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You are look for people to co-operate with you on a startup. That means you will share your idea with them, and I know sharing your ideas with people you don't know it's not the best thing.

So, my question is easy and simple, should anyone use an agreement before the idea is old? What things there should be in the paper?

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The most important is the NDA (non-disclosure agreement). You might want to include a non-compete so they don't start a competing firm after seeing your idea.

You cannot move forward without sharing your idea but there are ways to protect yourself legally. However, if you are in a place where such legal protection is meaningless (China, etc.) then you must be much more careful.

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Please read my answer to this question blog.foundrs.com/2009/03/11/… . In short: you are worrying about the wrong thing. – Alain Raynaud Sep 8 '11 at 1:15
@Thank you for this I will have to look for NDA then – Nikolai Sep 8 '11 at 1:29
@Alain Raynaud thanks for the article. I found it interesting and I should say true. I have to agree though with a commenter who said "What we want, is an absolute and total physically guaranteed certainty, that nobody can take the idea away. Any chance, no matter how small, is still a chance. And therefore completely unacceptable." Things happen. – Nikolai Sep 8 '11 at 1:30
It's not just about the idea. I do agree with the article that asking VC's to sign an NDA is a bit silly (and I doubt they would sign). The issue is when you're having an in-depth conversation and the other party (let's ignore VC's for the time being) asks you to justify your assumptions and you happen to have put two-and-two together where others have not and you don't want that information leaked. An NDA is like a lock - it keeps honest people honest. If someone wants to steal from you, they will. I still lock my door. – John Sep 8 '11 at 14:34

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