worry about code theft are deep tech startups. And anything vibe coded doesn’t fit that bill.
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u/OfficeSalamander 1d ago
If it isn’t deep tech - something you’d need months of research and professional skills or equivalent in a domain, it’s not really worth protecting, someone can ape it easily
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u/PersonoFly 1d ago
Ideas aren’t unique. Don’t ever kid yourself you have something no one else has thought up.
Focus on ensuring you are defining and building for a defined and validated audience/community/market instead of just you.
Do anything other than that and you have a high likelihood of failing.
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u/Significant-Level178 22h ago
I don’t think there is a simple way to protect it.
I took simple obvious idea, made research and found that no one implemented it. Added my vision and inventions into it. Now I see other people are trying to copy it. Discussed this within closed community and one of the key people in startup culture promised support of strong VC community to protect me from this guy. Idk how this supposed to work tbh. Time will show.
But we have product ready for production and they are looking for tech co founders.
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u/Ashamed_Key_8800 22h ago
Even if your idea is going to Mars via a potato I can tell you at least on thousand people are thinking about that right now. It's not about the idea. It's about having idea and ability to develop and making it a product to sell. 15 years ago I've told an idea on a scene with more than 200 entrepreneurs, investors and developers. I won the first prize of that competition for my idea. That product still does not exist!
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u/holycityofmecca2020 19h ago
Howard Aiken- “Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats”
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u/joumlat 19h ago
Here's a tip from the great book, Lean Startup: write out your business plan and all your IP and go into detail about how great of an idea you have in a memo. Send the memo to your biggest competitor.... And watch them do absolutely nothing with it.
Ideas aren't worth anything. It's all about execution. Even if you think your idea is truly ground breaking you will encounter hundreds of things you just could not have anticipated until you try to execute, and each one of those things will change your original plan. Which means that you shouldn't worry about protecting your current plan, which is going to change over and over anyway, don't worry about lawyers or nda's or any of that. Just focus on executing better than anyone else
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u/SeawormDeveloper 18h ago
From my experience, ideas are worthless. You can walk silicon valley and pick up plenty of ideas you can't execute. You will get people reaching out to you to "build their idea". The real determining factor is your ability to execute. So share your idea without worry. Once you launch everyone will know your idea anyways.
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u/sexinsuburbia 17h ago edited 16h ago
I'd focus more on coming up with a preliminary GTM plan rather than trying to focus on product development. Instead of building every feature first, think about how you are going to test the market. Get some alpha users in there to provide feedback, even if you're just showing them wireframes how your product works and what the user experience is. Use feedback to shape your development roadmap. Then you can determine how many features need to be built for launch. Then you can do a proper needs analysis what you're missing.
Also, hit your network up and try to get advisors to sign on. They'll be able to give you insights, direction, and credibility. As well as opening up their network to help you better succeed. You might need to give them a small equity grant for signing on, or not. I typically advise founders for free because it helps keep my skills sharp, gives me something to talk about at networking events, and most of the time I'm just getting tossed into the team slide for pitch decks on extremely early stage projects where there's still a lot of TBD.
You can use NDAs to protect your IP if you're sharing technical details with third parties, potential co-founders or advisors, too. However, you should be able to have an elevator pitch down where you're able to describe what your app does to anyone on the street. For example, you should be able to say something along the lines of, "I'm developing an app that reduces inefficiencies in logistics by using AI to identify excess capacity."
You'd want to keep the secret sauce secret, but you shouldn't feel paranoid someone is going to steal your idea stating the business problem you're trying to solve. Chances are your idea isn't all that special. Everyone has ideas.
Getting an LLC and a template NDA isn't that difficult. Some out of pocket expense, but it also means you're serious about getting this thing off the ground.
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u/SynthDude555 14h ago
Literally no one cares about your idea. No one is trying to steal it. Even if they do, just ask Apple how important being first to market is. Your fear is in the wrong place, focus on feedback and execution. Ideas are the cheapest currency there is, everyone else also has too many to work on them all.
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u/justSayingItAsItIs 1d ago
You've answered your own question
I've got a good idea, if executed well
99.99% of people don't want to steal your idea, and if they do, why could they execute it better than you?
Just build, tell as many people as you possibly can because that's how you'll really know if it's a good idea
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u/ConversationFalse242 1d ago
NDA and non compete agreements will stop some one from being able to run off with your idea
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u/hamilkwarg 1d ago
No one will bother signing one to look at a vibe coded startup. It actually handicaps you as the signer because it increases your risk of this paranoid first time founder suing you for breach. Think about it - anyone interested would be in the same general field anyway. So the chances they go on to do something tangentially related is high. Any VC will especially laugh you out of the room. They hear so many similar sounding pitches that signing an nda exposes them to being sued for funding anything that sounds remotely similar even when it’s completely independently developed.
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u/ConversationFalse242 1d ago
I didnt say it would get traction.
I said thats how you protect yourself
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u/WeCanApp 1d ago
An idea is like looking outside and saying "If we built a house on that land, someone would buy it." My experience initially was thinking someone would steal my idea. But actually nobody wants to suffer to build it. The founder of MySpace had an idea, so did the founder of facebook. Different planning and different execution. Similar idea. Every step you take moving forward, is both a risk and an opportunity to learn.
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u/ActiveDinner3497 20h ago
If in the U.S., attend a One Million Cups event for inspiration and maybe at some point present for potential investors and help. This will record your promotion of the idea in case anything does pop up in the future, though that’s doubtful.
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u/orcstork 20h ago
You should not worry so much about others stealing your idea, because the moment it goes public you will instantly have someone else copying your idea regardless.
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u/datlankydude 16h ago
Ideas are easy. Execution is hard.
Every founder I’ve met who’s focused on patents has failed, and gone nowhere, as a data point.
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u/everyday_indian 10h ago
Thank you all for valuable suggestions! It’s just my paranoia being a first timer. I’ve never imagined this is something I’d even explore. I’ll focus on the building the product and its execution. Hope I’ll make it!
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u/theredhype 1d ago
If you keep it secret it’s gonna be real hard to sell it.