There are without question certain cases where your IP is so confidential it simply can’t be shared.
In my first start-up, we were acquired by our arch competitor, and we had truly secret technology. Secret.
So how did they do their “due diligence”?
Well, we agreed on a panel of the 3 lead experts / scientists in the industry. Each was able to do an entire week of on-site diligence and examine every piece of data, everything. And then they were able to produce a report, that we could redact, with their summary learnings.
That worked. In that case.
But generally in software and Internet, we’re all copying someone else. You are rarely the first ever in your category, even if you are remaking it.
So share most things. Share whatever anyone could find on Google. Share what is fairly obvious to anyone that has been doing this for 5+ years.
Just keep a little of the secret sauce secret. It’s usually only 5%, max 10%, that is so secret in software.
