No, there really is work that really should be called 'intellectual property' (IP) and might be new and unique. And as the US DoD has understood well for decades, there really is IP that should be marked 'confidential', 'secret', etc.
A current example of such IP might be the Google ranking algorithm.
More broadly a claim that there are no ideas that are new, unique, and good is in wild conflict with essentially all of peer-reviewed original research that, typically, is supposed to be "new, significant, and correct".
Information technology (IT) entrepreneurship and venture capital nearly totally assume that all the technical work is just routine software. This is a HUGE mistake. But with this mistake, the only unique or new aspect of the project is just the 'business idea' that might be ripped off.
Such business ideas actually CAN, EVENTUALLY, get protection, that is, a 'barrier to entry' or a 'Buffett moat', from effects in the market, say, Fred Wilson's "large networks of engaged users". But getting this protection requires success in the market which takes time, and between first contact with a venture firm and the protection in place, the business 'idea' can be vulnerable to being copied and the business opportunity taken.
Some entrepreneurs believe they have evidence that some venture partners have received such business 'ideas' from entrepreneurs, told the entrepreneurs to get lost, and given the ideas to buddies of the venture partners.
So, some entrepreneurs want a venture firm to sign a 'non-disclosure agreement' (NDA) before discussing the business idea.
Alas, at least in IT, venture firms will nearly never sign.
Generally, as an opening negotiating position, it is in the interest of the venture firms to take a 'stance', if they can get away with it, that their money and business 'acumen' are really valuable and that the entrepreneur has nothing new, unique, powerful, or valuable.
Entrepreneurs can counter by saying that all the money is just green, indistinguishable, and fungible, and the venture partners are nearly never qualified to be Chief Scientist, CTO, CIO, Server Farm Manager, Software Project Leader, Software Developer, Network Architect, or Network Administrator and, thus, have at best only peripheral knowledge for the business success.