Hey everyone, I’m here looking for some advice on what to do next. So, here’s a bit of background: I’m not a tech person but I’ve been working on this idea for a while. Since I don’t have the tech skills or enough money to fully hire an agency, I’ve been trying to find a tech co-founder, but everyone in my circle is more into finance and marketing.
Recently, I found a company that helps you polish your pitch and raise funds. As a uni student, I didn’t have much but I put my 10k into their program because it looked solid with great testimonials and they seemed picky about who they took on. I didn’t find any red flags, so I went for it and shared all my research, ideas, validation, UI/UX, product info, and so on. But then, I discovered they’ve launched a very same startup under a different name. They seemed really into my ideas after a thorough review. Now I’m wondering, is this just a coincidence or a breach of confidentiality? What should I do about this situation with the firm? Also, as a non-technical founder who’s now 10k down, what are my next steps?
What sort of “company” polishes your ideas and helps you get funding? Are you sure the testimonials are real or are they just on their websites? Do they have any other startups that have demonstrable success like being acquired?
It’s not surprising that another company is doing a similar thing as you, depending on the idea it might be quite obvious, or it might be that they started their own thing and the company you hired is a scam at best. Without more context it’s impossible to know.
That’s literally what accelerators and incubators do- polish ideas and help get funding - it’s the basis for Ycombinator…
But you’re right with everything else you’ve pointed out. Seems suspect especially if you have to pay cash to participate