I hope that I am being overly-worried..... am I?

I want to work with a small business development center in my city in order to get the guidance and information I need to start my small business later this year. My worry is that once I meet with someone and show them my business plan, ect, that they might take the idea for themselves, or tell someone about it who will in turn use it as their own.

I'm not trying to sound like my idea is the best thing since sliced bread, but I just am a teensy bit worried that I won't be protected from this sort of thing once I start enlisting the aid of a second party.

Am I being too worried?

Ask that question of your small business development center. Ask if they have a internal policy to protect against this sort of thing. I would keep copies of EVERYTHING that you give them along with dates and names of who you submitted these things to. You could always sue them down the road if you think they stole your idea - if you have records it would go a long way in your case. You could also ask them if they minded if you tape recorded your conversations (probably should ask permission to make sure it would be allowed in court). You probably are over-worrying a bit, but I would do the same thing - you never know these days. If you take a few precautions it will likely both make you feel better and quite possibly scare away any potential pilfering of your ideas by letting those who are in the know realize you are protecting yourself.

If this small business development center is legit, then there is no need to worry. They are employed to handle such matters. If you have an original, creative idea that warrants protection from duplicating, then I would seek an attorney who specializes in contract or patent law because original ideas are considered intellectual property. Good luck!

Well, it's okay to be worried in your case, but the thing is that if you need help to start that business - go out there and seek that help, because otherwise the idea will never turn into that business.

I say don't worry too much and best of luck!

Alex

yes! sweetie you are a bit worried! relax

No you are not! Quick background: Fast tracked exec whoe ended up CEO of a Fortune 500 firm. Began investing in new businesses, and learned a ton. Man the "development" field is full of less than honest people (not all). I let an idea of mind slip in the presence of someone that was a "user"! He took the idea and ran with. He was doing moderately well when one day he deceided to make a joke about "his idea".

Now to me, my investment would not have killed me if it went bust. He however put everything into "his idea". He had a working capital line of credit at the same bank where the company that I was running did a lot of business at.

It seems that the bank's board "called" his credit line. Not sure why. Anyway it was sink or swim for his "idea". I rescued him buy buying him out for $0.20 on the dollar & the bank got paid off. The business I bought does OK. He manages it for me.

So you see you really have to be careful with proprietary "ideas". There are people out there that for what ever reason, will take advantage. Was what I did right? It was just as wrong as his action!