Why your idea for an Internet start-up will not get stolen

viewshound.com

8 pointsianhowlett3 comments

To test the OP's theory, I just submitted a post with my idea for a new movie app here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2654826

Essentially its an app that allows you to report any disturbances while watching a movie in theaters. I think the idea is solid. I figure there's nothing wrong with a little real-life application of the OP's theory that ideas don't get jacked.

Counter-example: http://www.boston.com/business/technology/innoeco/2009/11/th...

Perhaps not quite a like-for-like case though, this one looks more like a detailed forensic "open the books" examination, rather than a chat over coffee. I'm sure there are some cases where ideas do get stolen and made successful (a bit of Googling quickly turns up Steve Blank's experience on this), but I think these examples are probably rare enough to make them noteworthy.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com