How to present a product to potential buyer without risking them stealing my idea?

My advice:
Don't over worry about people stealing your ideas.
Here is a great article By Derek Silvers that explains the reason behind that:

It’s so funny when I hear people being so protective of ideas. (People who want me to sign an NDA to tell me the simplest idea.)
To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.
Explanation:
AWFUL IDEA = -1
WEAK IDEA = 1
SO-SO IDEA = 5
GOOD IDEA = 10
GREAT IDEA = 15
BRILLIANT IDEA = 20
NO EXECUTION = $1
WEAK EXECUTION = $1000
SO-SO- EXECUTION = $10,000
GOOD EXECUTION = $100,000
GREAT EXECUTION = $1,000,000
BRILLIANT EXECUTION = $10,000,000
To make a business, you need to multiply the two.
The most brilliant idea, with no execution, is worth $20.
The most brilliant idea takes great execution to be worth $20,000,000.
That’s why I don’t want to hear people’s ideas. I’m not interested until I see their execution.

Tuesday August 16, 2005 10:56PM by Derek Sivers

Article Link

If your idea is so easy to rip off that a competitor can do it with 1 or 2 devs in a few months, they're going to do that anyway as soon as you release.

So what's the disadvantage if you show them earlier?

I think you give larger companies too much credit. Large ships turn slowly.

I think the "stealing" part is not the biggest worry. I suspect the tough part will be getting the right people (decision makers) to even see your idea. That may take just as much salesmanship as selling it yourself :)

Companies will consider whether making the software you have made is a part of their core competency (strategic management expression). If making the software you have made is not their core competency, it will take a lot for them to decide to change their core competency, hence their whole strategy, and start making such software. If you could for example find a company that only sells third-party software and does consulting work upon it, then they could be a good "match", because they are not likely to go from consulting/selling to software development.

You could also try to find a company that has too much to do already with their existing product (for example if they are going really well). They are also less likely to focus on something else, as it takes a lot of management resources to do this.

Show them what you have been able to build with that unique development tool.

It has nice side effects:

• I expect you are more productive and can do given type of projects with greater profit
• you don't need to show them the tool in the first round, just the final effectivity boost / better effects

This could move you into a stronger negotiating position.

You say that you've already developed your tool. What more needs to be done to "productize" it?

Since this forum is OnStartups, not OnSellingYourIdeaBeforeStartingUp, I would challenge you to not sell yourself short.

If it's a developer tool, then the best way to get it promoted is to offer free licenses to developer user groups to give away at their meetings. Most of us have heard of the success of Balsamiq. I won a free copy of Balsamiq Mockups at my .NET User Group back when the company was just Peldi working by himself and I had never heard of it before. A few months later when I was presenting to the group I showed off some of the mockups that I had created.

I believe much of the success of the development tool ReSharper is also because of their user group giveaways.

It shouldn't take much time to research and contact user group leaders for your target developer community and get your tool into their list of raffle prizes. I think you could do that yourself. If you need help, why not search for a co-founder who could bring marketing skills to the table?

That being said, as soon as you give away or sell your first license, you'll be at risk of having your idea copied. You just need to make sure your execution and customer support is top notch. You'll need to find a competitive advantage before there is even any competition. If it's a good idea, then there will be competition.

I agree with edu222. Execution is the important thing - not the idea. You may have more chance of selling the idea if you can develop the market opportunity around it. Or, you could partner with someone who is able to execute and you can sell when the business is more established. This way though, you probably won't own much of the company.

I have written a blog post with more detail on this topic here:

Good luck

Susan

I agree a good idea without execution is worthless, even if they are going to develop it, you already have advantage and knowhow!

Build vs. Buy.

If they can build it for cheaper than they can buy it off you then yeah, makes sense to build it themselves.

Make it a compelling argument to "buy' the product from you rather than try to implement it themselves. Make it a reasonable price or %age cut with reduced risk on their side.

If it really is a good idea then you are guaranteed to be copied as soon as you release anyway.

Cheers,

Asim.

People will always steal your ideas if they are good ideas :)