VCs Won't Sign Your NDA.
Here's What You Can Do Instead.
Timestamp your pitch deck, business plan, and product concepts on the Cardano blockchain before every investor meeting. Instant, private, verifiable.
The Founder's Dilemma
You Have to Share to Get Funded
Getting investment means sharing your idea - your vision, your market insight, your unique approach. But every pitch meeting, every accelerator application, every advisor conversation is a potential leak. You can't build a company in a vacuum, but you also can't control who hears your idea once it's out there.
NDAs Don't Work for Startups
VCs won't sign your NDA. They see hundreds of pitches per year, many in overlapping spaces. Signing an NDA for every pitch would create impossible legal exposure. Most accelerators and angel groups have the same policy. The standard advice - "ideas are worthless, execution is everything" - ignores the reality that ideas do get copied, especially when you share them with well-connected people.
No Paper Trail Means No Recourse
Without a dated record of what you shared and when, you have no starting point if your idea appears in someone else's pitch deck, product, or patent filing. Emails and slide decks have timestamps that can be questioned. You need something stronger.
Timestamp Before You Share
Create a Pre-Meeting Proof
Before every investor meeting, accelerator application, or partnership discussion, timestamp a description of your idea on the Cardano blockchain. Include your core concept, unique value proposition, key differentiators, and any specific details you plan to share. This creates an immutable, publicly verifiable record that your idea existed at that specific point in time.
Private Until You Need It
CommitProof hashes your text entirely in your browser - your idea description never touches a server. Only the hash goes on-chain, and a hash can't be reverse-engineered back to your original text. The proof stays private in your possession until you decide to reveal it. No one knows what you timestamped unless you share your proof file.
Document Every Pivot
Startups evolve fast. Timestamp your idea at every major milestone - initial concept, pivot, new feature, market expansion. This creates a documented timeline of your thinking that shows your idea developed organically, not copied from someone else. It's the kind of documentation that IP lawyers recommend but most founders neglect.
How It Works
Enter your text or upload a file - a description of your invention, your creative work, or your startup idea.
Your browser computes a SHA-256 hash with a random salt. Your original text never leaves the device.
The hash is written to the Cardano blockchain as transaction metadata - timestamped, permanent, tamper-proof.
Download your proof file (PDF or JSON). Share it later to prove what you knew and when.
When to Timestamp Your Startup Ideas
Before investor meetings
Every pitch is a potential exposure point. Timestamp your current pitch deck content, key differentiators, and technical approach before each meeting. If your idea shows up in another company's pitch six months later, you have dated proof of priority.
Before accelerator applications
Accelerator programs receive thousands of applications. While most are run ethically, your idea is seen by reviewers, mentors, and other founders. Timestamp your application's core concepts before submitting.
Before sharing with co-founders or advisors
Early-stage conversations often happen without formal agreements. Before discussing your idea with a potential co-founder, advisor, or technical partner, timestamp what you're bringing to the table. If the relationship doesn't work out, you have proof of what was yours from the start.
At every pivot and major iteration
Ideas evolve. Timestamp each significant version of your concept - it creates a timeline that shows continuous development. This is especially valuable if you're later accused of copying someone else: your dated timeline of iterations tells the story of organic development.
Why Cardano Timestamps Beat NDAs for Startups
| Factor | NDA | Blockchain Timestamp |
|---|---|---|
| VCs will sign it | Almost never | Not needed |
| Proves your priority date | No | Yes |
| Cost | $500–$5,000 (lawyer) | 3 ada |
| Speed | Days to weeks | < 1 minute |
| Enforcement | Requires lawsuit | Self-proving (public blockchain) |
| Works globally | Jurisdiction-dependent | Yes - decentralized, borderless |
Frequently Asked Questions
Will investors think I'm paranoid?
No. Savvy founders document everything - that's not paranoia, it's good practice. You don't need to tell investors about it. CommitProof creates a private proof that you only reveal if you ever need to. The timestamp happens before the meeting; the investor never knows unless you decide to share the proof.
Can I actually prove idea theft?
A Cardano blockchain timestamp proves that you had a specific idea at a specific time. It doesn't prove theft - that requires showing the other party had access to your idea and used it. However, a timestamped proof is a strong starting point: it establishes your priority and forces the other party to explain how they arrived at the same idea independently.
What if someone comes up with the same idea independently?
It happens more often than people think. A Cardano blockchain timestamp doesn't prevent others from having the same idea - but it proves when you had it. In disputes over who came first, a tamper-proof Cardano blockchain timestamp is the strongest evidence you can have.
Ready to Timestamp Your Proof?
Create a blockchain-anchored timestamp in under a minute. Your text never leaves your browser.
3 ada per proof . No subscription, no account.