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I don't know how I would feel if I pitched my side project to someone and they then went and cold called 40 companies discussing the project without my knowledg

I don't know how I would feel if I pitched my side project to someone and they then went and cold called 40 companies discussing the project without my knowledge. This time it worked out great, but what if one of those larger companies had decided to run with it? I realise that it's good to share your ideas, but I would at least like to have had an input. Thoughts?

joshmlewis 14y ago
There are a couple different views out there with this. Some people I've found are willing to give up just about any information about their company aside from the stuff investors wouldn't like to get out, and then there are others who protect ideas like it's the next big thing. I've seen both sides be successful, but I guess it depends on the project and people. Obviously here it was a little different because the guy went out and did some selling without the original guy agreeing to it, but it ended up working out. The guy took a chance and in the end it paid off it looks like. Your results may vary. :)
justjimmy 14y ago
Exactly the point that jumped out to me as well. A random guy taking my idea and pitching it to others without my consent. It's not about whether it'll work out or not, it's about getting permission to do what the guy did. If the Biz guy had said "Hey, let me run your idea through some people I know and see if they're interested. Sounds good?" Then it'd be totally fine. (Maybe that's what happened but over looked in the article?)
rokhayakebe 14y ago
It is either great or the lesser of two evils. Great because If the guy can sell my product after only a 15 minute snapshot of it, then they must be the right guy I should have in my sales team. But I don't know how much you can control someone like that. Lesser of two evils because if he is able to get 30 companies interested, then he is probably good enough to pitch any engineer and give them a smaller percentage. So he seems to have some ethics.

joshmlewis 14y ago

There are a couple different views out there with this. Some people I've found are willing to give up just about any information about their company aside from the stuff investors wouldn't like to get out, and then there are others who protect ideas like it's the next big thing. I've seen both sides be successful, but I guess it depends on the project and people. Obviously here it was a little different because the guy went out and did some selling without the original guy agreeing to it, but it ended up working out. The guy took a chance and in the end it paid off it looks like. Your results may vary. :)

justjimmy 14y ago

Exactly the point that jumped out to me as well. A random guy taking my idea and pitching it to others without my consent. It's not about whether it'll work out or not, it's about getting permission to do what the guy did. If the Biz guy had said "Hey, let me run your idea through some people I know and see if they're interested. Sounds good?" Then it'd be totally fine. (Maybe that's what happened but over looked in the article?)

rokhayakebe 14y ago

It is either great or the lesser of two evils. Great because If the guy can sell my product after only a 15 minute snapshot of it, then they must be the right guy I should have in my sales team. But I don't know how much you can control someone like that. Lesser of two evils because if he is able to get 30 companies interested, then he is probably good enough to pitch any engineer and give them a smaller percentage. So he seems to have some ethics.