You are not a unique snowflake. Ideas are worthless. Execution is everything

databaselabs.io

14 points·pjlegato··4 comments

>Every day, someone posts on /r/startups about how they have a really great whiz-bang secret idea that will revolutionize everything and make them billions of dollars. Now they "just" need some investors so they can hire contractors to develop it.

I wonder if any of those have worked? I've been approached by a couple of people like that apart from 'billions' and don't have the brilliant ideas as I couldn't be bothered signing a NDA.

No. It has never worked. Sadly all these people fail.

The airbnb's of the world don't post on Reddit asking for help, they get things done.

From my (serious) email archives:

Anyway, i'm interested in starting a top notch word press website with user login and plenty of functionality. Ranging from finding friends creating groups, joining a lobby, voice and video capability, commentator's and even more. She told me that you know a lot about web design and website procedures. I have looked at your website and it definitely appears as if you know what you're doing. I was wondering if you could give me an estimate on how much it would cost for me to create and maintain a website like this, and where the expenses would be coming from? It would have to be able to host as many people as facebook.

_The BEST part_

If this project happens to be lucrative, I'd be open to reimbursing you for your advice.

In a field which is not programming, I've been that guy who sent that email. It is pretty easy to fool yourself into thinking you're starting to sink your teeth into something when you're going in the wrong direction entirely, and to think the time has come to reach out to people on your next steps only to receive a gentle push back towards the fundamentals.

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