Is Secrecy a Good Idea?

by Ben Atlas on 09.14.2009.8:13am · 1 comment

I once walked into a startup office and the owner of the infant business proudly displayed to me a 3” binder full of NDAs –“even a janitor signs one”, he said. At the same time this person was not asking or perhaps listening to what people had to say about his idea. The fate of that startup was a foregone conclusion. Chris Dixon argues against secrecy, specifically he talks about startups.To paraphrase Chris, stealing and implementing and idea is highly unlikely, not benefiting from the feedback people can give you about an idea is detrimental. Why you shouldn’t keep your startup idea secret:

“First of all, most people will probably think your idea is stupid. This does not mean your idea is stupid. In fact, if everyone loves your idea, I might be worried that it’s not forward thinking enough.”

Further Reading:

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1 Ben Atlas 09.15.2009.8:35am at 8:35 am

I just changed the comments to the native WP commenting with some visual tweaks. Still have some styling work to do. At some point will write a post about why the changes.

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