“How Do You Trust This Reddit to Not Steal Your Business Ideas?”
Here’s a post I found on Reddit/Entrepreneur recently from u/MooshPotatoes:
“I see a lot of people asking about possible or current business ideas. I have always been afraid to ask for advice on my ideas in fear that someone would take it and develop it themselves. Can anyone else relate?”
“Not to say that this reddit is full of savages out here looking to steal but I am aware that many people on here look for ideas on businesses they can create.”
I’ve deleted the vast majority of answers and I’m sharing the true gems here with you. Answers are in italics, my responses are in [brackets.]
See what you think…
“Worry less about a brilliant idea and more about how to execute it, which is why a lot of us are here.” – nixt123
[Exactly. Any one person can come up with 10 or even 100 original ideas per day, some of which could be brilliant. The value isn’t in the idea as much as in putting that idea to work.]
“As a teacher once said, ‘Ideas are cheap, execution is priceless.’” -shadowsmith16
“The teacher then went on to invent the guillotine.” -thatswhatdeezsaid
“He was French and didn’t like cake.” -the_monkey_knows
[Shadowsmith16 is right and the other two are hilarious.]
“Mallarmé listened to the painter Degas complaining about his inability to write poems even though “he was full of ideas.” “My dear Degas,” Mallarmé responded, “poems are not made out of ideas. They’re made out of words.” – Prior_Depth_956
[Ouch. Spot on truth.]
“Yup! I know so many brilliant but broke people with ideas who just dick around and a lot of really rich morons who execute and just get shit done.” – bluehairdave
[This might be why so many “A” students end up working for “C” students and dropouts like Bill Gates.]
“This. I’m spending more time bashing my head on my desk dealing with execution than anything.” – sigmaluckynine
[Exactly. This is why you purchase a program or coaching on how to do something new, so that someone who knows what they’re doing can guide you through the execution of the project. You already know what the big idea is before you buy the program, but it’s the program that cuts months off of your learning curve.]
“Exactly, there are 1000 ways to execute 1 idea.” – neverworepink
[900 of them won’t work. 80-90 of them will work just okay. 10 or maybe 20 will work like gangbusters.]
“How do you plan on keeping your business idea a secret after you actually start your business?” – SezitLykItiz
“Right? And if you have a plan to keep it secret, how will your customers find you?” – Chief_tyu
[Customers can’t purchase something if they don’t know it exists. You’re going to have to go public with your big idea sometime, so it’s just a question of when.]
“I’m always surprised no one has stolen McDonald’s idea of making $6bn a year selling burgers.” – ReaganRebellion
[Ha! Exactly.]
“I am a freelance MVP (minimal viable product) engineer. If you tell me what you’re good at, I can create a dozen million-dollar ideas for you. The issue is your ability to execute.” – sjamesparsonsjr
[I can just about guarantee you’ve had or been exposed to a dozen million-dollar ideas in the last seven days. Think about it.]
“Knock on 100 doors with your polished prototype. All 100 connections should be your target customer; If you’re selling mobile apps make sure they have a phone, if you’re selling roofs make sure they have a house, if you’re selling nuclear power plants make sure they have a city. Once the demographic is dialed in, each NO should come with a question, WHY NOT? Then you fix your product or edit your pitch to address that concern.” – sjamesparsonsjr
[This is million-dollar advice right here.]
“’I see myself best fitting the role of the big-picture, ideas guy.’ = 99% of people in life.” – iguacu
[Someone like this asks me to partner with them just about weekly. They think if they give me the ‘million-dollar’ idea and I do all the work of implementing that idea, that we will be equal partners. Maybe if their ‘half ‘is .1% and mine is 99.9%, then it will be fair. Otherwise, no. No way.]
“Nothing is really “your” idea. In all likelihood, someone has already thought of every idea you have ever had. Do you have the drive to bring it to life? What can you offer that others can’t? That’s what matters really.” – Jamminjalepeno
“The underlying message from all these responses is… ‘Be the guy that executes. Idea guys are everywhere.’” – UltimateCrypto
[Have you ever had a great idea and then a day later or a week later you saw that someone had already invented/created the product you thought of? Ideas are everywhere and at any given time several people are having the same lightbulb go off over their heads.
The thing is, most people will never do anything with that idea. So, if 100 people or a 1,000 people or 10,000 people have the same million-dollar idea you have, but you’re the one who brings it to life, what did it matter that others had that idea, too?
Bottom line is to get/choose your idea, make your plan and then execute. Ideally you do the first two immediately and work on execution every day until it’s done.]