Information trading

My controversial take on information sharing is that investors do it too frequently and founders don’t do it often enough…

INVESTORS: I’ve been in this industry long enough to witness how frequently investors will exchange insider information to favor-trade with their peers.

This is just low-class behavior.

As soon as you get caught (and you will, eventually), you burn all of the trust and goodwill you may have built with a founder over months and years of working together.

If you want to share info, just ask the founder. Odds are, they’ll be happy for the opportunity to brag about their company to a potential investor.

FOUNDERS: I hate to be the one to break it to you, but no one is trying to steal your idea to build that “Uber for dogs” app you’ve been sitting on for the past 10 years.

Founders should be far more liberal with what they share and with whom — Not DESPITE who might hurt the business, but BECAUSE of who might be able to help it.

No one’s going to help you if they’ve never heard of you. Give people the opportunity to learn about your business and tell others about it, too.

Here’s the advice I give to early-stage founders: Intellectual Property is your technology, not your business model.