[dazzer]

I am someone who empathises with your situation.

However, look at it this way.

If it is such a great idea, chances are other people have already thought about it. To assume that you are the only person to have thought about something is just selfish and egotistical. Noone should have a monopoly on ideas.

If you were the only one with that idea, I'd say 80% of the time, it wasn't such a good idea in the first place.

If someone thought your idea was worth stealing, then I'd say that you should feel confident that your idea is a good one, steam ahead and speed to market.

[entangld]

You're right about all of that.

But it's a different story when they use your own words to describe the concept of it. It was practically my pitch describing their website.

Few people come up with the same ideas using the same words. That's just not likely. Conceptualizing is not easy. There are a lot of different ways to describe Twitter and Quora. People describe things differently. I don't think it was random.

[chipsy]

A lot can be done post-launch to differentiate, though. They might have a headstart, but you probably have more of the vision lurking in the wings, beyond whatever you've pitched to people.