New Business Concept

Have you signed an employment contract already? If so, you might want to take a deeper look at it. Some companies have the audacity to claim anything created by you (even off-site and off-hour) as their own. For this reason, most people that I've heard discussing this sort of thing recommend seeking a lawyer for advice.

Get an attorney. Start your own company.

If it's worth millions, then it's worth it.

Not enough info but in general (most cases) you are their property and what you have they own in some rare cases probably less then1% they will be fair and pay fair share but in general no it's theirs just read all the fine print and even if you can't read it they have it someone to own you and your work and your contribution.

Whatever you do, do NOT tell anybody. That means no suggestion box, no open discussions, nothing. As much as we'd hope to think people are fair about things, they're not. Use your leverage, go out on your own, and consult/build a business around your idea.

Start your own company. There are plenty of ways to get funding and if it really is a million dollar idea then funding wont be hard to come by.

Get an attorney though, one that knows what he's doing.

Business is business, and that is a different world than personal relationships. Loyalty stands for very little, unfortunately. If you find a business associate who values loyalty, try to stay in touch with them.

An NDA/non-compete and a licensing agreement should keep you protected, if you're going the road of giving the idea to someone else to execute.

Let's talk about execution.

This is how an idea's value can really be measured when you bring it to someone else.

How interested are they in executing it?

You have to know this before you meet and disclose the idea.

And then you still have another factor to consider: honestly (or morality). Picture a 2 x 2 grid displaying four possible outcomes.

They are interested and honest.

They are interested and dishonest.

They are uninterested and honest.

They are uninterested and dishonest.

Are you starting to see why it's important to know how they rank on these two factors before you reveal your idea?

We're in negotiation now. Which, by the way, is selling. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. What I am sharing is selling advice.

You had better have your BANTA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) figured out for each of these four possibilities.

Copyrights, trademarks, patents are all helpful, but they are not bulletproof protection.

Especially patents.

Utility patents, for something like a zipper on an article of clothing being termed as a "device pocket", are the kind of thing Mark Cuban goes berserk about the silliness of. They're the veneer of protection.

Regular patents only protect execution (see how we're back to that word again?) specifically the way you have explained it.

So 3M has a patent on Post-It (tm) Notes.

The patent is for a lightweight strip of glue running across the top of a small piece of paper.

If you can come up with another way of temporarily securing the note to other objects without using lightweight glue, 3M's patent is meaningless. You can just go do that.

That's why when you disclose your idea, the NDA is not really protection. If they can figure out another way of executing your idea, they're home free.

If they are interested and honest, they will tell you so. They are ready to get started, will play by the rules, and you can expect to be paid properly. [SAFE]

If they are interested and dishonest, they will tell you it's an airy-fairy idea, they don't like it, it won't work. But they were quick to agree to the meeting. And they kept asking you questions about how you planned to execute the idea. [DANGER]

If they are uninterested and honest, they again will tell you so. It may be hard to book the meeting. They keep bumping the date. This may be a good opportunity for a reality check, and possibly getting execution ideas from someone who knows how to do the work but isn't going to get involved in it. [SAFE]

If they are uninterested and dishonest, you are going to get the run-around. The meeting will take forever to get, or get booked and run so fast it's like poop through a goose. They may ask a lot of questions to "hedge their bets"...but they'll never execute. [SAFE]


As you can see, most of the time, you are safe sharing your idea.

Remember, execution is rare.

People are already busy with their own ideas, which they believe to be valuable. They are unlikely to remove resources from those to execute your new idea.

So overall, you are relatively safe from being ripped off...especially if you are careful who you share your idea with.

How long it takes you to book the meeting, the process they want to follow, how they ask and answer questions...all these will show you their level of honesty. Easy come, easy go. There should be some rigor involved in setting up an agreement like this. Honest people will probably want to see you put some skin in the game, too.

Ok....here is something similar ...if you are a Science Fiction buff then you know that the Syfy channel pulled a record breaking move via social networks never before seen with Sharknado 3. 2-3 billion Twitter impressions
The impressions have been going up on every release of this cult series ,every year. They have demanded a Sharknado 4. They had no idea it was going to be that hot. Look it up ....see for yourself. Any way sometimes we can see trends and sometimes they just happen. Amazon as of this week has eclipsed Wal-Mart in revenue. Amazon now bigger than Wal-Mart.

I am saying this because we are in some record breaking times. Possibilities are happening all over when the odds appear to be against it. If you really want a 6 or 7 figure business ...I believe more than ever it is within reach. I follow trends and there is a new trend emerging that is causing wide swings of a things to happen. It is a real short window . Enough said.