How Do I Protect My Idea From An Investor?

Could I also use the same type of agreement if I meet with a potential CLIENT, give them suggestions, then want to deter them from using my suggestions if they hire someone else?

Hmmmm... somehow that's both humbling and comforting.

Whoa! I won't be needing any sharks... yet.

As all the others have said an NDA is best. But its really more of a superficial for show type thing. If they want to steal your idea they will.

But also as others have stated most investors wont want to do that. Why risk a bad rep and all the fuss. Plus remember that you need his money and he needs you to do the ground work with a passionate attitude otherwise it wont work.

I also got given the advice to mail myself my idea and I used it. One thing I have learned about all of my great ideas. They arnt so great, but let me explain.

An idea is only as good as the results it produces and the effect it has on peoples lives. Most ideas never make it onto paper let alone to market and the ones that do make it to market dont turn over billions of dollars like the stories we are used to... its just the reality of things.

Plus you have to remember to be humble. Like Jacque Fresco says "Its not your idea. You just discovered it".

But in staying on the right frequency of this thread. Here is a much easier way to protect your idea whilst not alienating or making the investor feel too weird. This is what I would do.

Dont use an NDA, its not the warmest way to greet an investor. Instead protect your idea by creating a google document and even adding extra oomph by emailing it to yourself and one other person you trust like a spouse or sibling. Simple as that. Sfter you have the meeting you do the same with another document noting the minutes of the meeting. All google docs get time stamped with the time and date down to the very second of their creation and so do emails, that way having time stamped docs along with another entity is a great idea. The reason people say to send it in the post or whatever is that they think its "more official". But in reality the post office is no more official than your own notes and googles time stamp. Its just a question of perspective.

Goodluck!

-Andrei

If he is an investor then he should expect an NDA since mostly everybody will use it, we do not live in a perfect world, if they use his idea and he has no proof then its theirs

Same as the Facebook story, if Zuckerberg did sign an NDA then he wouldn't be where he is now lol ..

I found this page that gives examples of things that are protected by non-disclosure agreements:

Examples of Information Protected by NDAs

My main concern is that I'm a small fish in a small pond, and I have a few HUGE competitors who, although they have yet to do what I'm proposing, would totally eclipse me if they did.

I don't expect malicious intent, but I'm aware that things can slip out in casual conversation.

For me, signing an NDA would be a gesture that the investor is simply willing to exercise caution in a situation where they may inadvertantly give away my strategies, methods, etc..

BTW - Once I get my project funded, I can certainly bring in "competitors" as part of the marketing strategy; we all have SOMETHING that the other one needs.