Should I trademark this?  Can I trademark that?  How do I get a patent?  What's a patent do for me?  Should I talk to this company even with an NDA?  How can this accountant possibly justify charging that much?

These are undoubtedly questions any relatively new entreprenuer has rolling around in their brain, especially when paying upwards of $250 an hour for a lawyer with the right specialty isn't even an option.

Sometimes GREAT NEWS turns into worry for me.  For example, I got a chance to speak with the largest equipment manufacturer in the world about my equipment retrofit, patent application, and the work I've done so far.  This could be HUGE, and could also be a problem if I say too much or not enough.

The person on the other line was very friendly, and I got a good feeling about our discussion.  We're now exchanging signatures on a mutual NDA, which is great.  However, I still can't avoid that nagging feeling that it's david vs goliath and they'll get the info they need, say "see you later" and we'll see something awfully similar to what we've come up with, but slightly different in a year or two.

I guess this is just part of the deal when you're an entrepreneur.  There's always about a million variables and nothing is more valuable than experience (except maybe a law degree), so I'll just continue to be as careful as possible without being afraid to move things forward and turn over every rock to see what's underneath.