Your Sensitive Information Is Valuable Be Very Careful Who you Share it With
Most of us are guilty of signing NDAs, sharing information with investors and partners and thinking nothing else of it.
Mainly this route turns out ok, with the major risk being inadvertent leaking of your information due to poorly controlled processes at the recipient.
Occasionally there will be planned and deliberate leakage.
The FBI is currently investigating one of the most prolific early investors in Silicon Valley, an American venture capital fund, which is accused of passing trade secrets to Beijing.
The Financial Times says Hone Capital invested $115 million of Chinese money in 360 tech start ups between 2015 and 2018, including the payment group Stripe, aerospace engineer Boom and the driverless-car manufacturer Cruise.
The investigation hinges on whether information about the technology, finances or clients of start-ups, were shared to benefit Beijing and Chinese businesses.
“It is the intangible, relationship elements and knowledge that are far more impactful – and dangerous – if transferred to an adversary.”
Venture capitalists, investors and consultancies are in a privileged position gaining knowledge amassed from meeting and tracking, researching and investing in thousands of startup companies: experience and business best practices, as well as go-to-market know-how, and most importantly trade secrets.
Some investors and consultancies are guilty of cross pollinating ideas as they move from company to company. Sometimes they are not even aware they are doing it as ideas pop into their consciousness and sometimes, they do not care where the information originated. ‘Who is going to know’?
The human species is ‘designed’ and evolved to share information and secrets (‘what’s the gossip’?), as it is a route to survival.
The investor or consultant can know the value of your trade secret but not the mechanics.
So spend the time listing out in order of value your most valuable secrets and be certain that you will reveal so much but not beyond that ‘red line’.
For example no one in their right mind would reveal their ‘Google search algorithm’ to anyone, never mind an investor with or without an NDA! and that is even if they were promising to double their investment. ….
But you can explain what it does for the business and how it differentiates the offer etc.

I am John Pryor, making IP accessible and valuable for your business.
The Benefit of Hindsight UpfrontTM
Innovation Without IP Is Charity
IP Provides Defence From Unlicensed Offence Leads To Secure Revenue. The Best Defence Is A Good Offence.
Intellectual Property Is A Business Construct To Enable The Sharing Of Ideas And Other Creations Of The Mind
A Strong And Integrated IP Strategy Puts You On The Front Foot In All Commercial And Financial Interactions
IP Supports Competitive Advantage, Drives Growth, Maintains Cash Flows, Secures Investment, Provides Monetisation Opportunities
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I am a strategy consultant focussed on intellectual property and dedicated to helping people and business to make the best use of all available IP to compete and win in the marketplace.
My aim is to increase people’s understanding of Intellectual Property, so that they can successfully and cost effectively use it in their business, to help achieve a higher valuation.
Book: The Innovation Handbook, 2nd Edition 2010. chapter: How to maximize the value of your intellectual property.
ABOUT MY YOUTUBE VIDEOS: In these videos I explain some of the most important aspects of intellectual property in ways that make it relevant and accessible to business people.
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