Developing Business Plan

The closest thing to it that I’ve ever heard is recent rulings on “business model” patents related to the Internet and Internet businesses. What I’ve heard is that some patents have been granted for specific flow of information and commerce on specific Internet sites. If you’re serious about that you’d have to talk to a patent attorney.

Real investors don’t sign NDAs
You also hear a lot about “non-disclosure” agreements (NDA), legal documents in which parties agree not to tell secrets that they disclose to each other. These are used a lot in business development and are a good idea in many business occasions. Non-disclosures are often impractical and hard to enforce, but they are used anyhow.

Real investors don’t sign NDAs. They don’t have to because ideas are cheap and plentiful. They don’t want to because an NDA could be used against them for nuisance lawsuits, even if they didn’t disclose. And they really can’t sign an NDA because they can’t afford to promise they won’t do a similar business with somebody else. The next person in the door, right after they turn you down, might have a similar idea and a more convincing business plan. Each time they signed an NDA they would be ruling out some kind of future business, and they can’t afford to do that.

Commercial bank loans Banks loan businesses money for working capital and even occasionally for expansion, but not without solid collateral. Banks don’t generally invest in new businesses or new business plans, for good reasons. The government doesn’t want banks taking undue risks with depositors’ money. If you don’t have solid collateral, or if you aren’t willing to risk what you have, then don’t expect to get commercial loan financing.

Small business administration guaranteed loans. The SBA guarantees loans for small businesses in some circumstances. You still need to have 30% of whatever you need to borrow as collateral, but that’s a lot less than the normal 100%.