[peshkira]

Very interesting points. I agree with many of them as they reflect my own experiences.

Assuming you are the author :) Could you elaborate on 3 "Always refuse if someone asks you to sign an NDA before hearing their idea".

This is something I always find frustrating, but I usually end up signing the NDA as it seems irrelevant to me anyway. I'd be interested to know how people react when you tell them that you don't want to hear their idea. Do they change their attitude towards it, or you don't follow up?

[prawn]

In my experience, if I explain that I won't sign an NDA and they don't return, I've dodged a bullet. Last one was an older guy who wanted to rebuild eBay on a strict budget and just wasn't at all comfortable talking about his idea without an NDA. I'm willing to bet, months later, he's made very little progress.

I don't think I've missed any quality opportunities with this approach.

I'm always very polite about it and explain my reasons.

[talkingquickly]

Hey, author here. My logic is usually that an NDA is a restriction on me, so I won't usually sign one unless I'm getting something in return. E.g. I'm happy to sign one in the context of a piece of paid work.

Most people are quite receptive when I explain the above and that in practice I don't believe that ideas really get stolen. Well not (web/app)tech startup ideas anyway. I've never had what you'd call a "bad" reaction to it and in about 75% of cases, people have then gone on to explain their idea.

[ckluis]

I just say I have a $2,000 NDA fee as it places liability on me.

[bkeroack]

To add to the other comments, it also shows the requestor to have incredible hubris and/or naivete. An experienced entrepreneur understands that raw ideas have virtually zero value, it's the team and execution that matter. If an NDA enters the conversation it's possible that you're speaking to one of the perpetual "idea guys" in search of coders, and you should terminate the interaction quickly.