Business idea: how do you research it without giving idea away?

butterfly72

My OH has a brilliant business idea but needs to do a bit of research to find out if its feasible to implement. This is the problem... he doesn't want to give the idea away but really needs to talk to people in the industry and would have to explain the idea in full. We've looked at intellectual rights and patent, but nothing seems to cover what we want.

Any ideas about how you protect your idea whilst researching it? It really is a good idea and needs protecting.

thanks.

Russe11

Just go look and see what the competation are doing, if they are not doing it and you idea is totally unique then ask yourself truely is there a demand for what you plan to offer.

butterfly72

Russe11 wrote: »

Just go look and see what the competation are doing, if they are not doing it and you idea is totally unique then ask yourself truely is there a demand for what you plan to offer.

thanks for your advice. There is no competition and there would be demand. It's solving a problem that hundreds of thousands even millions of people have on a daily basis. In fact, we can't belive nobody has thought of it before... or maybe they have and its just not feasible?! So back to my orignial question..... what do i do now?!?!

thanks

paddyrg

If it is a device, method, process or gadget, get patenting. If it is (say) for a website that does something new, then get your own lawyer to tailor you an NDA/No Compete form before seeing Vulture oops Venture Capitalists :-)

butterfly72

onlinebusiness wrote: »

An idea may be to explore how many similar ideas / businesses already exist by using Google to find out how many related pages there are.

Thanks for the advice. We've found one similar idea (after a lot of searching), but ours would be much more developed than theres and offer so much more. We need to establish if what we want to do is feasible. We need technical/legal know how really. We just need to protect that idea before we approach others such as the techies!

thanks

antrobus

Apparently you need;

"to talk to people in the industry"
"to establish if what we want to do is feasible"
"technical/legal know how"
"to protect that idea before we approach others such as the techies"

I'd therefore guess that you don't actually have a product or a service; what you have is just an idea about a product or a service, and I don't think you can protect an idea. If you really need other people's input to transform your idea into an actual marketable product, then I suspect that the only way you'll be able to get their help and persuade them to keep schtum is to offer them a piece of the action.

whitewing

Have a look o9n the Dragon's Den website:http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/business/enterprise/intellectual-property.shtml

I have only skimmed it so I'm not sure how relevant it is to you.

paddyrg

I am happy to discuss technicals if you want to NDA me. In the past I've worked for blue chips doing technical architecture and programme management, I know my stuff, just can't bear to do it full-time so have an alternative career now. Last thing I would want would be coding for another startup (did enough of that in the late 90's), but I can give you a steer on technical feasibility, an estimate of development costs and possibly even a staging plan for your functionality, so you can look at tranched investment. Offer's there, anyway.

seabright

butterfly72 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. We've found one similar idea (after a lot of searching), but ours would be much more developed than theres and offer so much more. We need to establish if what we want to do is feasible. We need technical/legal know how really. We just need to protect that idea before we approach others such as the techies!

thanks

Go to a solicitor that specialises in company commercial law and (if possible) intellectual property rights, they can advise you and because you'll be a client, all discussions and advice will be completely confidential.

If you are in the Surrey area I know a firm that could help you, but there are specialists in this area all over the country

PasturesNew

paddyrg's offer seems sound to me.

In 2009 Dragon's Den were doing an online version, which involves you making a 3 minute video presentation. I have no idea if that's still running, or any good. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/onlineden/

It's the time/cost/risk to get to the prototype stage that prevents most people progressing beyond the "good idea" stage. Everybody has brilliant ideas, but moving forward is where we stop.

firstinflight

As other posters have said, getting a solicitor to draw up a non-disclosure agreement you can give to people you discuss it with might be a good idea.

However, you should also think about how easy the idea/business is to replicate. You can't patent an idea or a business model, so as soon as you start to trade, other people will be able to copy your business if they have the necessary resources and skills.