Developing new startup ideas
cdixon.org
cdixon.org
Feel free to add your idea to http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=tOGIddn3rPdqKbHWsqaWb... and we'll see where it goes.
BUT, the fact that he won't share his idea spreadsheet is very disappointing. My comment on his blog:
"While I agree completely with your thesis, this response makes the whole thing a wash in my opinion. Do you really think someone reading your blog is going to steal your idea, build a product, execute and deliver? I'd say the chances are almost non-existent.
Love the fact that you're telling people to share ideas and get feedback and be open, but loathe the fact that you won't eat your own dogfood. Saying it only applies when you show ideas to individuals is weak. But that's just my opinion."
I think you've fallen for the fallacy associated with "Ideas are worthless".
A lot of people assume that means "share it with everyone" - which is definitely not what this article is suggesting.
Share it with people you know, people you respect, people who you think will give input - but share it personally
If you are going to attempt to execute an idea throwing it onto HN (for example) does potentially devalue you it for you. The amount of extra input is potentially useful (though I doubt by much) but the chance of it being implemented by another shoots right up too :)
(of course; if you dont plan to execute now, or dont see yourself executing then sharing publicly is a good idea)
I got into a bit of back-and-forth with him on the blog, but I did agree with his general thesis. FWIW, I think throwing out an idea on HN is not a terrible idea. The feedback and useful suggestions probably outweigh the risk, especially if you are already working on building the business (i.e. past the 'idea' stage).
I suspect it's a case of "each one on it's own merits". Some ideas would see benefit in being aired publicly. Others less so.
If you dont have people you chat to one-to-one (or in small groups) about your ideas then I can definitely see the benefit, yes.
The problem with showing your entire idea spreadsheet to the mob isn't that someone is going to steal one of the ideas. The problem is the signal-to-noise of the responses.
When you sit with one person, in person, and go through the list, you get to focus on one idea at a time, you both get to control the agenda, you can both react directly to each other's social signals, and you've got a rapid-fire exchange of sentences. If the exercise proves to be a waste of time for either of you, you can cut it short.
None of this applies when you post a list of N things on the net and ask for "feedback". An arbitrary number of people will respond to an arbitrary number of the things, in arbitrary order, with arbitrary levels of engagement. Most of your visitors will, at best, be drive-bys: They might type out their thoughts on one of the points, but they're unlikely to stick around for ten posts' worth of back-and-forth, unless they're already your friends. (And, if they're your friends, why not run the ideas by them in person, over drinks?) And there's a good chance that the ensuing thread will be dominated by critiques of your spelling, cheap jokes about the funniest idea on your list ("Blog posts with a 140-character limit? Don't you know how to type? lol."), or an exhaustive discussion of one of your points -- whichever one happens to be the best at generating free-form conversation, which is a metric completely unrelated to how good an idea it is.
And, of course, the responses will probably be largely context-free. You won't necessarily know if that insightful-sounding response is from a potential customer, a VC, an employee at a big company, an entrepreneur, a con artist, or the Vice President. As the original article takes pains to point out, knowing who is critiquing your idea is really helpful.
Free-format brainstorming meetings do not scale well at all, even in person. On the web they're even worse.
What are the odds that someone steals the exact idea you choose out of the many you have, sticks with it long enough to matter, AND executes past the first iteration? You're more likely to get struck by lightning. Let's say the roles were reversed with Facebook and those two twins supposedly took the idea from Zuck. Do you really believe they would have had the vision to iterate beyond a social network for college kids?
On the other hand, you can tell as many people as much as possible. You'll get a ton of feedback, find flaws, meet new people, and have opportunities present themselves you would have never had happen otherwise. The odds of that? Very very likely.
Wouldn't they would like to see me being passionate about one market, one idea, have detailed research about it, being committed about it?
It's very easy to bounce of bunch off ideas with VCs or entrepreneurs - if they are your friends. But it doesn't seem to be very logical approach for first time entrepreneurs.
Things get trickier as you build value. There's still plenty of information you'll benefit from sharing, but it starts mixing with stuff you definitely don't want to share.
I see a common trait in a lot of successful companies: they found a healthy balance between too open and too closed.
Why on earth would you recommend putting your ideas in a system owned and controlled by someone else. Put it in a spreadsheet on your own computer or in a text file.
NOT google spreadsheets.
I don't trust google at all. They've shown repeatedly that they are not not evil. Regardless, their stuff isn't very secure. I read about all kinds of backdoors people find into their apps. Putting your ideas into a google spreadsheet is sharing it with the world and you'll never be able to delete it from their lightning machines.
Its an algorithm that scans through the text to pick up keywords in order to target advertising. There isn't a person literally reading over your content.
Aside from your paranoia, why do you think your ideas are worth stealing anyway? I could care less if someone came across a document of my unpursued ideas. If they can execute them or germinate them better than I can, they deserve to have them.
There are also studies of rats where the paranoid rats who lurk in corners and study the environment more are more likely to survive than those who are not paranoid.
So, yes, I'm paranoid -- and proud of it!