1) the most you can be is inspired by a general concept. The rest has to be your idea, otherwise you won't understand it at a deep enough level, and won't be a

1) the most you can be is inspired by a general concept. The rest has to be your idea, otherwise you won't understand it at a deep enough level, and won't be able to execute it in the right way. 2) if you're chasing the next big thing, you won't get anything. Solve a problem to a significant degree (which means truly understanding the problem). Page didn't do Page Rank because he wanted to be rich; he did it to try to solve the search problem.