How can you share a great business idea with potential partners/investors without them walking & stealing it?

Question

How can you share a great business idea with potential partners/investors without them walking & stealing it?
Let's say you have a breakthrough business idea. You feel the whole value of it lies in the idea itself. The value is there because the idea has not materialized in any way in the real world - at least yet. If the idea were to be materialized the ROI (for say a company developing and commercializing the idea) could be millions or even billions of dollars. But since all it is is only an idea or a thought (without any kind of protections were they even possible in terms of intellectual property patents, copyrights, etc. because I'm not sure if general ideas alone can be legally protected?), and it may take literally only a few seconds to disclose or describe the idea, besides say creating a Non-Disclosure Agreement, what other great ways might be there to protect your idea if you need to share it with others when say shopping for partners or investors or buyers (without them wa

Answer 1

be sure to document your idea on paper and keep records of everyone you have presented it to and when(date and time you presented it)
it is my understanding that ideas can be patented
if this is a million dollar idea consult a lawer to help protect your idea.
P.S. when you get a chance just fill me in on the idea i am very honest and wouldn't steal a thing
good luck i hope you make a billion dollars.

Answer 2

I had a idea a few years ago, of creating a website for online time scheduling of minimum wage employees, who could receive updates to their cellphone and pagers about shifts and shift changes. I did some more research and found it could have been a worthwhile service, but I didn't have the finances to bring in technological people to do the work. As far as protecting the concept, best way is to spend a few hundred dollars, start a corporation, and document your idea in business plans and marketing. Once you develop and write something down you have an automatic copyright on that. For example if I took a photo, I own the copyright to that photo. Once you have a corporation, then look into NDA.

Answer 3

You seem to have covered all the major points. Copyright & Confidentiality (non-disclosure) Agreements being the biggest.

Whenever you share intellectual property, you always run the risk of losing it. Take all precautions you can, even if you don't think they will work. Much of the time, whoever has the best records wins the case.

Document your meetings (times, dates, attendees, information presented). Keep notarized copies of your original material.

Check this site for a few more ideas;

http://www.entrepreneur.com/inventing/protectingyouridea/archive116292.html

Best of Luck on your project!