Can a development team steal my unique app or website idea?

A simple answer to this question is ‘yes, they can.’ Just like any other industry, digital marketing also has certain pitfalls and risks for businesses. And the best way to encounter or avoid them is to stay equipped with the right tools and techniques. 

Digital marketing, web development, and coding sectors areat a high risk of cyber-attacks, IP theft, and idea fabrication. As a business owner or a hobbyist web designer, you need to protect your ideas and designs from others in the market. While stealing an iOS, Android, or any other app and web idea isn’t as easy as ABC, the owners must go theextra mile to protect yours.

From coming up with a unique idea to executing and launching it, several development, coding, testing, and designing phases are included in the process. Hence, you need to know how to protect digital ideas from theft. 

Before we move on, it’s important for you to understand a simple idea is worth nothing in the market. Ideas are generated everyday but the ones that successfully execute and market in the industry are considered the winners. 

Here are some proven ways to protect your app or web idea from getting stolen by developers.

Hire a Reputable App Development Company

For starters, trusting a shady company to have an app or website developed for your business is the biggest mistake. Not researching different companies and pointing out their red flags before hiring one can be a total disaster. 

Unreliable developers are highly likely to steal unique ideas or realign them for their benefit. Established, well-reputed app development companies have a robust reputation in the market. They have an esteemed clientele and are often certified by boards and regulatory bodies. As a result, they cannot afford to commit any theft or malpractice as it can destroy their reputation and lead to legal hassles. However, small, unestablished companies have very less to lose. 

Think twice before trusting a freelance developer in another country with your idea. For starters, it’s always best to partner with an app and web development company that’s closer to you. 

Since they don’t have influential clients who can outcry on social media platforms or leave bad reviews, they tend to steal unique ideas and sell them at higher costs. 

As boring as it may seem, searching and deeply analyzing development companies before partnering with one can be very helpful. Always check their online reviews, client portfolio, and contact for further details to understand expertise and professionalism level. It’s also a great idea to pick a company that has been working with someone you know in the industry. 

Selective Sharing

No matter how deeply you scrutinize a development team, always be smart when it comes to sharing information. When business have a unique idea ready for execution, they tend to go all in in front of their development team. This may lead to some nasty loopholes. 

Professional developers encourage businesses to share information in chunks. At Softwaresitic, our developers recommend clients to be pertinent about technical data and idea information to ensure a foolproof pitching process. 

NDA to the Rescue

Hiring a good app or web development company has many perks. One of them is NDA. Non-Disclosure Agreements are extremely helpful in protecting IP integrity. With a good app development company, you can stay assured that NDAs will be used for maximum confidentiality. 

This is a general tip that can also help businesses that outsource third-party services, hire financial consultants, and investment advisors.

Copyright Right Away

Next, businesses should never ignore the significance of intellectual property protection tools such as trademark, copyright, and patent. These tools are highly regularized and are a part of the US Consumer and Business Protection Acts.  A copyright is a very credible way to protect IPs such as logo, slogans, business ideas, app designs, website wireframes, and more. 

However, you cannot copyright an idea that hasn’t been translated into a design or a plan. For example, you have an idea of creating a customer-centric, AI-powered website. But, you don’t have any UI/UX elements or codes designed to back the idea. So this cannot be copyrighted. 

Once you have an idea documented, get a copyright right away. Don’t sit back and relax. You need to bring your idea to life before it sees the light of the day. Oftentimes, businesses think that their ideas are the best and there will not be a better one surpassing it. However, in today’s digital world, ideas have become a commodity. Almost everyone has ideas but not all of them are able to execute it. 

A brilliant, bright idea is a lot, but it’s not even the 20% of the entire battle. Document all the facts, prototypes, and codes to ensure idea ownership. 

Will Your Developer Want to Steal Your Idea? Not Really

Getting an app or website made by a developer requires business managers to become proactive. You should always follow the tips we’ve mentioned above and in addition,

• Stay aware of the legal cost of idea stealing. This is the best way to maximize idea protection.
• Know that developers see and know a lot of ideas so there’s no point in rushing to tell them yours.
• Developers, especially renowned and reliable ones, have seen hundreds of app and web ideas succeed and fail. So if you’re partnering with one of them, let them do the talking.
• Development companies feed on good reviews, ratings, and feedback. They’re not likely to steal any ideas if they want to thrive and succeed in the market.

Softwareistic brings you a holistic suite of IT app development services, which includes custom iOS and Android app development, MVP, React Native, and Flutter app development as well.