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> I'm telling you, nothing, nothing feels worse in the world when this person takes the idea and uses it. This happened to me a few times early in my career.

> I'm telling you, nothing, nothing feels worse in the world when this person takes the idea and uses it. This happened to me a few times early in my career. Then I realized the problem was me. I needed to decide if a great idea was something I was willing to take a big fat chance on, and do the things necessary to make it happen. So, the next big, cool idea I had turned into a business startup. I had to get money. I had to hire people. I had to write software. I had to forgo a personal income for a month or two. But it worked out. > People say it is 1% idea, and 99% execution, but that's so wrong. It's 99% the idea, and 99% the execution. Deciding to do may be the most valuable part of all of it. Without that decision, and the effort that comes with it, you can multiply the value of (idea + execution) x zero.

France_is_bacon 5y ago
I've known so many people, put so much time and money and blood and sweat and tears and so, so, so, so much great and wonderful execution into a stinker of an idea. All the execution in the world won't help a crappy idea. And the example that the author gave about board games is a horrible example. The reality of most actual businesses is that you have to sink tons of time and money into it. Getting 100,000 boards printed up, hiring salespeople, packaging, graphic artists, etc costs a lot of money. Someone might sink their life savings into it and spend 5 years of their life trying to get a business to go, only to barely get by for 5 years and fail in the end. Then they try it again with another shitty idea, same thing happens and that's 10 years of one's life and all their life savings and maxing out the credit cards. Marriages and friendships get destroyed by this. One needs an excellent idea first. Otherwise, all the best execution means nothing. And by an excellent idea, I mean one that there is a market for, one that a person can afford (building a nuclear power plant for $4 billion would be out because of affordability), and many other factors. People saying it is 1% the idea and 99% the execution are simply dead wrong. Look at all the articles for business failure. Almost all of them have as #1 that the idea (product or market) didn't have a market, or was going up against impossible competition. For example, the first four of the reasons about why businesses fail listed in this article are about the idea, not execution of the idea: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellevate/2019/10/24/eight-common-reasons-small-businesses-fail/?sh=81821df4fbb5 https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellevate/2019/10/24/eight-commo... A great idea must come before great execution. And yes, one must decide as you mentioned. But the decision must be based on the idea and the marketability of the idea - is there a market. Everything else is meaningless. Then, after that, yes, you better have some very fine execution indeed.

France_is_bacon 5y ago

I've known so many people, put so much time and money and blood and sweat and tears and so, so, so, so much great and wonderful execution into a stinker of an idea. All the execution in the world won't help a crappy idea. And the example that the author gave about board games is a horrible example. The reality of most actual businesses is that you have to sink tons of time and money into it. Getting 100,000 boards printed up, hiring salespeople, packaging, graphic artists, etc costs a lot of money. Someone might sink their life savings into it and spend 5 years of their life trying to get a business to go, only to barely get by for 5 years and fail in the end. Then they try it again with another shitty idea, same thing happens and that's 10 years of one's life and all their life savings and maxing out the credit cards. Marriages and friendships get destroyed by this. One needs an excellent idea first. Otherwise, all the best execution means nothing. And by an excellent idea, I mean one that there is a market for, one that a person can afford (building a nuclear power plant for $4 billion would be out because of affordability), and many other factors. People saying it is 1% the idea and 99% the execution are simply dead wrong. Look at all the articles for business failure. Almost all of them have as #1 that the idea (product or market) didn't have a market, or was going up against impossible competition. For example, the first four of the reasons about why businesses fail listed in this article are about the idea, not execution of the idea: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellevate/2019/10/24/eight-common-reasons-small-businesses-fail/?sh=81821df4fbb5 https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellevate/2019/10/24/eight-commo... A great idea must come before great execution. And yes, one must decide as you mentioned. But the decision must be based on the idea and the marketability of the idea - is there a market. Everything else is meaningless. Then, after that, yes, you better have some very fine execution indeed.