[anoncoder]

If you are in the US, look into getting a provisional patent. It's an extremely inexpensive way to get some protection for a year before having to file a full patent application. You can file a provisional patent yourself online for $60 (for a 'small entity', last time I checked).

You'll need to spend a little bit of time learning how to write a patent description. It's a tedious (rather than say, hard) thing to do, but is a great skill to learn anyway.

Once you get the hang of it, getting a provisional patent for any or your ideas is quite easy. Then you shouldn't have any qualms about divulging any aspect of your idea to anyone.

You can legally say that your idea or product is 'patent pending' with a provisional patent. This may sound silly to some, but will definitely sway a serious investor. Like them or not, patents are powerful.

As I said, this buys you a year. That should be enough time to determine if the idea is worth the time and expense to obtain a full patent.