[frankwong]

NS's offer to build your site is just a gimmick. If you want a couple of html pages of about us, contact us, homepage, etc. it would be fine. But I can't see any startup that can use that type of service to build anything meaningful. I would definitely stop talking to NS immediately.

As for your programmers, NDA would have helped. But also don't lose sleep over it. I am a programmer and have worked with many other programmers. So far, I have not seen one person stealing an idea from a client due to the lack of a NDA. Maybe I just hang with those with moral integrity.

[gregw100]

Hi Frank, That gives me more piece of mind. I've only given three programmers FTP access, though I've since restricted them. I've also explained to them that I'll be willing to rehire them once I can afford it, so that should give them more of an incentive to wait, rather than try to build their own versions. Also, I interviewed the programmers first and felt that they were trustworthy (though you never know for sure). I'm glad to hear that you've never encountered programmers stealing ideas.

Being of high moral integrity myself (in my opinion), I wouldn't expect someone even closely like-minded to steal my idea, but I feel like my site has such high potential that it may be one of those things that even someone with moral integrity can't resist stealing.

By the way, is there anywhere that I can find developers to build my site who would accept a stake in the company rather than cash?