Do we really need NDAs?
February 20, 2008 by alpercelk
Last 2-3 weeks we had some sort of arguments and conflicts with my class mates at KTH/Stockholm. Some of them really believe that, if they have a business idea and plan to start-up on it, before going to a business angel or a venture capital they should send an NDA before and if they sign the NDA then they will go and talk about their business idea. But some others and me believe that signing a NDA is not really a good way to protect your idea, furthermore it is not that legal to use it in court.
Last week while i was talking with a venture capitalist in Stockholm, i asked the same question to him and he said; “i never sign that kind of papers, you should trust me. What ever you do, i probably have more lawyers then you do.” Another example about this was a professor from KTH who worked for Stanford Univ. in USA and have been very close to silicon valley, she also said the same; “no one sign that kind of papers in silicon valley”.
All in all; i also believe that signing a NDA means nothing and moreover, ideas are just the 3-5% of the whole business, i can find you 10s of ideas everyday but the most important and the difficult part if execution not the idea.
