You patent inventions, not ideas. If you choose to file, you may have to give away information that could be useful to your competition. A few reasons to pate

You patent inventions, not ideas. If you choose to file, you may have to give away information that could be useful to your competition. A few reasons to patent: . you really have a defensible invention, in which case you should be doing this with a patent attorney . to gain negotiating advantage, in case you get drawn into a patent fight . to give the impression you've invented some truly innovative tech - some VCs like this . to increase company valuation, in the eyes of VCs and others A few reasons not to patent: . if you disclose your tech, it could be easily copied without your knowledge . a patent on your invention is not worth the cost to file or defend your patent