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It's like fire, as fire needs fuel, oxygen and a spark. An idea is the spark but without the other components it's not very helpful.
There's some companies that are rubbing sticks together while others are a flamethrower.
Like basically everything else its worth as much as there's demand for it.
At the start of my career, I had a mentor who said don’t discuss things until after you’ve done them, it distracts from the process. She was (and still is) one of the most successful people I have ever met.
Aside from this, some ideas are actually unique and do need to be patented, copyrighted, protected etc.
So I find it’s best to keep your business ideas to yourself until you launch. As they say “only tell the people you’d ask to shift a body”, lol.
Personally, I don’t agree with this and know many successful entrepreneurs who don’t either. People like to play this stoic, “speak softly, carry a big stick,” persona where they disappear and keep their cards close to their chest until they’re successful.
However, your probability of success increases greatly the more people who know what you’re doing. The more networking, feedback, etc. you can gather the better. Generally, people like to help other people.
By being vocal with your issues/challenges, someone else may know someone who has solved it before or can help you.
A friend of a friend could be your next partner, mentor, investor, customer, etc.
Just my two cents!
$0
If ideas worth anything, there would be an idea marketplace.
Hmm, that's a good answer.
While I agree that simply ideas are basically worth nothing, tbf an idea marketplace couldn't be implemented even if they would have value
Why not?
It would be possible using the patent system.
Step 1: people with ideas file provisional patent with sufficient detail to be considered an enabling disclosure.
Step 2: ideas are published on a marketplace website.
Step 3: idea buyers peruse the website
Step 4: idea buyer can purchase an idea. They get the rights to the provisional patent.
Step 5: idea buyer files a complete patent application (or PCT application) within 12 months of the provisional patent, listing the idea person as the inventor.
Step 6: everyone is happy
Step 1 is actually not necessary in countries that have a 'grace provision'. In 'grace provision' countries, this means an idea that is published within 12 months of the complete filing date cannot be used as prior art to invalidate the patent (if the person who published the idea is the same as the person filing the complete patent).
The enabling disclosure is key to the idea. You need to be very clear and specific about exactly how the invention works.
But this makes little to no sense, if for example, Jeff Bezos came up with the idea of “online book store” in 90s, then chances are that someone else had that idea, so it creates another useless legal battle where the only weapon the idea creator has is that ha patented it earlier, this could be detrimental to economy as monopolies would pop up way more often.
Mostly correct and I agree that almost all ideas (even good ones) are worth $0. It's all about execution. However, if you can come up with them consistently there are think tanks.
Great perspective with regards to the marketplace notion...now with that said, you could argue that patents are the marketplace.
People with the idea and the ability to patent it create an idea with a potential value. That value is realized via commercialization, licensing, or litigation.
Thanks for making me think today.
The world is an idea marketplace. Those who recognise this wisely exchange their ideas.
A plausible excuse, the truth is less appealing.
Why has this type of business not been started? Two reasons, neither of them any good.
Ideas can be valuable, as so few have put any effort into an idea. As for the execution-is-everything crowd ... opinions vary.
What happend to Phonebloks? –5 years later my go-to for inspiring (but mostly discouraging) idea guys. This is the kind of feedback you can pay attention to. Here, we get questions about whether five-to-twelve people are enough confirmation bias to go ahead.
Blue Ocean Tragedy is the problem rather than any kind of solution.
They think their "idea" is novel
It's usually either a dead on tested and competitive entire market or somekind of worthless unmonetizable products.
Either "paper towel but soft and without the center part" or "chewing gum for the next week after being in space for astraunauts".
Either someone that can't for the love of god even use google or someone that somehow believe a niche missing competition might just never be because it doesn't exist to begin with.
Sharing the idea is against the rules for wantrepreneurs because they now have to act, they know that real entrepreneurs will mock them for how little they even know about their own hypothetical market and product.
They are usually less knowledgeable about their "own market" than a rando entrepreneur in a completely unrelated field.
Most people that think their unique ideas have any worth are usually at the "peak of mount stupid" of the Dunning-Kruger curve.
It's usually either a dead on tested and competitive entire market or somekind of worthless unmonetizable products.
If I had a nickel for every NDA that resulted in a conversation about "an app that finds open parking spaces" or "an Ai sales email chat bot" I'd have like a shitload of nickels or whatever
Bitcoin was "worth nothing" in 2010. CocaCola has never published its formula.
The tendency to downplay the brainwork and amount of thought that is often invested in coming up with ideas , is appalling. It is also a trick applied to undermine an 'ideator's' bargaining power.
Some ideas are not just freestyling in the wind, run-of-the-mill low hanging fruit for easy picking. Sometimes experience aka sweat, blood, and tears has been invested over time in their discovery.
People who "hog" their viable ideas treat them like diamonds in the rough. They are right.
Our advice to thinkers, originators and conceptualizers is this: Allways hide your ideas. Offer tasters but not the core, until you are able to implement it, or until the person ready to articulate its value comes along with a self-respecting offer of exchange.
If neither happens, you still have it within you. Knowing this is easier to live with than knowing you were ripped-off because you didn't know your idea's real value when you threw it away.
Like those who discarded their Bitcoin hash keys at a time when "it couldn't do nuthin' for you".
Coca-cola has nothing magic, it is just marketing 😂 Bitcoin is open-source, didn't hide anything...
You missed the points of reference, turn around and read again 😁
Not sure if this is stealing, but this happened: Company hackathon, Team 2 devs(me+1) and a Sr. sales person (X), we the devs proposed something that’s cool business idea exploiting existing tech, X liked, presented well, we did some coding - All good, we won. Next year, once X is out of the company, X founds a company with exact idea, with spouse, some interns, coffeeshop meetings etc. Interestingly, never officially asked us, in fact had us over for coffee to discuss some technicalities, we didn’t bother/or know how to join when not asked. I think the business ran for 2-3 yrs may be ? X had contacts, so found the market I guess. Not sure what finally happened, X moved on to something else. Well, that’s that!
An idea without implementation is indeed worth nothing, but talking about your idea and then doing nothing while another person does implement it and turn it into a raging success is a fucking horrible feeling. So, yeah
This comes up a lot on this sub, but I think it's always framed wrong. Separating out the 'idea' and the 'execution' of a business is like trying to prioritize what's more important in a car, the wheels or the engine? Without either one the thing doesn't move, either one can be slightly better than the other, but the real magic happens when both are great.
Never had an idea stolen, but I had two ideas for movies which were done before I was able to write them.
Ideas are just that ideas, an experienced entrepreneur looks at the market and sells to a niche market
Sell a product people want to buy, not a product you think they want to buy
I learned this the hard way lmao
So sell a product people want to buy, but not if i think they want to buy it ? So the strategy is to pick a product I don’t like and cross my fingers that I’m wrong
1.35 zillion
This is what you describe as a Wantrepreneur. Someone who thinks they can do all this and that without demonstrating any sort of action towards it. Someone who wants something, and that's about it.
I need a content writer, Fivrr is not applicable, I’m thinking of Fivrr killer, the idea is solid but no funds to back it up.
2 cents.
An idea alone is worthless until made concrete.
I had an idea .. had a safety product made. Selling it 10x road on google shopping currently. I want to start selling it in America Yes ideas are worth their weight in gold if it’s a good one
I desgned an item for scrating lottery scrathersHow should you pursue a product idea rather than an invention.
$0
$3.50.
As ever, it's not ideas that matter in entrepreneurship, it's execution.
Yes I've had ideas stolen from me.
Thieves come in two categories, but they have one thing in common, they can't help it and they will steal again if you let them.
To fight a category 1. thief shut the f*ck up unless you talk with a person you can _really_ trust. If you want to protect yourself, try reading "One Simple Idea" https://inventright.com/books/one-simple-idea/ To fight a category 2. thief make sure that your underlying business model is not in direct view. Which will give the thief a chance to copy your idea, but not the business.
My idea was stolen twice by 2 separate companies in different years. Only because my product was already successful. I dont know if that counts as an idea being stolen since it was more than an idea at that point. They copied all of my tiers and bonus numbers exactly.
Nothing unless you execute
I agree that most ideas are worth $0 or very close to zero. But to add a slightly different view, I think there are some ideas that do have inherent value. If the idea is dependent on being a really niche subject matter expert then the execution can be a little less important. You still need to execute on the idea and vision, but these really niche SMEs can sometimes find gaps in the market that are extremely receptive to any solution. Whereas most markets in this day and age require a fairly polished solution.
I’ll never tell ideas without having people sign nda. Learned the hard way with someone taking my idea and running with it.
Keep your ideas to yourself.
I have a few ideas that I think are worth some money.
There have been at least three that I did not act upon, but someone else did.
In 2007-2008, I was looking to open a business, preferably on the internet.
My first idea was for a dating site where women had to make the first move to contact the man.
The second idea was to create a site where people could post long form articles instead of the 250-word articles that were so popular back then.
The third idea was to have a site where models could post their images and videos, and people would pay to see the work of the individual models.
As you know,
The first is Bumble
The second is Medium
The third is OnlyFans/Patreon.
So yeah, keep your ideas to yourself.
What if you have a great idea but you couldn't afford to implement it? I belive ideas have values if they are at least proven or tested even with a small prototype.
In today's world, ideas are of little value without execution. Throughout history, we have seen numerous examples of kings who relied on their advisors' sharp minds and visionary ideas to achieve success. However, as time progressed, these advisors were often removed from positions of power, leaving behind a void in leadership and decision-making. This trend has continued into the modern era, where innovative ideas are often buried beneath the weight of bureaucracy and the pursuit of short-term gains. As a result, we see a growing disconnect between those who generate ideas and those who possess the resources and authority to implement them. This disconnect has led to a situation where many people are simply copying the ideas of others in different way rather than seeking to develop their own original solutions. This lack of innovation is stifling progress and hindering our ability to address the complex challenges we face as a society.
"Idea without execution is worth nothing" <- that doesn't mean that ideas have no value.
In the same way, you could say that a computer is worthless, because a computer without electricity is worth nothing.
You need to connect the idea with execution for it to have value, but the idea has value, because if you connect it with execution, then it has some value.
In the same way, computer without electricity has value, and you can't buy it on Amazon for free, because if you connect computer to electricity, then it becomes valuable.
So, yes, in my opinion, ideas have value.