Acceleration Co-op

In our pilot tests of the Acceleration Co-op concept, a topic that came up frequently was confidentiality and conflict of interest.

To be more specific, potential acceleratees worried about:

• What if I initiate a dialog with the experts, and it turns out one of the experts is really a competitor of mine?
• What if I want to share confidential information with the experts? How can I make sure they do not steal my ideas?

We have given this very important topic a great deal of thought, and this is what we have implemented. Feedback or suggestions or criticism is always welcome if you have better ideas.

Layered "depths of engagement"

We believe that it is almost always possible to talk about a topic at a high level, in a way that does not risk giving away the "secret sauce". Then often, as the discussion gets more in-depth, one does need to dig into the nitty gritty details, some of which may well be confidential. This suggests a "layered" approach to interactions, with open high-level discussions, followed if necessary by closed more detailed discussions.

The Acceleration Co-op interactions have been designed so you can have those high-level discussions with as broad an expert group as possible, thereby getting the full benefit of the acculumuated wisdom and expertise of our "crowd of experts". Then, you can escalate the discussion to a smaller group of hand-picked members of the Acceleration Co-op, using the "private circle" feature. If you think it is warranted you can negotiate an NDA with your hand-picked expert group and have confidential discussions.

Here is how we see the system being used:

1. Layer 1: For high-level topics, where you want a broad spectrum of expert inputs and where you do not need to reveal the secret sauce, you can launch a "Dialog with experts". This is restricted so only members of the Acceleration Co-op can see it (the general public cannot). All our experts will be able to read and comment on it. Other acceleratees will be able to read your post (and in some cases will be able to read and comment on the discussion). You can browse the list of our expert members at any time (once you are a member) and thus have a good idea of who is in the expert community.
2.  Layer 2: When you decide it is time to discuss more sensitive topics, you probably want more control over exactly who is in the group you are talking with. By using the "private circle" feature you can select your own group of experts from our membership. You can either add them one at a time, or you can start with the full group and delete members who you think might have potential conflicts.
3. Layer 3: If you decide you want to discuss something that requires an NDA, you can ask your private circle to execute an NDA with you. You can use your NDA, or you can use one that we provide as an example. If some experts want to execute your NDA and some do not, you can restrict your private circle to just those who are comfortable executing your NDA.
4. Layer 4: Some experts have a policy of only executing NDAs when there is some substantial economic benefit to be had as a result. In that case, if you wish, you can negotiate a separate agreement with either a handful of experts or with your entire private circle. Or not. It is up to you and the experts.
5. Layer 5: For the most sensitive layer of discussions you probably want to move to one-on-one dialogs with a small group of hand-picked experts, and you probably want to enter into a relationship of more substance than the online interactions you can have through the Acceleration Co-op website. When you decide you want to do that, you can use our advisor connections feature to engage with the expert of your choice in a one-on-one fashion.

Balancing secrecy and getting help

Putting in place an NDA comes with some substantial overhead. Will it be your NDA or theirs? Which of varying types of terms will you both agree on? Which jurisdiction will it be in? Will it be bilateral or one-way? Will you need to pay a lawyer to do the word-smithing of whatever compromise you work out? Why would the other party go to this trouble unless there is substantial economic benefit? 

We have found that NDA's are best reserved for situations where you really need to disclose secrets, and where you are willing to enter into a business relationship of high enough value that it makes sense for both parties to invest in agreeing on an NDA.

So there is always a tradeoff. You want to be able to get as much informed input on a topic as you can, and requiring an NDA in situations where it is not really necessary can limit your ability to get a broad spectrum of inputs. On the other hand, there inevitably comes a time when the discussion needs to get into the secret sauce and an NDA is desirable.

We designed the layered approach (above) to interaction so that our acceleratees can make their own case by case decision about how to make this tradeoff.