Question about starting an online concept/business (agent, companies, interest)

[JohnStockton]

Hello everyone, this is my first post here. I've lurked and read these forums for a while and really enjoy the wealth of knowledge and ideas you all share. So I thought I could maybe get some feedback on this idea I have for a business.

At this point, what I have is as follows:

An idea for an online business that incorporates a number of already existent concepts, which I assume disqualifies me from being able to trademark/patent this business model. Unfortunately I have no web-development skills so I would have to enlist the services of an extremely experienced developer, as my site would incorporate extremely sophisticated features and will be a very feature rich one. Along the way, I will also need to get advice from experts here and there.

What I am concerned about is the fact that here I have an idea with no patent, and anyone whose guidance and advice I seek out could potentially just take my idea. How do I deal with this threat moving forward with my business? Also, am I wrong in thinking I won't be able to get a patent?

Also, I am so confident in my idea that I know I could convince a venture capitalist or angel investor to financially back getting this off the ground. I personally do not have a lot of money and would greatly benefit from an injection of capital. But again, if I go to an angel investor with my idea and no patent on it, what is to prevent him/her from just taking my idea for himself/herself?

Thank you all in advance for any advice you can share with me.

Kind Regards

[pghquest]

Seems like a common step approach would be to get a patent before talking to capitalists or investors..

[user_id]

But you'll have to speak to a patent attorney......Applying for patents on your own is difficult, especially when you don't know anything about them in the first place.

Also, a trademark has nothing to do with your ideas. A trademark is either a name, logo or product dress (e.g., packaging).

Usually people that start web companies...ahem know about the web. I'm not sure why you think an investor is going to be particularly interested.

[FrankTheTank2]

A couple of points:

1. Just because your idea combines existing ideas does not prevent you from getting a patent. In fact, most patents are slight combinations or improvements of existing technologies.

2. Websites and software content are traditionally protected by copyrights, not patent. However, if you website performs new and different operations (methods) then there could be some patentable subject matter.

3. If you are worried about losing your idea, you can make people (especially your web developer) sign a non-disclosure/non-compete agreement as well as a 'work for hire' agreement. You should be able to do a google search to get free sample agreements online. Just make sure you change them to make sense for your specific business and circumstances.

4. As someone else mentioned, investors invest primarily in people, not in ideas. If you have little experience in this area, you would be better off to find a team that that investors will be comfortable with.

5. Its not that expensive to design and build a website, even a complicated one can be done by outsourcing to India for under $10k.

Finally, if you would like to send me more details via a private message on this forum, I may be willing help you for free if I think your idea is sound. I am a registered patent agent with an MBA and have been writing patents and launching businesses for about 10 years now.

Good Luck.