Comments on: Choose who you tell your idea to http://rokham.org/2008/12/choose-who-you-tell-your-idea-to/ The experience of a Torontonian entrepreneur Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:09:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Meto B http://rokham.org/2008/12/choose-who-you-tell-your-idea-to/#comment-14 Meto B Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:53:22 +0000 http://rokham.org/?p=47#comment-14 Keep your friends close, keep your enemies ... closer. I have a feeling I know this person. Sorry to hear it happened tho... Keep your friends close, keep your enemies … closer. I have a feeling I know this person. Sorry to hear it happened tho…

]]> By: Jack http://rokham.org/2008/12/choose-who-you-tell-your-idea-to/#comment-11 Jack Sat, 20 Dec 2008 01:24:40 +0000 http://rokham.org/?p=47#comment-11 I can tell you from my business experience, without getting into nitty gritty details that lessons learned were: you have to choose your partner VERY VERY CAREFULLY and not to be shy in any way and make him/her sign all required paper and sign yourself. In my case the partner was brother in law, he basically defrauded me had my wife (his very sister) for quite big sum of money (let me keep the number for myself), making tons of promises and nothing real to make them real. Scary thing was that he believed his lies himself. At the beginning you see quite sensible guy, but when you actually get to know ... Imagine your relatives doing it. How in the world you can expect people that are foreign to you not to. Same goes for "friends" like you describe. its like a partner, just for shorter term. so: 1. choose your partners and "friends" very carefully 2. never ... I MEAN NEVER ... do business with your family I can tell you from my business experience, without getting into nitty gritty details that lessons learned were: you have to choose your partner VERY VERY CAREFULLY and not to be shy in any way and make him/her sign all required paper and sign yourself.
In my case the partner was brother in law, he basically defrauded me had my wife (his very sister) for quite big sum of money (let me keep the number for myself), making tons of promises and nothing real to make them real. Scary thing was that he believed his lies himself. At the beginning you see quite sensible guy, but when you actually get to know …
Imagine your relatives doing it. How in the world you can expect people that are foreign to you not to.
Same goes for “friends” like you describe. its like a partner, just for shorter term.
so:
1. choose your partners and “friends” very carefully
2. never … I MEAN NEVER … do business with your family

]]> By: Alfonso Tupaz http://rokham.org/2008/12/choose-who-you-tell-your-idea-to/#comment-8 Alfonso Tupaz Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:49:20 +0000 http://rokham.org/?p=47#comment-8 This must be a horrible experience Rokham. What gets to me most is the betrayal of trust. By sharing your idea, your "friend" is entrusted with important information and bears that responsibility. In the early stages of a venture, trust is everything. Part of being an entrepreneur is the feeling of paranoia, that someone is going to steal your idea at any moment, or that a competitor will beat you to market. So I think the question for most entrepreneurs is how to strike the balance between embracing that feeling and who to trust your ideas with. Looking at it from another perspective, however, someone copying your idea is a complement. It speak to the viability of the concept (especially if someone is willing to give up their friendship for it). Or, they're really desperate for ideas, and that could be beneficial for you. All the best with your venture. Cheers. This must be a horrible experience Rokham. What gets to me most is the betrayal of trust. By sharing your idea, your “friend” is entrusted with important information and bears that responsibility. In the early stages of a venture, trust is everything.

Part of being an entrepreneur is the feeling of paranoia, that someone is going to steal your idea at any moment, or that a competitor will beat you to market. So I think the question for most entrepreneurs is how to strike the balance between embracing that feeling and who to trust your ideas with.

Looking at it from another perspective, however, someone copying your idea is a complement. It speak to the viability of the concept (especially if someone is willing to give up their friendship for it). Or, they’re really desperate for ideas, and that could be beneficial for you.

All the best with your venture.

Cheers.

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