Philip
Developer and product person. Wants to join an idea as a co-founder.
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I've mentored over 100 startups, been actively involved in several, and have one exit to date. I'm an experienced head and have occupied CTO and CEO roles. Get in touch and let's see if we're a good fit and can make something that works.
Answers in the Nest
Does this make you the Founder or Co-Founder?“Beyond vanity it really doesn't matter. Being a 'founder' or 'cofounder' carries no legal status, and it's not a position or role within an organisation. As a rule of thumb, the initial people who take an idea and turn it into a viable business are the founders, or cofounders. They won't necessarilly have been there from day one, but will have come on board probably before the business became viable. By nature of their early involvement one would also expect them to hold a significant equity stake. Ultimately though, it comes down to what you all agree upon. What is more important is who holds what position in the company, what their role is, and do they carry any legal responsibility (ie. are they a director?). This is what will be important to company stakeholders.”Trust and protection of intellectual property when talking to others“Hi Brian, It's a great question and one I hear frequently when talking to people, but it also raises red flags for potential cofounders and/or investors. The issue here is that there is an implication that your idea has a value, and that value needs to be protected. Now it could be you have come up with a new widget, have built one and believe it is patentable, in which case it may well have value and warrant some protection. Certainly in the UK, an idea cannot be patented if it has previously been made public.However, most ideas don't fall into this category, and more typically are along the lines of "Wouldn't it be great if..." It's a good starting point, but these sorts of ideas are in abundance, what is lacking is the people who can take such an idea and turn it into a viable business - because that's what delivers the big money. What I would recommend at this stage is to talk to as many people about your idea as possible so that you can obtain real world feedback. If you are overly protective, you will struggle to make progress. If you don't mind I'd like to share a couple of articles I have previously written which go into this in more depth: [An NDA or no NDA? That is the question](https://www.flinca.com/blog/an-nda-or-no-nda-that-is-the-question/) - which explains why requesting an NDA is not necessarilly a good idea [Help me, someone has stolen my idea!](https://www.flinca.com/blog/help-me-someone-has-stolen-my-idea/) - which explains why you shouldn't worry if someone 'steals' your idea”