Your situation is pretty common, and there are standard ways forward. It sounds like what you have is a "trade secret." If so, there is no need to reveal it or

Your situation is pretty common, and there are standard ways forward. It sounds like what you have is a "trade secret." If so, there is no need to reveal it or patent it. You can raise money and even expand globally without ever revealing trade secrets. Let's say you have a way to solve Problem X at 30% the current cost. Great! Solve that problem for a few people. Get reliable testimonials. People and investors will pay attention. You'll get asked how you do it, but just tell them its a trade secret and point them to the satisfied customers. If you can't solve Problem X (even on a reduced scale) without first raising capital, then you should file for a provisional patent and start pitching immediately. A provisional application is simple and inexpensive to file and gives you a year to raise funds and do the work before filing for the real application. Having some kind of market validation (even at a reduced scale) is really key. Whether you have a patent or not, selling IP without that validation is very difficult.