Sharing your idea at startup stage - what to share and what to hide...

Early stages of any venture are always full of dilemmas of how much to share and what to hide .. much like the teenage prom queen !!

Having gone through a similar experience in the early stages of Seclore ourselves, we found that we shared a high level vision to give some context, but were wary of sharing some of the details of the financial model, solution architecture / execution plan. We also realized that conversations with possible co-founders, VC's and strategic partners must be well underway if the product is to become a roaring success.

If there was a mechanism to somehow control how long our documents were out there and how they were being used - we would have been more open to sharing them. Moreover, if we could determine when the information is accessed, how often it is opened and what the general usage pattern of documents is - they could get insight into the interest of the party we sent the document to.

Many years on from this dilemma, we recently did a small survey via the IndianHeadStart and opencoffeeclub communities on this topic. Here are some results :
* Pragmatism in being “open” to share ideas to attract co-founders, employees and investors was identified as a key need
* Aspiration in being “closed” to share implementation details, projections and go-to-market strategy was identified as a key reservation
* Most people would like to remain in control of the information shared with potential ad visors, co-founders, investors and be able to control editing, printing & forwarding of this information.
* Most of the people surveyed would like a mechanism to share but be able to “yank” (Yes, that's the word used !!) the information from the recipients in case they say “no” in any manner
* Most people would like to monitor the use of this information to gauge interest in their venture (this would help them with their timing on their follow up calls - and they unanimously said that timing of followups was key to success!)

So, as a person staring out, the verdict on what to share and what to hide (for maximizing success) is:

* share your idea openly
* keep your detailed execution plans and project plans tightly controlled and very selectively shared
* share your go to market plan, your summarized execution plan and your idea in slightly more depth but with the use of Information Rights Management controls around the documents

The last point in particular enhances your chance of success by letting strategic partners look at information in a controlled manner (without draconian measures such as showing them a printout within the physical limits of your offices).

Information Rights Management (IRM) technologies like Seclore FileSecure can be the answer. This unique product allows the owner to retain complete control over the data, even when it’s not with him. Sharing and distribution of the data can be restricted to a certain number of people. If the data is with someone else, certain actions like copying, printing or forwarding can be restricted.