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Comment by ErrantX | Hacker News Reader

> BUT, the fact that he won't share his idea spreadsheet is very disappointing

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)

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Fair point, but I dont think ideas are worthless at all. Given that he is not building startups to execute on these ideas (and alludes he probably won't be in the future), I thought it would make his case much more compelling if he did share. Maybe a few ideas... or just the headline idea without the detail.

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).

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.

I like to think of an idea as a seed or germ of the real idea. It's from the most important part - the founders, their execution, market & product positioning are all much more important, but this also doesn't mean that every idea is a good one. I think that a really great founding team will eventually pivot and morph an initially not-so-great idea into something decent and viable, but really great startups must also come from pretty good initial ideas, or at least the initial idea has to quickly lead to a relatively good idea.

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