How Much Should I Reveal to Potential Investors? When seeking financing, remember what business plans to share and what to keep to yourself.

Q: How do I keep my business ideaconfidential while seeking out investors?

A: This is a very legitimatequestion. However, let me first make some general comments aboutlooking for investors.

When entrepreneurs start out, they dream of the day when theirproduct or service will become the hottest thing on the market.After all, who doesn't want fame and fortune? However, somepeople think that the only way they can make their entrepreneurialdreams a reality is to get outside investors. This is not alwaysthe case. Many businesses remain privately owned for years, neverseeking outside funding from anyone. After all, there are so manydifferent ways to acquire the initial capital necessary to start abusiness. If you have a very simple business idea, then the bestthing for you to do might be to use your own money. Why be indebtedto someone else if you don't have to be? After all, you willhave enough to worry about when trying to produce, advertise andsell your products or services.