On Secrecy - by Matt on March 13, 2008 2:07 AM
Earlier today (technically yesterday), we had a conversation with a prospective co-founder and it got me thinking about secrecy. Having secrets is human nature, but the challenge of keeping the idea behind a startup secret doesn't feel quite as instinctual and effortless as, say, not telling an enthusiastic Obama supporter that you'll be voting for McCain this November.
Neil and I got to the coffee shop and located the person (he's a participant at News.YC) we'd arranged to meet after emailing back and forth for a few days. We had a good conversation, yet I was surprised by how difficult it was to talk about Jabbik with language that would convey the concept without giving away the specifics of our idea. The guy we were meeting was in the same boat, as he was telling us about a project he is working on that he felt compelled to be vague about as well.
I've read a lot about startups, including many articles, blogs, and comments regarding the issue of keeping ideas secret. Lots of people claim that your idea doesn't matter and that its all about the execution. The way I see it, that line of thinking falls apart when you're talking with someone with a track record of successful execution (at least on the design/development side, if not all the other aspects of a startup) [see dissenting opinion here]. While I don't think if we'd gone into detail a Jabbik clone would pop up, I'm glad we didn't casually discuss the specifics of our concept. I would have left our meeting with a less positive impression of the prospective co-founder if he nonchalantly discussed the specifics of his concept, also. We intrigued the prospective co-founder, despite the fact that we chose not to get into specifics. We've continued the conversation remotely, and we plan on meeting him again soon, so keeping some secrets didn't seem to hurt us at all.
I can't wait to shout from the rooftops about Jabbik, but at this stage, I think cautiously revealing details to people whom we're certain have the potential to add value to our efforts (be they prospective investors, co-founders, employees, etc.) is the best approach.
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Neil and I got to the coffee shop and located the person (he's a participant at News.YC) we'd arranged to meet after emailing back and forth for a few days. We had a good conversation, yet I was surprised by how difficult it was to talk about Jabbik with language that would convey the concept without giving away the specifics of our idea. The guy we were meeting was in the same boat, as he was telling us about a project he is working on that he felt compelled to be vague about as well.
I've read a lot about startups, including many articles, blogs, and comments regarding the issue of keeping ideas secret. Lots of people claim that your idea doesn't matter and that its all about the execution. The way I see it, that line of thinking falls apart when you're talking with someone with a track record of successful execution (at least on the design/development side, if not all the other aspects of a startup) [see dissenting opinion here]. While I don't think if we'd gone into detail a Jabbik clone would pop up, I'm glad we didn't casually discuss the specifics of our concept. I would have left our meeting with a less positive impression of the prospective co-founder if he nonchalantly discussed the specifics of his concept, also. We intrigued the prospective co-founder, despite the fact that we chose not to get into specifics. We've continued the conversation remotely, and we plan on meeting him again soon, so keeping some secrets didn't seem to hurt us at all.
I can't wait to shout from the rooftops about Jabbik, but at this stage, I think cautiously revealing details to people whom we're certain have the potential to add value to our efforts (be they prospective investors, co-founders, employees, etc.) is the best approach.
Comments ()/Permalink
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