Too often, I hear people talk about their killer ideas. They’re game changers. They’ll revolutionize the way we do X. I’ve got this amazing idea for a website, but I need someone to make it for me and I don’t want to spend money. Blah blah blah.
Ideas are the easy part, people. Everyone has great ideas. Some people act on them. Most don’t. It’s also incredibly likely that your great idea was thought of by 50 other people already, but only 1 is trying to move it forward in any real way. Don’t keep your ideas to yourself because you’re afraid someone will steal it.
Ideas are cheap. Execution matters.
If you believe idea is as awesome as you say, find a way to make it work. If it’s a physical product that would take way more capital than you have to manufacture, license the idea. There are plenty of firms out there who specialize in helping people do this. It’s super cheap, and super easy to submit. They’ll do a ton of research for you and tell you if it’s already happening or not. If it isn’t, they’ll try to sell the idea around. They get a cut and you get perpetual royalties.
If your idea is for a website or something less tangible than, say, a toaster, you need to pony up one way or another. Either hire someone to do the work for you (elance.com, guru.com, etc. are places to do it on the cheap), or start learning the necessary skills needed to build it. You can buy good books on Amazon. Or you can learn from sites like codeacademy.com, codeschool.com, or any number of other sites available.
I want to hear about your ideas. So do other people. But nobody wants to hear you say you have an idea but don’t want it to get stolen. Nobody wants to hear you talk about your idea for a year (or ten) and take no steps towards its realization.
I’m in the process of getting two ideas off the ground, and have a list of about 30 (no joke) waiting for one of these other projects to finish and free up my time. One idea is on my own and one with a team of other super motivated people. If they happen, I’ll be super stoked just in the fact that they came to be, and more stoked if they make me money or make a difference to people. If not, I just learned a lot about taking something from idea to execution, and that’ll be great for my next idea.
Long post, short: Buck up.
