Frustration...in business.

[maxim]

Hi all,

I havnt posted in a while as I have been really busy developing a new website idea :idea: that came to me a few weeks ago. This was for me, not neccesarily one of my best ideas but it was most certainly an idea that if effective would make alot of money and was very unique, so I started searching for a company that could help me with a certain aspect that I could not do myself and I found one. We struct a superb deal without them knowing too much and then I contacted the second company that would provide the other vital role and everything was going well, I had a smile on my face but hadnt got overly excited yet. I was at this time being very careful about who i told and was keeping things on a need to know basis only. The second phase of the plan was to investigate where i planned to market the idea so started to look and it was fast becoming clear that I had no competition at all! None!
So now im planning the layout, and getting ready to pay for some advertising. 2 weeks go bye and everyhings in full swing. I then send an email to the first compnay i contacted with updates and informing them of what is needed now but............no reply.......2 days go bye...then I get an e-mail it read something like this:

dear max,
we are unfortunatly not going to be able to continue any further with this project as we are now about to sign a contract with a company in the next couple fo days that gives them exclusive rights to our services.

hmm i thought not good but not too bad but then i read on, it turns out that it was an exclusive agreement not for their website but for the entire country that i was targeting. following this i looked around and not surprisingly there it was... a press release bousting about the terrific new service about to launched spalshed across the fornt page. as you can imagine i was and still am frustrated, most of all that it was a big compnay that ended up getting the deal and that if i had acted a little quicker although this would have been hard i may have been in there first.

What lessons do you think should be learnt from this :

[chaka42]

a lot of good ideas come from the small guys ... instead of trying to do it yourself, you probably should've attempted to sell the idea to a larger corporation as that company did. that means less work for you.

but, i'm surprised you didn't have them sign a non-disclosure and non-compete agreement. tiss tiss.

[chaka42]

on that note, if there is virtually no competition, the market is still open. if it's a profitable venture, try thinking out of the box. maybe in the u.s. or other region, not just the u.k.

i'm curious as to what your idea is ... if it's not an issue could you fill me in by pm? i'd be happy to sign a non-disclosure agreement. maybe you could still pull this off.

[maxim]

Hmm, I didnt think this was really applicable because it is their business to offer that service. Non disclouser may have been a good idea at the time in hind site, although I think this is really a case of being beaten to the punch rather than them stealing my idea.

In regards to thinking 'outside of the box' this is exactly what i was doing...my target country was not the uk. Although maybe I will have to think about that now.

the market is not open if they have signed the deal with exclusive rights to the whole region.

thanks,

max.

[chaka42]

actually ... if it's a service provided in the u.s., there is no such thing as exclusive rights to this region. the u.s. specifically has laws to prevent companies from creating 'monopolies and prevent people from doing business. just look at what's happening to microsoft. even other countries are cracking down on them, so it's not limited to the u.s. anymore. food for thought ...

[maxim]

You have made a good point, this is something i new about but did not think of.

There are now 2 ways i can go here....I could let the service company sign with the website that want to do what I was going to do and then bring it up....or... I can tell them now that what they are about to do may be illegal and hopefully sway them from going through with it.

[chaka42]

you can contact the website company first and tell them that you can file suit for taking your idea (granted you have proper documentation that it was your idea from the get-go and that you contact this company to assist you). if you have a lawyer friend ... have them write up a letter containing this info so it is legit. sometimes they can be intimated by a legal letter. i'd recommend legal counsel before doing this however.

i don't know if i'd go that route. you'd probably be better off trying to do this with another provider. legal hassles aren't worth it if there is no guarantee you'd win. a lawyer can help you make that decision.

[ccarte2]

The thinkg is lawyers are expensive...Look into intellectual property law and it will give you a better idea.

[altyfc]

You said you were the only person with this idea, but someone else has 'stolen your thunder' so to speak. That means you have just one competitor. What's to stop you continuing as per your original intention, but to use another company to replace the one that's let you down? Most businesses aren't fortunate to have only one other business competing against them. If you market yourself well, it sounds like there's no reason why you can't still make things work.

Aaron