So you've got an innovative idea for a new product/service/company that needs seed money. Does disclosing your idea to potential investors make you nervous, for fear they may steal it?

It shouldn't. Sure you've probably heard horror stories about entrepreneurs pitching their idea to a venture capitalist, only to be turned down—and to spot their product on store shelves or on the Internet a year later. Although this is a common concern about entrepreneurs, it rarely, if ever, happens.

Even if a VC had the desire to steal an idea from an unsuspecting entrepreneur, most don't have the ability, time, or resources to see it through—particularly in the realms of science and technology. It's a VCs job to find a great idea with the ability to make real money, backed by a management team that can see it through. These guys don't wear the lab coats for a reason—it's the entrepreneur's job. If you're truly concerned about someone stealing your idea, make sure that you're pitching investors who you know, have vetted, and trust.

Over at The Funded, they have an equally compelling argument about why you need not worry about a potential investor poaching your idea. The author suggests that most people (hold onto your egos, here) don't have entirely unique ideas, citing an article from this week's New Yorker by Malcolm Gladwell. That New Yorker piece makes a great point:

"This phenomenon of simultaneous discovery—what science historians call 'multiples'—turns out to be extremely common."

"...the sheer number of multiples could mean only one thing: scientific discoveries must, in some sense, be inevitable. They must be in the air, products of the intellectual climate of a specific time and place. It should not surprise us, then, that calculus was invented by two people at the same moment in history."

I'm not suggesting you show up on Sequioa's doorstep bandying about detailed blueprints of world's first perpetual motion device. Prudence is always wise. But like The Funded article notes, "Greed minus fear = deal." We'll get into the uselessness of NDAs in another post. Artwork via The New Yorker.