We know the economics of these startups," Eb says. "We begin with nothing but the idea. That's what the NDA is for-to protect your idea. We work on the idea together-put our brainpower into it-and get stock in return. The result of this work is software. The software is copyrightable, trademarkable, perhaps patentable. It is intellectual property. It is worth some money. We all own it in common, through our shares. Then we sell some more shares to an investor. We use the money to hire more people and turn it into a product, to market it, and so on. That's how the system works,
( Neal Stephenson )
[ Cryptonomicon ]
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