6 ms·
Ideas are just a multiplier of execution (2005)
- davidhunter 5y agoThe ‘idea’ that you can separate idea from execution is not an accurate reflection of reality. These are not distinct phases. Ideas are a catalyst for execution. Execution throws up new ideas. So I agree with the conclusion but not the reasoning.
- panda88888 5y agoI feel that idea is more like the initial unit vectors providing a direction, and execution is the multiplier to the initial vector.
- bern4444 5y agoIt seems to me that execution is the multiplier. If an idea is worth $20, the execution is what multiples that idea to a far greater value.
- kurthr 5y agoI guess I'd argue that the best execution (immediate, complete, free) can only get 100% out of an idea... adequate execution gets 80% of margin$ out of the idea, while poor execution gets <10% and leaves room for better executing competition to squeeze (market share) in and self-fund future capture of the idea's value. Lots of ideas take time for people to get used to and for demand (and infrastructure) to develop so final scale may be much larger than the initial and to really build efficiently you have to keep executing just enough to capture most of that (hopefully) exponentially growing potential value for the idea.
- fori1to10 5y agoMultiplication is commutative
- ModernMech 5y agoNot always. For example matrix multiplication is not.
- crate_barre 5y agoI think it’s worth attacking some of these adages. At scale, good execution is not enough when saturation is in play. You are the n-th YouTuber, the n-th influencer, SaaS, developer, etc. I’d argue that at scale there are a host of other critical parameters that determine things (luck for one, a unique angle on things (which requires great ideas)). Execution isn’t nearly enough now days. But anyways, the old adage sounds good I guess.
- boringg 5y agoYeah lots of nuance which is always lost in adages.
- jacknews 5y agoYeah, no. IMHO A great, original idea, with adequate execution, is far, far, more valuable than a ho-hum idea executed perfectly. Just like a sputtering unreliable automobile is far more valuable than the finest horse and carriage, because it embodies future potential. Of course VC's don't want to pay for great ideas, and want you to believe that all the value is in the execution that they enable.
- pcarolan 5y agoThis is right. Most great companies were just great ideas with early adequate execution. Airbnb was a great idea, did their data science and product focus help? Sure, but the idea was far greater value than those things. At the end of the day the technology isn't that different than a travel site. Most companies scale to the point where they pay tons of money to do local optimizations to squeeze out the last 20% of the juice. The first 80% is usually driven by tailwind around the idea.
- JacobThreeThree 5y ago>squeeze out the last 20% of the juice. Do you mean to tell me that Juicero wasn't a great idea?
- MarcelOlsz 5y agoDidn't Juicero suck super hard though? Like it didn't function as advertised at all? If it was a proper industrial grade juicer for the home in the aesthetic of IKEA I'm sure they'd be OK now.
- ianbutler 5y agoMy understanding is their proprietary juice packs were able to be rolled and squeezed by hand so the question of why do I want this 300 dollar juicer for special packs I have to buy when I can squeeze the packs by hand popped up and it fell a part from there.
- deegles 5y agoGreat, how do I identify the multiplier of an idea? :D
- munificent 5y agoExecute, take the resulting value, and divide by your estimated execution skill. :)
- Sohcahtoa82 5y agoThat would cause a division by zero. ;-)
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 5y agoThat explains why no one has very heard of Leonardo Da Vinci. The guy had a bunch of great ideas, but other than same drawings/paintings actually never really executed on those ideas.
- rmah 5y agoPeople know of da Vinci because of his execution, not the random tech thought experiment sketches. He painted perhaps the most famous painting of all time, the Mona Lisa, and the most famous mural of all time, The Last Supper. Many of his sketches were of human anatomy (e.g. Vitruvian Man), which he did mainly to help him paint more realistically. Less well known today were his work in geometry, architecture, civil engineering, optics, etc. He wrote numerous books on a wide variety of topics. Most were meant to be helpful "how to" guides for people of the day. IMO, da Vinci would not be as well known today if he had not executed magnificently. Lots of people come up with random ideas. Few actually do anything with them.
- bidivia 5y agoThe guy had a bunch of great ideas because he did things like dissecting hundreds of bodies, studied and analyzed and drew what he learned so other people could benefit from that. He was a master painter that worked all the time. Most engineering ideas of Da Vinci were shit precisely because he never executed them. But he was a great illustrator.
- marcosdumay 5y agoHum... Does the author realizes that multiplication makes no difference between its parameters?
- karanbhangui 5y agoI don't see how the conclusion is correct based on the premise: "That’s why I don’t want to hear people’s ideas. I’m not interested until I see their execution." As per the premise, wouldn't you want to quickly vet out the idea to see if it's > 0 or your hurdle rate multiplier? If idea is Awful (-1), no level of execution is going to result in a desirable outcome. This premise shows exactly why idea vetting is important.
- bidivia 5y agoHow do you know an idea is awful or not? Paul Graham does not have an idea, and he is a grand master expert in the field. The best ideas from YC backed companies looked awful for Paul Graham, he just trusted the people behind them.
- bob1029 5y agoIdeas are so much more important than execution, but they exist on an entirely different axis in my mind. The best idea imaginable could theoretically be put into production with negligible execution. The ability to easily execute an idea is one intrinsic component of that idea. Adding some practicality constraints to blue-sky sessions might sound counterintuitive, but it can also help ensure our ideas remain in the realm of "remotely feasible".
- pictur 5y agoWhen you understand the importance of realization, you also understand why ideas matter.
- awinter-py 5y agothis lia dibello profile is a more nuanced take on this topic https://commoncog.com/blog/business-mental-model/ https://commoncog.com/blog/business-mental-model/ this research claims: > people who have achieved a high level of business expertise have a deep understanding of the following three core areas: (1) factors involved in effective operations, (2) forces influencing the market, and (3) those driving business finance and economic climates these information sources are, in a sense, 'ideas', but they are discovered through execution softer version of this claim is that 'ideas' come from market research, and market research is not that different from execution
- thirdplace_ 5y agoIdeas and executions have value. But they are not denominated in dollars.
- jdoliner 5y agoJust a multiplier... multipliers are a big deal. And of course multiplication is commutative so execution is just a multiplier of ideas. In short they're both crucial, either can bring the total value of a venture to 0 or less.
- rl3 5y agoThat feeling when you spend almost a decade on an idea that's worth $20. Hey, at least that's like $2/year or something.
- bjornsing 5y agoWell multiplication is commutative, and I’m primarily an “ideas guy” so I prefer seeing execution as “just a multiplier”.
- jdonaldson 5y agoGreat ideas are great often due to a combination of a strong value proposition and a lack of competition, which you (eventually) cannot control for. Execution is the only thing firmly in your wheelhouse over the long run. VCs and other incumbents play this "long" game, but it's probably not the game that an individual founder should necessarily play to maximize their ROI.
- sdfgsdf 5y agoAlternative take. Execution is just a multiplier of ideas.
- panda88888 5y agoWell, multiplication is commutative. ;)