I have a good Idea that no one is doing but I'm pretty sure that If I do it it's going to be stolen by Giants

[Breeze_Interface]

So my idea involves the tech industry. Without going into the particulars of the idea. I'm 100% sure that this idea will be stolen and implemented into the softwares of giants like Google, Facebook, Instagram etc... if they realized that it exists.

So even if I made my product and people would start using it. I would pretty much become irrelevant as soon as they implement it in their own software.
so what to do in this situation? The idea is useful and provides real value. Because the Idea is a feature it's easily copyable. But then again, no one is doing it ... yet.

For those familiar, the situation would be similar to when Instagram decided to copy the story feature that was invented by snapchat first. Now snapchat is more and more irrelevant.

If you would have any idea of how to deal with this issue I would be really greateful.

 

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[AFMKelvin]

Work on your idea and tell us about it. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Everybody has them. Only the people who work on them make ideas a reality. Nobody is going to copy your idea. Most likely it's not as original as you might imagine. Or people are working on their ideas.

 

[chevenix]

Let see it wasn't The Blockbuster Myth MJ's talking about.

 

[Ocean Man]

I was working on an idea related to parking and transportation when I was younger, guess who started development on it? Waze and Google. I was bummed out when I was younger, but it doesn’t matter now.

Thoughts like these are stopping you from progressing.

 

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[PapaGang]

So my idea involves the tech industry. Without going into the particulars of the idea. I'm 100% sure that this idea will be stolen and implemented into the softwares of giants like Google, Facebook, Instagram etc... if they realized that it exists.

So even if I made my product and people would start using it. I would pretty much become irrelevant as soon as they implement it in their own software.
so what to do in this situation? The idea is useful and provides real value. Because the Idea is a feature it's easily copyable. But then again, no one is doing it ... yet.

For those familiar, the situation would be similar to when Instagram decided to copy the story feature that was invented by snapchat first. Now snapchat is more and more irrelevant.

If you would have any idea of how to deal with this issue I would be really greateful.

If your product is good enough, maybe your tech gets bought by the giants. Payday.
Or, maybe your prototype is interesting enough to get funded. People focus too much on withholding and fear. Give relentlessly.

Do you really think you would be crushed if some giant copied your software idea?

You'd have the pride of saying you did it first. Plus, you would have made something, and that's better than keeping the secret, because if it's really that great, someone else will beat you to it if you're hesitating anyway, then you'll be the guy who says "hey yeah I had that idea but never did anything with it."

 

[MichaelCash]

I wouldn't be worrying much about this at the very beginning. If you get to the point when Google copies your idea, then you will already be very successful!
Maybe they will want to buy your startup.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

Get funding and go hard at the idea.

If the founders of Snapchat, etc stayed too scared to launch then they would've made it nowhere.

 

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[whiterabbit]

If you truly believe they will copy it and you can't stop them then perhaps it is best to let them..........

What I mean is. Accept the fact that you would get crushed and instead of getting 100% of nothing get 5% of something. What im saying it license your idea to one of these companies. You only need to have 'perceived ownership' of an idea (i.e. register the trademark, file a prov patent, buy multiple domain names relevant for it, make a sell sheet then go to each company and say for example: "Hey, Ive found a way to solve this problem (don't say how). I'd like to work with you and give you the license to sell this product for say 5%, if you would like to know more get in touch".

Next step have them sign a non disclosure forum.

Then tell them the idea. Its usually for products but can work with software etc.

You may be thinking "well maybe they will just rip my idea off and work a way around your patent". Maybe....but its risky for them....patent law is very blurry and you can use this to your advantage. They will be tempted to go around your patent but for a measly 5% of their profits they don't have to worry about you potentially sueing them in the future.

Also not all companies are as bad as you think. Just like people. Many of them are decent and respect that it was your idea and reward you for it even when they could rip you off.

Except for Mark Zuckerberg, don't try this with him. He'll take your idea, the shirt off your back and your wife. Maybe even your dog too it really depends what mood he's in.

 

[csalvato]

So my idea involves the tech industry. Without going into the particulars of the idea. I'm 100% sure that this idea will be stolen and implemented into the softwares of giants like Google, Facebook, Instagram etc... if they realized that it exists.

So even if I made my product and people would start using it. I would pretty much become irrelevant as soon as they implement it in their own software.
so what to do in this situation? The idea is useful and provides real value. Because the Idea is a feature it's easily copyable. But then again, no one is doing it ... yet.

For those familiar, the situation would be similar to when Instagram decided to copy the story feature that was invented by snapchat first. Now snapchat is more and more irrelevant.

If you would have any idea of how to deal with this issue I would be really greateful.

Are you building a business? Or a feature?

It’s common for tech founder hopefuls to get an idea about a feature and want to build it. This is shockingly common – I believe Paul Graham even wrote a whole essay on it.

Features, however, aren’t a business. They don’t solve a problem on a fundamental level, they are merely an incremental improvement that you can never fully express. Once the feature is released, what then? There’s nowhere else to go even if it’s wildly successful (which almost never happens).

Businesses are different. They have a mission, a purpose and a driving force to solve a problem with a full-featured product or suite of products. That’s way beyond a single cool feature that may or may not take hold. Once one feature of their product is released, there are more features that necessarily need to be built on top of it.

Based on this little info I have, I’d say pass on this. People who would say go on this, I imagine, don’t have much experience in the high growth tech industry.

If you can reframe this feature as an opportunity for a business with a massive market (not just a cool thing that some other app should do but isn’t currently doing), that changes things.