Would they have eventually thought of this anyway? Then the extra value is that he thought of it sooner. Also - he could have tried to negotiate, maybe go throu

Would they have eventually thought of this anyway? Then the extra value is that he thought of it sooner. Also - he could have tried to negotiate, maybe go through a third party (I talked to a guy at company X who has says he has a great idea for our site) to get compensated. If you give up your idea without any agreement, you are losing any leverage you might have.