As I mention below, I don't get why people are so focused on valuing an idea in-and-of-itself. Just because when some Joe says "I have a great idea" we don't at

As I mention below, I don't get why people are so focused on valuing an idea in-and-of-itself. Just because when some Joe says "I have a great idea" we don't attach any monetary value to that, doesn't mean that "ideas are useless". It's the combination of idea+execution that has monetary value. Also, regarding your definition "Execution means taking an idea, any idea, trying it out and then coming up with new ideas at the same or lower level and trying them out", is this the accepted definition of "execution"? I thought execution was (1) Using tools to build the idea, (2) Using tools like SEO optimization, web analytics, conversion tracking, Google AdWords, etc to make your site visible to the masses and make it "sticky" to users, (3) Using marketing, blogging, social networking, contacting tech media, etc, to get the word out, and (4) Adapting to user feedback to modify your main idea to make sure it is closer to what people want. Only (4) is related to your definition, and is not the main thing I think of when I think of "execution" regarding a tech startup. And people keep bringing up the act of morphing the initial idea into something that works. As I mentioned below: (a) If the original idea gets scrapped, then, yes, it wasn't that great to begin with. That doesn't mean there are no great ideas, and (b) Did Google, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, change the original idea behind these sites? Yes, the details may have changed, but I think the fundamental idea behind each of these has not changed. Most of the great hits out there are still doing what they started out to do.