Maintaining proprietary information while seeking venture capital?
Posted by admin on 7 Sep 2009 11:37 pm. Filed under Small Business.
a little concerned
The business is a success, but in order to take it to the next level, we need two things…
The business is a success, but in order to take it to the next level, we need two things…
1) An idea of how to adjust the way we work in order to set us apart from the competition (we believe that we have this)
2) Venture capital to put the idea into motion (larger advertising budget, facilities, more people etc)
The problem is, how do we secure funding from a venture capital company without giving away the idea and intellectual property we have that we know will improve the business?
Once the idea is seen by others in the industry, they will start to replicate the idea, so we must hit first, hit hard and cover a wide area.
with a successful business, I wouldn’t be giving away 51% of the company for any amount of money…who would?
2 Comments to “Maintaining proprietary information while seeking venture capital?”
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On September 8th, 2009 at 3:25 am
Have anyone you speak with sign a confidentiality agreement and a non compete agreement, before you give them any information.
On September 8th, 2009 at 5:24 am
You can’t. Even if you sign them to a secrecy agreement, your secret is out. They will take a 51% ownership interest in your company so you might as well trust them from the beginning.