Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Seattle 2.0, and imported to GeekWire as part of our acquisition of Seattle 2.0 and its archival content. For more background, see this post.
By Alyssa Royse
The Seattle Startup Scene is a small and somewhat incestuousthing. Not unlike high-school, after you’ve been here for a while you knowpretty much everyone, or at least know someone who knows everyone else. BetweenBurning Man, Beer Pong and the steady churn of opening and closing companies,most of us know someone who has burned with, drunk with, slept with, workedwith and maybe even had kids with everyone else. There are far fewer secretsthan one would like to think. And that’s ok, we’re a pretty accepting bunch. Wedrink, we chat – it’s all good. (And it’s never boring!)
However, being business geeks, the sad truth is that most ofus – even when drunk – still talk about business. And that’s actually where mycurrent queries settle. Personal gossip is personal gossip, no one pays muchmind. But business, that’s a different thing altogether, and I’m wonderingabout where the boundaries are when it comes to discussing what everyone elseis up to.
I have a couple scenarios in my head.
Pipe Dreams With Potential
As we hang out with our peeps at various social functions,or just have drinks with friends, we often talk about businesses that we wouldlove to start, if only…… It’s onlychatter, but it’s deeply held and personal chatter, that can often linger foryears before we either do it or let it die.
An example. I have had an idea for a site that I’ve wantedto do for about 3 years now. My good friends have heard me talk about it, Ilove the idea, it’s truly unique and has great legs, but I am not about tostart something alone again, and…. Well, for lots of reasons, I haven’t moved on it. I mentioned it to afriend a few months ago, a new friend who hadn’t heard it before, (there wasalcohol involved, of course) and he immediately said, “you have to talk to myfriend, he has total expertise in this field and would be all over this.” Thenext week, we were all having drinks and brainstorming, and now it’s a communalpipe dream with potential. May or may not happen….
The questions:
- With a casual idea like this, is it cool to chatter to people?
- Can you tell other people someone else’s ideas that they told you at a party?
- Should you introduce two people who have a similar idea and would like each other?
- Are you “owed” anything – money or a role or…. – as a result?
Serious Startups In Stealth Mode
Most of our friends are in varying stages of startup. Someof them are very serious – people who know what they’re doing, have a trackrecord, funding, team and are madly developing. It is almost impossible forthere not to be overlap. A few years ago everyone had an online socialnetworking startup, then social advertising, now it’s mobile everything.
You have two friends who are doing something that is eithervery competitive or very compatible. But you’ve been sworn to secrecy – doesn’tmatter to me whether it’s an NDA or a “simple” matter of trust. You should notbe discussing either one of their companies with anyone else, period.
However, you know enough to know that they are possiblydirect competitors with each other. Or that what they are doing would be somuch better if they did it together rather than separately. Or that together,they have the makings of an idea / company that is far greater than the sum ofits parts. Or you are good friends with both, know both, and one of them wantsto hire you. (This is kindof the business equivalent of sleeping with your best friends ex, I think.)
- If you are sworn to secrecy and know they should know each other, what do you do?
- If you have very specific info about why something that one of them is going to do is good or bad for them, but it’s because of something you know about the other, what do you do?
- If you want to work for or with one but have lots of info about the other, what do you do?
- Is it possible to pretend that you don’t know something, if you really do?
Again, I’m not talking about NDA’s necessarily. I’m talkingabout something more nebulous. A moral compass, internal integrity that may ormay not jibe with legal or conventional wisdom.
Back to high school. Obviously, if you have one friend dyingto go to Cabo and another who’s parents have a place in Cabo, you hook them up.But what if the info you have is of a much deeper and private nature, given toyou in trust, but you know it will impact other people in a major way, do youtell?
What are your questions and answers?
Alyssa Royse is the founder of JUST CAUSE Magazine, sucks atbeer pong, loves her friends, thinks of talking about business ideas asforeplay and blogs very openly about whatever she’s thinking about – for betteror worse.
