In a blog post this week, Cuban asked startup and existing companies to post their business plans on his blog for anyone to see and comment on - in return for the possibility of an investment from him.

Cuban said in an e-mail that he thinks the faltering economy will rebound more quickly if people feel confident about starting their own businesses, and that providing a route for people to get funding and share ideas “might encourage people to take a chance and go for it.”

Of course, posting your business idea online could lead someone else to copy it. Cuban expects - and wants - this to happen.

“Its a good thing if someone sees an idea and replicates it somewhere else. The more businesses that are started the better,” he said.

Cuban has strings attached. These transparent businesses must be able to be cash-flow break even in two months and profitable within 90 days. And they cant rely on advertising for revenue. Cuban thinks enough businesses already are trying to get by on ad sales.

“It makes it much harder to control your own destiny as a startup business,” said Cuban, who is also the Dallas Mavericks owner and became the target of an insider-trading lawsuit from federal regulators last fall.

By midweek, several people had posted business plans to Cubans blog, including Alain Raynaud, a Mountain View, Calif.-based entrepreneur who runs a company that helps people start online businesses.

Raynaud pitched an idea for XtremeTalk - software that he says will let businesses conduct networking events online. Raynaud is working on the software with a friend, and it is still in the proposal stage. So far, he hasnt heard anything from Cuban.

Cuban did respond to a more offbeat idea. A commenter named Josh Thatcher sought funding to build a wheeled furnace that cities could use to collect and burn tumbleweeds.

“Honestly, its not an area I know enough about to make an informed decision,” Cuban wrote back. “Sorry.”

Source