I Am Worried That People I Ask For Feedback Will Steal My Idea.

Hey everyone, this community has really helped me in the past so I’m reaching out again in hopes of getting some good advice and guidance again.

I have an idea revolving around solar energy (just everyday people who own homes with solar panels). I think I’ve solved a problem that big businesses will pay for, created a new opportunity for homeowners, and created shared value in between.

I’ve mapped out how it will work, how my business will generate income, the expenses etc.

I’m now in the stage of speaking to my target audience and getting feedback to see if this is actually something they’d use and if it would actually solve their problem - however, I’ve only spoken to homeowners (feedback has been good eg. “Yeah that sounds really great! I’d definitely do that if you launched it”) and I’m actively building a waitlist.

I haven’t been able to speak to big businesses though. When I’m searching on LinkedIn, lots of people in the positions I would need to speak to (ideally sustainability/energy procurement/ESG manager/lead/head etc.) seem like if I ask them about my idea, they’d easily be able to steal it or just say it’s not a good idea then go away and do it on their own.

Do I explain how the idea works? Do I tell them like, I’ll be doing this and this and this, homeowners with solar panels are willing to do this in exchange for this, and you (the big business) get this which I believe will solve your problem - will that solve your problem? What are your thoughts? Feedback?

Idk what to do and it’s annoying the fuck out of me cause I want to build my waitlist and see if this will actually work!!

I just don’t know how to get feedback from the businesses without them going ‘hmm this sounds good, let’s see if we can do that ourselves, cut out the middleman’

I do have aspects of the idea that are defensible, but I feel like the majority of it is just being first to market and being good at marketing to get a lot of homeowners on board quickly + having a good network (which I lack).

Idk, can anyone offer some advice please? Feeling stuck but need to validate my idea first before I spend any money + more time on it.

Thank you

Ps. I know the whole - “ideas are a dime a dozen, it’s all in the execution”. But the part that gets me is, the people I need feedback from (sustainability managers etc.) would be far better at executing this than I would, given their experience, and my lack thereof.