Did you ever had a potential JV Partner run away with your product idea?

Sagar,

Thankfully things like that don't happen often
but when it happens close to home it hurts.

I hope it doesn't stop your friend from contnuing
to developing new ideas or from trusting other
people all together. Perhaps they'll be a bit
more cautious about how much information they
reveal before getting to know more about other
potential JV partners.

Unless your friend has some form of agreement
in place, there's not likely to be much opportunity
for recourse.

John

John,

Yep, that sure does hurt.

No stopping though. These are more like one off incidents - thank God for that!

Lesson learned I guess

Sagar

That does suck. But without a cofidentiality agreement signed your friend cant legally do anything.

The upside to this is that your friend can still launch the idea under his own brand. People with the vision know what they want to do and where to take the concept. the person who built it just did it to get it out there and see if its profitable. Im sure every successful product, campaign, idea, software, etc gets cloned eventually. Your friend just has to realize that the ideas are worth more.

Next time he will know better.

Hi Sagar,

I'm sorry this happened to your friend. I've never understood this type of behavior, because there's no future thinking involved. This JV partner may be making more right now by cutting your friend out. But I'd be willing to wager that your friend will not be going to this person for any future JV deals.

This reminds me of a merchant on Clickbank I caught recently cheating their affiliates out of money. They were at the top of their niche, and their affiliates were making them a boat load of money. And now they're making didly, because they tried to cheat their affiliates. No future thinking! - What a bunch of morons!

Any way, I hope this doesn't dissuade your friend from forming future partnerships. Just move on, and let this JV partner wallow in their own failed thinking.

This hasn't happened to me yet, but I'm sure it will. I like to remember that ideas are worth nothing, nada, zilch...which is why I laugh when I read posts of people saying they need help, but are unwilling to share their idea for fear it will be stolen...

Most of the IMers equipped to actually steal your idea and scale it up already have their plates full.

This isn't the end of the world...There's no reason your friend can't compete if he/she is really gung-ho about this. The person launching this on their own only proves you'll make money if you pursue...in almost any case.

This story is sad, but there is just way to much opportunity out there. As a previous outside salesmen I learned to let things fly by my head... and it's done wonders for me.

WAY too much out there...this really is just a little bump on an interstate hwy.

By the way...most products are copied in some form or another. First movers aren't always the ones that end up on top. They just spend the money finding out what works...and then all the competition just copies them.

Ever wonder why so many fast food restaurants position themselves within close proximity to McDonalds? They know McDonalds pays billions in market research and they just ride their coattail.

Cheers,

Scott

hi sagar,

its truely awful what has happened to your friend. This is quite rare all jvs that i have done have run smoothly even though i havent gone into business with all of them that have asked me.

Hi Sagar,

Im sorry for your friend. Surely he can charge it to experience.
These things do happen from time to time but not usually.

As for his idea, I'm sure he can still do his own launch specially if he is really passionate about it.

In the end it's not about who's got the most unique idea, but who can promote it and sell it best...That is the spirit of marketing...

:-)

Omar

Can you say NDA (non disclosure agreement)....wonder if that would work in this sense.

Being fairly new, only being involved with IM for a year, I have some great "idea's", but lack the knowledge and resources to implement them without the aid of a JV partner. This always weighs heavy on me..."who to trust".
I do not know many here, or in the IM world personally and am always leary to "ask for help" for this very reason...being taken advantage of because I am new.

I know I'm my own worst enemy at times with thinking like this...but how can this thought NOT enter the mind of a newcomer with some good idea's?
Saying...that happens rarely really does not ease my mind much...seeing that it clearly does happen...

Most time people are searching for potential JV partners.
Because of that they reveal their idea´s in exchange for "hopefully" positive comment. If the comment is negative they throw the idea away and think about new products... Now how do I know this?
Cause I did the same thing. But thank god, untill now my idea hasn't be duplicated...

Does anyone know of a good sample NDA that we could use to prevent this sort of thing from happening?

Search Google for "sample NDA free" and you're bound to find some!

Thanks to everyone for your replies :-)

The person whom this happened isn't sweating it really.

One thing to remember is that the market is really LARGE. So, there's no way one seller could reach every prospect, even 10 sellers couldn't. So there's something for everyone.

I for one don't mind sharing my ideas for two reasons:

1. I know there's a difference between having an idea for a product and actually making and marketing it. Not many people make the transition even when they're sitting on a golden idea, let alone ideas from other people. Some people don't prefer marketing or creating products themselves. Copywriters, for example. What's stopping them from copying any product idea? Nothing. But they don't because they don't want to - they prefer copywriting.
2. Even if a JV Partner or someone else rips off my idea, I KNOW he/she can't create the product I had in mind because it will include my hands-on experience on my subject. So my product will automatically be better than a copycat's. The only challenge to me would be to market it better which isn't a problem.

Nonetheless, whatever happened to my friend is inexcusable. Probably an NDA would have been in order but a person who steals someone else's idea like that - can you really trust him with signing an NDA? I don't think so.

@ExRat: My reason for being on the receiving ends of JV request is simple: It's part of definition of success. Kind of a like a measure of how successful I am :d

@Garyv: Yep! kinda reminds me about the old addage "What goes around, comes around".

@Scott: Thanks! Spot on example of McDonalds there. I understand almost every product is copied one way or the other. The only sad thing about the whole ordeal the person has had is that it was her first time doing a JV online

@Jagged: It's hard to "ease" up the mind. I see it as a business risk. You can either take it, or you cannot refuse to take it. It's your business and so you get to pick. I like to think chances of this happening are really low and even if it happened, it doesn't bother me for the reasons I put up in my bullet points

Regards,
Sagar

@Jeremy: OUCH! That must've hurt badly. That's good advice from Steven. Just like you, I take feedback from some close friends and see if there's anything that I left out or something I can improve. Good way of getting feedback, without the risk.

@PhotoVideoCompany: Yes, an NDA was the need of the hour. However, if someone steals your idea in the first 2-3 emails you exchange with the person, you are doomed. Nonetheless, if we write it off as experience and learn the lesson involved, we'll be good to go :-)

Sagar

Hey sagar,
sorry to hear about your friend. It has happened to me and am sure has happened to many...Let this be a learning experience for all of us and in future, we should be very diligent in choosing as well as progressing with JV deals.

Dude!!!

I had worse than that happen.

A supposed "friend" called me up while I was in the middle of my coaching program
launch last year and wanted to "pick my brain" about what I was doing with it.

This person said they were in the process of putting there own coaching program
together and wanted to get some insight from me based on what I was doing.

Being the swell guy that I am, I basically let this person SUCK every last detail,
like a VAMPIRE, about what exactly I was doing for my prelaunch/launch strategy
and what my coaching program was going to be.

I even told them the launch date.

Long story short, they totally COCKBLOCKED me and launched their coaching program
on THE SAME DAY as me although during the phone conversation we had, they made it
seem like their project wasn't nearly close to completion!!l
(sorry ladies, it's the only word I can think of to describe what happened. Please forgive me )

Despite all that, I still did $18K in 6 days and $21K overall after 4 months of recurring
payments for people that chose that payment option.

And I did it with NO AFFILIATES!! (well, just 1 but those sales accounted for about 15% of the total sales generated)

Through this lesson, I TOTALLY lost a lot of respect for this person that I considered to be a
good friend.

Now, I ONLY tell 2 or 3 people about stuff I'm working on, and no one else!!

I consider these people my "board of directors."

Tell your friend to just run with the project and SCREW that other person that is trying
to rip off his idea.

He can still profit from it. His so called "friend" will just be competition.

All the best,
Jason Dinner

@PhotoVideoCompany: Yes, as I said in one of my posts above, lesson learned

@Shonee: Hope it didn't deter you from your goals. Keep going strong.

@Jason: Good on you man! That's commendable for sure - and that you kept positive through it all is even better. Thanks for that inspiration

Sagar