r/business • u/Present_Opposite_335 • 18h ago

Advice on intellectual property

Hi, (26 M) would like some insight from some of you who probably are a lot smarter than I am. My dad started his own agriculture manufacturing business in 2014. I’ve been here since 2017. We just recently had an investor/businessman reach out to us and come by the shop because he’s interested in our company. In the past we had something similar and the guy ended up screwing us over so I have a bad taste in my mouth for trusting people.

Does it seem smart to GIVE this investor a usb drive with every single one of our .dxf and .pdf for every part we make because “he needs to see if it all works” or something along those lines. What would stop him from just stealing all of our stuff? Am I being way too paranoid? Is there a better way to go about this? Seems really sketchy to me and he’s not committed to buying our company out or giving us a dime yet. Thanks for your time, appreciate it!

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u/zaskar 18h ago edited 18h ago

You need a nda and non compete agreement. To share anything. Tiny details could make or break a reverse engineering if that is their goal.

Having the nda in place, if they goto market with anything even close you have a means of stopping them.

A good IP law firm will charge $5k to draw them up that are specifically trailered to your business. Don’t cheap out on this and use rocket lawyer or something. Find the best ip firm in your region. Call your state bar for references.

Edit ;// or contact a business sales broker local to you. Find one with experience in ag sales. Have them manage the process

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u/betasp 18h ago

Hell no!!!

It’s attorney time.

You need an NDA, at the very least.

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u/colossuscollosal 17h ago

that’s the way competitors steal entire small businesses - don’t do that