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(upbeat music) - Alright, Stephen Key here. And now I want to talk about that NDA. That non-disclosure agreement. That I hear from everyone that you're trying to get these companies to sign this NDA. You're thinking this is some magical document that's gonna protect you. I'm here to tell you, you're mistaken. First of all, most companies are not going to sign an NDA. There you go! And they're smart not to. You see, they're worried about you coming back and suing them. They're worried about, they're working on something in the back room. At the same time you, maybe you're working on your project that you're gonna come out, you're gonna come out and say, "Hey, you stole my idea!" So that's why they don't wanna sign an NDA. It makes perfect sense. But how can you get them to sign one? Well, first of all at the very beginning, I tell everyone the best way to get a company to sign an NDA, and guess what it will not be yours. You're gonna have to sign theirs. But I'll get to that in just a minute. If you show the benefit of your idea, right? You show the benefit, but you don't talk about the technical aspects. You don't talk about confidential information. You don't talk about things that you're trying to protect, your point of difference. What you're trying to show them is the benefit of your idea. That's right. Don't give them all the good stuff early because you don't even know who they are. So you sell the benefit first, and I'll give you an example. Let's say I have this great hammer. That this great hammer allows you to work longer, be more productive, and its just a great tool to have because you're not gonna be sore, and you're just gonna work, you're gonna do the job in half the time. Alright. Now, I could say that on an Excel sheet. I could show a picture of the hammer and say look, you're gonna do all the work in half the time and save yourself money, energy, and a back, a sore back. Okay. But, I didn't tell them how this hammer's gonna do that. You see, this hammer is made out of lightweight material. This hammer has a very soft handle so you can grip it and it doesn't hurt your hand. This hammer has a really wide head on the top to hit those nails straight at a time. Straight at a time. All these things add up. All those features, all that intellectual property adds up to the big benefit of how you're gonna work longer and be more productive. Then once they see it and they're interested in it they might ask you, "Gee, do you have any intellectual property?" And you'd say, "Yes, I have a well-written provisional patent application." And they're gonna say, "Well, can we see it? " And that's when you might say, "Wow, I would like to discuss some of the finer details, some confidential information. Can we sign your NDA?" Perfect timing! So don't ask at the very beginning, but get them interested first and then when they want more information that's when you ask for one. And I'm here to tell you, you're gonna have to sign theirs. So read it very carefully. If there's anything in there that doesn't sound, sounds a little funny like they're gonna own anything you show them, back up, and ask someone that has more experience looking at NDAs or maybe contact a patent attorney or maybe a licensing attorney and say, "Hey look, does this look fair and balanced?" Now, truthfully, the best protection is never gonna be an NDA. NDAs are different state-by-state; they're not federal, right? An NDA basically says what you own, you own and what I own, I own. Its really kind of simple. That's a mutual NDA. There's a lot, there's many types of NDAs. Don't get me wrong. So, I don't know why people think this is a great protection tool. But it does provide a little bit of professionalism, fine. If you have, let me explain where I think NDAs can be powerful. If you haven't filed, let's say, any intellectual property. Okay, and maybe you don't have any. Maybe you have trade secrets. Maybe you have know-how. Maybe you have a recipe. Maybe you have something that you just cannot protect but you have knowledge. That NDA can be powerful, but you have to make sure there's no timestamp, there's no end to it, right? Most of these NDAs are for three years. This should be, there's no time at all. It goes on forever. So if they want to use it, if they want to use it at all they have to come back to you. Now that's a powerful way of using an NDA. Another very, very powerful way to use an NDA which, will not work in most situations. But if you have market demand, that people really want your innovation. And you filed intellectual property, such as a well-written provisional patent application, and now they want to see what you have, you can sign their NDA, of course, but you might want to add something to it. Maybe an addendum. And that addendum could include no reverse engineering. Whoa! It could also include any improvements they make, you still own, they have to sign that to you. That's a very, very powerful NDA. And most the times, you'll never get a company to sign that. Unless, they really want it and you have brought market demand. And I'll talk later, in another video, about how to create market demand. So, the bottom line is: protect yourself with a well-written provisional patent application. And the number one thing to protect yourself, because I know some of us are fearful. Find inventor friendly companies. Always type in their name, type in complaints, type in lawsuits. Do your homework and make sure they have a track record of working with creative people. Make sure they don't have terrible things that are written about them on the internet because you cannot hide. Also, here's another red flag. If they're not on social media, that could be a red flag. So kick the tires on all the companies you're working with and ask for that NDA at the appropriate time, and make sure you file the well-written provisional patent application. Alright, there you go. Stephen Key here. Thanks for watching. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)