Often entrepreneurs with great ideas don’t tell other people about it because they are afraid they may steal it; or if they do tell them about it, they insist that their friend, mentor, or potential investor signs a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) first.
Personally, I believe you shouldn’t be scared of telling
people your idea(s). Let me illustrate why:
Let’s say you have a billion dollar idea. One that would
measure up with the Facebook’s and Apple’s in the world. How much do you think
is that idea worth? Only $20 – at best.
I am making this argument based on a formula invented by
entrepreneur and philanthropist Derek Sivers (check his amazing blog out here ).
The idea is that “Ideas” are just multipliers of Execution.
It makes sense if you think about it for a little. You may have the best idea
in the world but what’s the point if you can’t materialize that idea into a
real business? This is why execution is just as important as the idea. Let’s
assume you have a brilliant idea (worth $20) but execute it horribly (worth $
1), then the resulting product/business is worth only $20.
On the other hand, if you pull a brilliant execution, it’s
worth $20,000,000. This shows that execution is the biggest chunk of creating a
successful business – and not the actual idea, and this is why I believe you
should not be afraid of telling other people your idea. In fact, talking to
mentors or knowledgeable friends about it can be very helpful in getting some
feedback and assessing how viable your vision is.
It’s important to realize that if you have a great idea to
begin with and build a more or less successful business around it, it is going
to get copied/stolen anyway in today's competitive world. It’s all a question
of how good your execution is since that is what will differentiate yourself
from the competition, not the idea.
Therefore, you should not go into too many details about how
you are going to build your business, i.e. how you are going to execute that
idea.
Remember, idea = 1%, execution = 99%. Talk about what but
not about how.
(this is a revised repost of an article I wrote for another site last year, the original one can be found here)
Any thoughts on what I posted? I'd love to hear, please leave me a comment below.
Whoa! Love this post! You definitely have the mind of an entrepreneur. Looking forward to your billion dollar idea ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat many people don't know is that Vancouver has a TON of resources, mentors, opportunities, and even capital for startups and entrepreneurs. I definitely agree with you when you say that people need to share their ideas with mentors in order to see how viable their business is.
I noticed there are different organizations in Vancouver that offer their services either for free or for a certain cost. What are your thoughts on organizations that take some equity in exchange for a startup's participation in their program? Should gaining access to mentors and resources be free or be charged a certain amount to show it's "credibility"?
Would love to hear more about how you are growing your business! Now I'm curious to know who your mentors are and where you go to receive guidance and resources. Haha.
Thanks for your comment & the kind words Kim! Glad you enjoyed it :)
DeleteYeah, the start-up scene in Vancouver is definitely improving by the year. I love going to some of the many networking events downtown to meet like-minded people and discuss ideas & experiences about the current stages of our start ups.
I think you are talking about the various start-up incubators in Vancouver that offer a.o. mentorship services. I personally think it depends on where you are as a start-up. If you can afford to pay, I think you should because you are supporting an organization that supports you. And I totally understand why many incubators ask for fees/small equity, demand is probably high so they need a way to control it and still offer high quality support.
I myself just recently signed up with SFU's own Venture Connection, so I have to get back to you on that. I do try to talk to a lot of different people who are much more successful than me, like profs, like-minded friends, people from my professional network and sometimes people that I don't even know. It's really easy, just take them out for coffee! Getting their insight and opinion on my start-up is always very helpful.
We just recently launched and are right now kind of in Beta-phase, testing the waters. Lots of challenges, but also lots of opportunities!