Posted: November 06th, 2007 by Richard Banfield  Category: Tips & Tricks

This post from Robert Glazer on NDAs is a good reminder that ideas are not nearly as important as execution. Ideas are useless unless someone does something actionable about them. Here's a snippet...

Let’s bring this concept back to small businesses for a second. In my career, I have probably read over 2000 business plans from entrepreneurs seeking their first round of investment capital. I tend to cringe (as do all venture investors) a little bit when folks ask me for an NDA simply to hear their idea. As a general rule, I believe the entrepreneurs who are taking this approach have been given bad advice and often tend to be putting too much focus on the idea itself. They are often hunkered down holding onto the belief that their idea is proprietary, when in reality, what will make them successful is their ability to execute on that idea. This has more to do with the team, key business relationships, intellectual property, etc. An NDA is really more appropriate if you are trying to protect specific information such as a trade secret, real financials (i.e. historical), etc. or to protect your core information as part of a formal relationship with a service provider. However, if you ask for an NDA just for someone to hear your pitch, you may creative a negative first impression. Very few repeat or serial entrepreneurs will ever ask for an NDA as a prerequisite to hearing their idea, mostly because they know that their competitive advantage lies in their execution capabilities.

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