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The only people who have asked me to sign NDA's have been for project which amounted to very little. I work as a contractor so my experience may be different t

by err4nt 12y ago

The only people who have asked me to sign NDA's have been for project which amounted to very little. I work as a contractor so my experience may be different than a full time employee, but for me somebody asking me to sign away my rights for the chance to hear their idea does not attract me. It's a huge red flag to me that they are more interested in locking down their idea than realizing it. My parents taught me a long time ago that creative people give ideas away, and non-creative people cling to the best idea they have run across. If somebody steals from a creative person it's no loss, they have a dozen more ideas and know how to come up with new ones. If a non-creative person has their idea stolen it's a MASSIVE loss because they don't know how or when another idea will come across their path. In life, I have been the creative type and not afraid to let my ideas go, but somebody locking down even discussing their idea send me warning signs they 'arent' a creative type and will guard this one idea they have to the death. That's not conducive to me taking it and turning it into something beautiful. Would you expect a seamstress to make a beautiful gown out of fabric you keep under strict lock and key in a box? They can't work with it!

jacquesm 12y ago
I've been asked to sign NDAs for projects that ended up becoming very valuable companies. The idea alone would have been somewhat valuable to the right company at the time. For instance, in 1985 I built a system that eventually became a very large company that specializes in digitizing/printing photographs on credit cards. At the time it was technologically barely possible so a lot of work needed to be done but the total secrecy of the project was a huge factor in the eventual success of the company. When they rolled out there was simply no competition. It all depends. If you need the work, sign the NDA, if you don't need the work be prepared to lose the customer.
- wpietri 12y ago
  The relationship between "signed an NDA" and "total secrecy achieved" is... not a given. The people to whom this article is addressed, business novices, might be better off achieving secrecy without using NDAs at all. They probably can't afford to actually enforce an NDA if something goes south. Tech entrepreneurs in particular are, I think, much better served by focusing on creativity and speed of iteration as a barrier to competition, plus a fair bit of discernment in what they tell to whom. A copied-from-some-body-else NDA strikes me as about as valuable to a modestly funded entrepreneur as a crepe paper seat belt.
wpietri 12y ago
Yes, definitely. Getting a product from initial idea to market requires an immense amount of creativity. I'm happy to sign an NDA for people who have actually built up a secret sauce that's worth protecting. E.g., when they've taken that initial idea and done a bunch of experimentation. But for the "OMG I HAVE AN IDEA" people, their initial demand to sign an NDA is usually a sign to me that they should learn the ropes with somebody else.
- McDoku 12y ago
  Absolutely! Like you said if you have 5 years of R & D into it, this is a completely different matter. I know it sounds silly, but I love contracts. They give a clear line of expectations and allow you to make necessary calculations. They are an integral co-planning process. Fact of life is people snipe. We treat our future self as a stranger and we feel differently about agreement as they develop. People like asymmetric power in a negotiation and will go about acquiring it with an NDA or by not signing one when it is merited.
hga 12y ago
Echoing jacquesm and especially wpietri, the last time I can remember signing an NDA for an interview, the company actually had a MVP and customers, the MVP was being crushed by the load (the company provided services and used the MVP internally to produce those, so it wasn't a super crisis yet). I was hired to help improve the MVP, and do all the things a 2nd technical type might do. The company before that, though, had a great idea, but their policy of total secrecy before launch, and fear of getting crushed by immediate load, delayed their launch past a point where they could survive. Although in that case they were creative people.

by err4nt 12y ago

jacquesm 12y ago

I've been asked to sign NDAs for projects that ended up becoming very valuable companies. The idea alone would have been somewhat valuable to the right company at the time. For instance, in 1985 I built a system that eventually became a very large company that specializes in digitizing/printing photographs on credit cards. At the time it was technologically barely possible so a lot of work needed to be done but the total secrecy of the project was a huge factor in the eventual success of the company. When they rolled out there was simply no competition. It all depends. If you need the work, sign the NDA, if you don't need the work be prepared to lose the customer.

wpietri 12y ago
The relationship between "signed an NDA" and "total secrecy achieved" is... not a given. The people to whom this article is addressed, business novices, might be better off achieving secrecy without using NDAs at all. They probably can't afford to actually enforce an NDA if something goes south. Tech entrepreneurs in particular are, I think, much better served by focusing on creativity and speed of iteration as a barrier to competition, plus a fair bit of discernment in what they tell to whom. A copied-from-some-body-else NDA strikes me as about as valuable to a modestly funded entrepreneur as a crepe paper seat belt.

wpietri 12y ago

Yes, definitely. Getting a product from initial idea to market requires an immense amount of creativity. I'm happy to sign an NDA for people who have actually built up a secret sauce that's worth protecting. E.g., when they've taken that initial idea and done a bunch of experimentation. But for the "OMG I HAVE AN IDEA" people, their initial demand to sign an NDA is usually a sign to me that they should learn the ropes with somebody else.

McDoku 12y ago
Absolutely! Like you said if you have 5 years of R & D into it, this is a completely different matter. I know it sounds silly, but I love contracts. They give a clear line of expectations and allow you to make necessary calculations. They are an integral co-planning process. Fact of life is people snipe. We treat our future self as a stranger and we feel differently about agreement as they develop. People like asymmetric power in a negotiation and will go about acquiring it with an NDA or by not signing one when it is merited.

hga 12y ago

Echoing jacquesm and especially wpietri, the last time I can remember signing an NDA for an interview, the company actually had a MVP and customers, the MVP was being crushed by the load (the company provided services and used the MVP internally to produce those, so it wasn't a super crisis yet). I was hired to help improve the MVP, and do all the things a 2nd technical type might do. The company before that, though, had a great idea, but their policy of total secrecy before launch, and fear of getting crushed by immediate load, delayed their launch past a point where they could survive. Although in that case they were creative people.