Google Ventures Launches with “We May Steal Your Idea” Caveat

Andy Beal of MarketPilgrim warns of a dark lining behind Google's new $100m venture fund.

"If you’re a start-up that’s making moves despite the recession, Google wants to hear from you. Specifically, Google Ventures–the newly launched venture capital arm of the search giant–wants to hear from you."

He notes the disclaimer language on the site with his own emphasis added

"We welcome new ideas. However, please do not send us information that you consider to be confidential or proprietary. Because of what we do, we receive a high volume of business plans, presentations, pitches, memos - you get the picture - and because these materials are often similar, because they come to us in a variety of forms, and because we read a ton of stuff, we cannot and do not accept responsibility for protecting against the misuse or disclosure of any information unless we have expressly agreed (in writing) to do so."

Beal says, "In other words, send us your business plan but if we don’t invest and instead launch a competing service, you’re, er, SOL buddy."