Trade Secrets

You don’t need a secret soft-drink recipe to have trade secrets.

If you’ve been in business for even one week, you’ve probably learned something not to do or a way to do something more efficiently. These “aha” moments, and the resulting process improvements that give your business an edge, are trade secrets. They derive their value from being secret.

If someone starts a competitive business next door, and you share with them everything you’ve learned along your path; your advantageous business processes and workflows, tricks of the trade, and “secret sauce”, you’re giving away business value. You may want to do this out of the kindness of your heart, or you may prefer to keep your secrets under wraps.

But, either way, it’s important to recognize what you have so you can make wise decisions. And, if others will be exposed to your trade secrets in order to work with you, it’s important to protect your trade secrets in your applicable written agreements and in the manner you store, classify, and allow (or disallow) access to those secrets.

These are all trade secrets: