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Is your secret startup idea protected when you apply?

I’ve gotten the question a few times now. It goes something like this: “If I apply to TechStars, is my idea/IP protected?”

Hopefully you’ll recognize that we’re investors, and we literally see thousands of ideas per year. We’re not in the business of stealing ideas and executing them ourselves or giving them to others for our benefit. Please check out our reputations - hopefully you will be comfortable.

That being said, please don’t include any trade secrets in your application. We don’t want to see them. However, without your idea (which of itself is not “intellectual property”), we cannot evaluate your application. Please feel free to be a little vague on your “how” and your secret sauce, but we’ll definitely need your “what” and your “why”. I can tell you that only the four founders (see the about page) will see your application, if that helps.

The bottom line here is that your idea is not really as valuable as you think it is. Executing your idea however, can be priceless. That’s why TechStars is here - to help you execute.

I once overheard someone put this another way: “A company with brilliant execution can [perhaps] steal ideas, but a company with brilliant ideas can’t steal execution.”