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Truth is, I'd start writing code to copy any idea that I was totally blown away by, and I don't need any funding to start doing that. Putting your idea right t

by hoodoof 11y ago

Truth is, I'd start writing code to copy any idea that I was totally blown away by, and I don't need any funding to start doing that. Putting your idea right there in front of some pretty fast moving programmers has to be something people would think twice about. Having said that, it's hard to imagine an idea being sufficiently compelling to start writing code to implement it immediately. The only ideas that really blow me away are my own and they usually turn out to be silly anyway, after I've spent six months building them to crickets. I don't think ideas are worth nothing by the way. Just ask the Facebook twins.

gizmo 11y ago
There just aren't that many people out there who are willing and capable of doing the hard work it takes to bring something --anything-- to the point where it usable. Those who are have their own projects already, which they won't abandon based on a forum post. And if they do, they're going to abandon this new project the moment they read about an even cooler idea. Besides, ideas grow and take on a life of their own as you work on them. By the time your interpretation of the idea takes shape it's going to be distinctly different from the original idea that inspired you. The only way to keep people from stealing your ideas is by never talking to anybody about them. That's surely the worst of all options. You can literally try to clone any YC company after demo day. All the startups get covered on techcrunch making their ideas public. Just pick the one you like best and open your favorite editor. They only got a 6 months head start, so what's stopping you?
- hoodoof 11y ago
  >>what's stopping you As I say, there's not many ideas that seem inspiring, and as you rightly point out, I'm committed to my own foolish ideas.
  - gizmo 11y ago
    How can you be committed to your own ideas and at the same time announce you're willing to abandon them the moment you see a different idea that "blows you away"? And if you're not that committed to your own ideas, the odds aren't good that you'll stick with them long term.
    - hoodoof 11y ago
      As I said, if I was totally blown away by something then I'd act on it. It would of course have to justify dropping my other projects but I am willing to do that if the idea is good enough.
      - poppup 11y ago
        This practice happens all the time with books that are successful. Other books leech on to the traffic by using the same keywords, but what you'll notice is that the quality of the books is very poor because the author's heart and soul are not invested in the project. Startups that do well, like books, seem to all enjoy the participation of leadership and creativity aligned around a passionate interest in the problem, creative or logical or both.
- zeemonkee3 11y ago
  > You can literally try to clone any YC company after demo day. Not quite true. A growing number are hardware/robotics or biotech or some other field that require significant capital investment and highly specialist Phd-level expertise to even get a proof-of-concept off the ground, so you can't just "open your favorite editor" and get started. Then you have those which cover a niche that again requires some kind of insider knowledge or connections (it helped for example that Facebook was created in Harvard). That's not to say these are impossible barriers, but again they're not broken by hacking away at node or PHP. The pool of ideas that a) you, personally, can execute on today and b) have a hope of generating profit or funding within a reasonable timeframe is not as big as people like to think. Much of the low-hanging fruit of profitable ideas that can be executed by the single coder in the proverbial basement has been picked long ago.
  - gizmo 11y ago
    Every time a new platform or a new device gets launched there are low-hanging opportunities aplenty. It is easy to overestimate how big the opportunity has to be in order to be worthwhile for a single programmer. Those opportunities don't get pursued by established businesses because they are too small, leaving the field ripe for the picking.
    - zeemonkee3 11y ago
      That's very true, I think there's a window of opportunity when a new device/technology becomes mainstream before it becomes commoditized/cornered by a few big players : thinking of the web, then mobile, now the app stores are saturated and very few people can make money from them. VR might be the next wave (although plenty of false starts in that space).
grey-area 11y ago
Truth is, I'd start writing code to copy any idea that I was totally blown away by, and I don't need any funding to start doing that. Have you ever actually done this? If so what was the result? Did you then spend the several years of hard work it typically takes to make a great idea into a successful idea? What people mean when they say ideas are worth nothing is that a good idea is worth nothing without execution, and the effort required to execute and develop it is usually 1000x that to have the initial idea.

by hoodoof 11y ago

gizmo 11y ago

There just aren't that many people out there who are willing and capable of doing the hard work it takes to bring something --anything-- to the point where it usable. Those who are have their own projects already, which they won't abandon based on a forum post. And if they do, they're going to abandon this new project the moment they read about an even cooler idea. Besides, ideas grow and take on a life of their own as you work on them. By the time your interpretation of the idea takes shape it's going to be distinctly different from the original idea that inspired you. The only way to keep people from stealing your ideas is by never talking to anybody about them. That's surely the worst of all options. You can literally try to clone any YC company after demo day. All the startups get covered on techcrunch making their ideas public. Just pick the one you like best and open your favorite editor. They only got a 6 months head start, so what's stopping you?

hoodoof 11y ago
>>what's stopping you As I say, there's not many ideas that seem inspiring, and as you rightly point out, I'm committed to my own foolish ideas.
- gizmo 11y ago
  How can you be committed to your own ideas and at the same time announce you're willing to abandon them the moment you see a different idea that "blows you away"? And if you're not that committed to your own ideas, the odds aren't good that you'll stick with them long term.
  - hoodoof 11y ago
    As I said, if I was totally blown away by something then I'd act on it. It would of course have to justify dropping my other projects but I am willing to do that if the idea is good enough.
    - poppup 11y ago
      This practice happens all the time with books that are successful. Other books leech on to the traffic by using the same keywords, but what you'll notice is that the quality of the books is very poor because the author's heart and soul are not invested in the project. Startups that do well, like books, seem to all enjoy the participation of leadership and creativity aligned around a passionate interest in the problem, creative or logical or both.
zeemonkee3 11y ago
> You can literally try to clone any YC company after demo day. Not quite true. A growing number are hardware/robotics or biotech or some other field that require significant capital investment and highly specialist Phd-level expertise to even get a proof-of-concept off the ground, so you can't just "open your favorite editor" and get started. Then you have those which cover a niche that again requires some kind of insider knowledge or connections (it helped for example that Facebook was created in Harvard). That's not to say these are impossible barriers, but again they're not broken by hacking away at node or PHP. The pool of ideas that a) you, personally, can execute on today and b) have a hope of generating profit or funding within a reasonable timeframe is not as big as people like to think. Much of the low-hanging fruit of profitable ideas that can be executed by the single coder in the proverbial basement has been picked long ago.
- gizmo 11y ago
  Every time a new platform or a new device gets launched there are low-hanging opportunities aplenty. It is easy to overestimate how big the opportunity has to be in order to be worthwhile for a single programmer. Those opportunities don't get pursued by established businesses because they are too small, leaving the field ripe for the picking.
  - zeemonkee3 11y ago
    That's very true, I think there's a window of opportunity when a new device/technology becomes mainstream before it becomes commoditized/cornered by a few big players : thinking of the web, then mobile, now the app stores are saturated and very few people can make money from them. VR might be the next wave (although plenty of false starts in that space).

grey-area 11y ago

Truth is, I'd start writing code to copy any idea that I was totally blown away by, and I don't need any funding to start doing that. Have you ever actually done this? If so what was the result? Did you then spend the several years of hard work it typically takes to make a great idea into a successful idea? What people mean when they say ideas are worth nothing is that a good idea is worth nothing without execution, and the effort required to execute and develop it is usually 1000x that to have the initial idea.