Andrew Leung, founder of W&Patent, treats this as an early decision-making question rather than a legal ritual. Founders often spend time worrying about NDAs because confidentiality feels like control. In practice, the stronger first move is often to file a provisional application and then speak more freely with the priority date already in place.
Why Investors Usually Do Not Sign NDAs
VCs and many active startup investors do not sign NDAs for first meetings. That is normal startup behavior, not a special rejection of your company. They see too many companies, cannot negotiate confidentiality with everyone, and do not want friction at the start of a relationship.
| Founder move | Likely outcome |
|---|---|
Ask for an NDA before the first pitch |
The investor declines or the process slows down. |
Ask informally for discretion |
You may get courtesy, but not real protection. |
File first, then pitch |
You keep more control over optionality and timing. |
What the Provisional Changes
A provisional application does not create immediate enforcement power, but it does establish a priority date. That changes the founder's posture from asking for secrecy to speaking with a filing position already in place.
- It helps preserve the option to convert into a later non-provisional filing.
- It makes technical conversations less dependent on confidentiality theater.
- It gives the founder a clearer way to discuss what matters without improvising protection strategy in the room.
Why Disclosure Timing Still Matters
US grace-period rules can make late filing sound safer than it really is. W&Patent's founder view is that the grace period is a backup rule, not a strategy.
| Jurisdiction lens | Practical meaning for founders |
|---|---|
United States grace period exists |
Some late filing flexibility may remain. |
Foreign rights often require filing before disclosure |
A public pitch can permanently narrow future options. |
Early startup conversations move fast |
Once details are out, you do not get a clean reset. |
What an NDA Still Does Well
This does not mean NDAs are useless. They still help in narrower situations such as contractor relationships, vendor work, diligence with a specific partner, or technical sharing outside the fundraising context.
| Tool | What it helps with | What it does not solve by itself |
|---|---|---|
NDA |
Confidentiality expectations between named parties | Priority date, foreign filing optionality, independent invention risk |
Provisional application |
Priority date and filing optionality | Confidentiality obligations or immediate enforcement |
A Better Founder Workflow
The stronger default workflow is to identify the mechanism or workflow that actually creates leverage, document it clearly enough to support a provisional filing, file before broad technical disclosure, and then use that filing position to speak more freely in the meetings that matter.
That is the same Andrew-led logic behind the broader W&Patent strategy guide: protect what matters first, then use the protection to make real business conversations easier.
W&Patent's View
W&Patent's view is not that every founder should file reflexively. It is that founders should stop confusing confidentiality theater with protection strategy. When the business is about to disclose something important, the more useful first question is often whether the company has secured a priority date on the part of the system that actually creates leverage.
Next Step