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by scottyallen 5498 days ago
The counter argument to that is "Great idea - what other value are you going to bring to the table?" For me, being asked to sign an NDA is often a signal that they don't have anything else unique to bring to the table, which is usually a recipe for failure. Instead, there should be some other reason why this idea will only succeed if you do it. Some good ones are personal domain expertise, access to partnerships, access to distribution channels, design/marketing skills, etc.

If all you bring to the table is an idea, than to be honest, the developer probably doesn't need you.
1 comments
dmlevi 5498 days ago
Well we were trying to stay modest but heres why we make great parnters.

1 - Our Education. MBA Students from University of Chicago Booth. Ranked top 5 MBA every year. The network is extremely strong and we have all the connections a startup could need.

2 - We have seed $. We can pay you to bang out the MVP in no more than 6 weeks with a nice equity bonus. We are looking for a partner.

3 - We are good guys. We want to make it and we think this is it. Simple as that. Its not this is my idea, do this or do that. The developer will be a partner and have insight and say. We hope to sell and then move on as a team to the next job.

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scottyallen 5497 days ago
Not to belabor the point, but none of the three things you listed are unique to you. They're the same three things that every other entrepreneur that's looking for an engineer or CTO is saying to prospective candidates.

None of these three points say anything about what you bring to the table that the engineer couldn't find anywhere else (ie, domain knowledge, partnerships, distribution, etc). Once you figure that part out, you won't need the NDA, because it would be a bonehead move to try and build it without you. Not to mention, your likelihood of success will go up dramatically.

Just my 2 cents...

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