How do I pitch ideas to companies without the fear of it being stolen?

This is always a concern for authors or inventors - how to protect their ideas from being stolen if they disclose them to a third party. If you haven't already filed to protect your intellectual property before you disclose it, and they end up stealing it, you are in the position of having to show that you had the idea before them and they took it from you. This can be very difficult to prove. While nondisclosure agreements give you some avenue to pursue them through a breach of contract, the strongest position is if you file to protect the idea BEFORE you disclose it. You can register the copyright or file a provisional patent application, which establishes a date prior to your disclosure of your ownership. In the copyright arena, this is not always dispositive because copyright requires copying and the other party can still say they had the idea before you disclosed it to them. You should consult with someone in your state about getting a nondisclosure agreement and possibly protecting the idea before you disclose it.