[startupsfail]

Possible. But batches are relatively small. When you see a copycat appearing in the same batch of your interview (and interview was a not a direct reject, there were follow up calls).

There is a difference between “an idea” versus investment of a few months of prototyping and market research that goes into distilling an approach to a product.

You can simply multiply going salary of the professional that us doing it onto the time spent. And then get a rough estimate of the value of that IP.

When a startup goes to a VC there is inevitably a transfer of that IP to the VC. And the transfer is unidirectional, until a partner invests their capital and time.