I think that there's probably a difference between approaching potential customers or funders whose businesses are somewhat orthogonal to your own direction and approaching direct competitors or parties who have the competence to 'steal' your ideas.
If I'm working on something similar to you, it's probably a trivial thing to include your ideas in my product. But if I am doing something completely different, the cost of switching track to 'steal' your great idea is probably so high that it's not worth while.
Now of course there may be second order effects or you may misjudge someone else's direction. That's where you have to rely on trust and reputation. But I think that getting ideas out to people who may help and are unlikely to want to compete is essential - external feedback is what's likely to stop you from disappearing down the rabbit hole, so to speak.
I like your last paragraph very much - life becomes a lot simpler when you try to stay around people who act the 'right' way (whatever that may mean to an individual). It takes a lot of mental load off and gives you the freedom to do things of which you can be truly proud.
If I'm working on something similar to you, it's probably a trivial thing to include your ideas in my product. But if I am doing something completely different, the cost of switching track to 'steal' your great idea is probably so high that it's not worth while.
Now of course there may be second order effects or you may misjudge someone else's direction. That's where you have to rely on trust and reputation. But I think that getting ideas out to people who may help and are unlikely to want to compete is essential - external feedback is what's likely to stop you from disappearing down the rabbit hole, so to speak.
I like your last paragraph very much - life becomes a lot simpler when you try to stay around people who act the 'right' way (whatever that may mean to an individual). It takes a lot of mental load off and gives you the freedom to do things of which you can be truly proud.