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This is "interesting"... ;) I've seen the same thing -- many people are too worried someone will take their idea, so they don't ever talk about it to a wide var
by bea_l_auger 18y ago
This is "interesting"... ;) I've seen the same thing -- many people are too worried someone will take their idea, so they don't ever talk about it to a wide variety of people. If you "eat like an elephant and poop like a bird" (Guy Kawasaik in Rules for Revolutionaries), and actually talk about your idea to people you meet, then you can get feedback, develop their idea, figure out if there is a market for it, and through serendipity find a person or two who is equally passionate about your idea and may be a good partner to collaborate with you.
Talking with others helps with timing too. It's important to get an idea going so you can get your software built as the demand in the market is accelerating. But at the same time, by bouncing your idea off lots of people you will gain datapoints and then grow intuition about if the market is really ready for this yet. "Too early is sometimes as bad as too late" (Sandra Kurtzig in CEO: Building a Company from the Ground Up).
I've had friends who had the idea for so many things, but didn't do it -- and then someone else did. Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. And as Edison clarified that thought, "I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident. They came by work." Talking to people is part of that work.
- physcab 18y agoI would consider one of my best friends to be way smarter than I am, maybe even a genius. But he has odd execution patterns. If a professor gives him an assignment, he'll produce an A relatively effortlessly. He had 3 majors in 5 years, and was in the top 1% in each department. I considered him to be an asset, so when I told him about one of my start-up ideas, I expected he'd translate his academic execution into product execution. Definitely not the case. It was 6 months before I realized this guy was brilliant, but failed to connect the dots in real applications. He just did not have the personal drive to get anything done, nor did he *care*. And this was someone who initially showed a lot interest, and wasn't even a threat! My point is that even people who may seem like they may be a threat to copy your idea, probably do not even care enough to pursue it. I'd be willing to bet that the population of individuals who actually execute on their ideas to completion is pretty rare...so those who execute on others ideas is probably even rarer.