idea: web search that gives the best results, fast, combined with ad space we sell First of all, that's two ideas. Second, each of those ideas was far more pre

idea: web search that gives the best results, fast, combined with ad space we sell First of all, that's two ideas. Second, each of those ideas was far more precise than that-- remember that AltaVista and Lycos, for example, had very different ideas about how to "give the best results" and "sell ad space". In other words, getting from the vague wish expressed in "best results" to an actual algorithm capable of being executed is worth quite a lot. For every "Dropbox" you can name, with a "not revolutionary" idea and golden execution, I can name you a "Pets.com" with a crappy idea and golden execution that failed. I'm not by any means discounting the importance of execution (or timing), but some ideas have the potential to make more money than others is a hell of an understatement, if you ask me. We don't need to minimize the importance of ideas in order to remind people that the ideas aren't worth anything without good execution.