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I agree with your statement "GREAT ideas usually come from some form of execution and iteration". Yes, sitting down and trying to implement something inevitably

by sendos 17y ago

I agree with your statement "GREAT ideas usually come from some form of execution and iteration". Yes, sitting down and trying to implement something inevitably shows its weaknesses and, if you're smart, helps you improve it. Regarding "Ideas matter, but not that much" : If they don't matter that much, why don't VCs and YC omit that part and just ask you who you are and what your track record is? If execution is the most important thing, they should not even ask what the idea behind the startup is, since if you have a great team with great execution track record, then surely you will find something to implement and execute on, right? The fact is, the ideas behind startups are asked about, because just having some brilliant executioners sitting around trying to find something to execute brilliantly doesn't make sense. Ideas do matter.

coryl 17y ago
PG said something like "good ideas are evidence of how smart you are". VCs want smart people, and great ideas combined with great founders make for a great combination - on paper. VCs are in it to make money, so they have to play their percentages. Seeing good ideas helps validate the founders. Ideas also change over time. Sometimes overnight. If one day you think you've got a great idea, and a few months later you've evolved into something else, then really, how great was the original idea?
- sendos 17y ago
  Did the idea behind Twitter, Facebook, Google, Wikipedia, etc change overnight? Yes, startups do often change their idea overnight, and that shows that the original idea wasn't great, but that doesn't mean that there are no great ideas. By the way, the "good ideas are evidence of how smart you are" is a bit BS. If all the VCs and/or YC cared about was that someone was smart, and since there are tons of other indicators (where they went to school, how many other successful startups they had, other smart people say how smart these people are, etc.), then if the VCs and/or YC knew by some other indicators that a group was comprised of very smart people then they wouldn't need to know what the idea behind the startup is. The fact that VCs and YC always ask what the idea is behind the startup before funding it, even when they know the team is full of very smart people (e.g. from multiple successful previous startups), it means that they don't just use your ideas to gauge how smart you are. They really do care what the idea is.

by sendos 17y ago

coryl 17y ago

PG said something like "good ideas are evidence of how smart you are". VCs want smart people, and great ideas combined with great founders make for a great combination - on paper. VCs are in it to make money, so they have to play their percentages. Seeing good ideas helps validate the founders. Ideas also change over time. Sometimes overnight. If one day you think you've got a great idea, and a few months later you've evolved into something else, then really, how great was the original idea?

sendos 17y ago
Did the idea behind Twitter, Facebook, Google, Wikipedia, etc change overnight? Yes, startups do often change their idea overnight, and that shows that the original idea wasn't great, but that doesn't mean that there are no great ideas. By the way, the "good ideas are evidence of how smart you are" is a bit BS. If all the VCs and/or YC cared about was that someone was smart, and since there are tons of other indicators (where they went to school, how many other successful startups they had, other smart people say how smart these people are, etc.), then if the VCs and/or YC knew by some other indicators that a group was comprised of very smart people then they wouldn't need to know what the idea behind the startup is. The fact that VCs and YC always ask what the idea is behind the startup before funding it, even when they know the team is full of very smart people (e.g. from multiple successful previous startups), it means that they don't just use your ideas to gauge how smart you are. They really do care what the idea is.