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Comment by rickpmg | Hacker News Reader

> That’s why entrepreneurs, myself included, waste years of their lives on shitty ideas that will never work, following the popular trend of “ideas don’t matter, only execution matters”.

The saying has to do with just having an idea is worthless in itself, you have to do something with that idea.

He interprets it as a shitty idea will be successful if executed well.

Wow.

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I think the clearest interpretation of "ideas don't matter" is that first-mover advantage is, at best, overrated relative to execution.

Not that I endorse this. But I think it's a clearer way of saying it. The concern is that people are afraid to test their idea and get feedback to improve upon it because somebody may "steal" it.

Squandering your first mover advantage doesn't indicate it was overrated. If you actually listen to the feedback, then you're miles ahead of any competition given a first mover advantage.

It means it was overrated relative to the importance of listening to feedback.

Anyone worth their salt knows the idea is a necessary condition, but not a satisfactory one. The execution is typically the largest part of finding success, and along the journey the idea often feels like it fades in to the background and starts to seem obvious rather than novel, but of course the idea matters.

Directly after the line you quote, the author continues:

> Bullshit.

> Ideas matter a lot, and if yours is a shitty one, for you, at that time, with the resources you have, it will almost certainly fail.

I think your interpretation of the author's interpretation is flawed.

The author 'calls bullshit' on the saying, implying the author thinks the saying intends to imply that a bad idea will work

Yes, he called bullshit on it.. on his incorrect interpretation of the saying.

The saying is more along the lines of "An idea without action is worthless"

His rephrasing of it was either a 1) bad interpretation or 2) a purposeful one so he could disagree with it and appear 'edgy'.

This is called a straw man. It's a logical fallacy, but unfortunately a very persuasive argument at times.

Lot of things look like shitty ideas retroactively.

Yes especially shitty ideas.

If ideas do matter, saying “ideas don’t matter” is a shitty way to express it.

The sentence is: "Without execution, an idea worth nothing". Often said to someone that refuse to unveil his idea.

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