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Especially if the hiring process does not result in gainful employment.

The interview is for an early stage startup and the role will be a senior role (VP/ CxO). The person in this role is expected to have their own vision, plan etc. for taking the company forward within the parameters of their role.

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I think this veers into off topic territory due to it's legal nature. However I've never heard of someone concerned over IP rights of the business plan itself; it's a very specific document to a company layout out your plan, not any sort of product, design method or anything else one could steal to get a practical edge. Especially for what I assume is an example business plan I'm not sure what you're worried about. – Rarity Jul 21 '12 at 14:01
I am not looking for legal advice. Just wondering what the standard practice is in such a scenario. Is this scenario even that common? Besides, is the workplace not governed by some legal dynamic or the other such as non-compete, HR policies etc. ? – moonstar2001 Jul 21 '12 at 14:46
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Moonstar2001, could you edit your question to include more about the type of position you're interviewing for, especially the level of the position? Providing more context will help people provide better answers. Thanks! – jcmeloni Jul 21 '12 at 18:35
Moonstar2001, are you personally interviewing for a job wit the interviewing company, or are you attempting to sell them a product or service? – Jim In Texas Jul 22 '12 at 3:37
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@jcmeloni - I edited the question. Hope it has sufficient information now. – moonstar2001 Jul 22 '12 at 4:55
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2 Answers

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If you have concerns about protecting your IP during the interview process, then the most straightforward way to address the matter is to enter into a mutual non-disclosure agreement with the interviewer before you start the actual interview.

Note that with many larger companies this will already be standard practice, although they may use a unilateral agreement that does not prevent them from using any confidential information that you provide. I suggest that if you are asked to sign such an agreement as part of the interview process, always insist that it be mutual.

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If I were the interviewer and your business plan was so brilliant that I might want to "steal" it, I know I'd be better off hiring the mind that came up with the plan (and can modify it as the situation changes) than stealing the plan and handing it to someone less brilliant. I've had a few interviews in which someone asked me how I would solve a software development problem they were currently having. Demonstrating your talents in a "hot" zone and providing ideas they can actually use is a marvelous way to impress the interviewer.

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pretty impressive demonstration of how What-if analysis works. Instead of endlessly drilling into how to prevent some uncertain danger, one just asks self Okay, what would really happen if it comes at me? And voila, whole issue is suddenly brought into a much more reasonable perspective. (Feeling kind of envy that this answer is not mine:) – gnat Jul 25 '12 at 22:43

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