Comment by esperluette | Hacker News Reader

Comment by esperluette | Hacker News Reader

I actually did have someone steal my idea. I was interviewing for a technical co-founder and talked to a guy who seemed really interested. However, after a couple of conversations I got a weird vibe from him and went with someone else. (Oh, and I had $1M in funding at this point, & I was looking for a full partner, not someone to "just build my idea.")

A few months later I find that he has started a similar company, with a similar name, and is out raising money. He even said that he came up with the idea when he was 'inspired' by his young daughter. (Dragging your kids into your lie is always scummy.)

(This was for a very unusual startup idea, btw, not a game or social app, etc. I am also a recognized expert in this field, 15+ years of experience, national newspaper/magazine profiles, blah blah blah.)

He ended up getting money in Singapore and launching a pretty sucky site that got zero traction. It's been a couple years now and I haven't seen anything else from him (but I've been too busy with my company to really look).

At the time, I was LIVID but after I cooled off I realized that 1) it was pretty great external validation and 2) someone who would "steal" my idea (and make up a story about it!) would never be able to execute, and I was proven right about both things.

My company is now nearly five years old and we're working on our third product extension off the original idea. :-)

I find that people who copy, or try to, didn't come up with the idea themselves - which means they didn't have the experience and knowledge, nor have the creativity in coming up with the solution on their own. This will limit their ability to pivot due to not necessarily having a full grasp of the important metrics, etc.. And really just their mind isn't structured to do that, and if it was they'd probably have their own ideas that could become successful - assuming they're able to learn how to execute well. Also, most stories that aren't genuine don't feel authentic - especially because they don't have the history to match it, like you mentioned with your 15+ years of experience, etc.. My own story and plans have evolved because of everything that's happened in my life, and I can talk about each important moment

It's very frustrating, and becoming livid has happened to me too.. It's even worse because many of the times they are people you're closer to than not, so there's a bigger element of trust broken there, too.

Congrats on being 5 years down the road, and continuing to evolve things further! Is the 5 years from initial MVP launch or when you came up with the idea? Your story is inspirational for me. In about 6 months I'm coming up on 3 years from when I decided to work on my projects full time, which have expanded tremendously, so at the moment it's still a lot of planning, organizing, preparing... lining up a lot of dominoes so then things will take off once ready.

Great example! Thanks for talking so frankly about your experience.

I think of that guy as the business equivalent of the "I could code that in a weekend" scoffers. A novice looks at something like Quora or AirBnB or Etsy, imagines the database tables, and says, "That's easy!"

In reality, they just have failed to appreciate all the subtleties that make the product work. It's the same sort of mindset that looks at a beautiful woman and says, "An inflatable vinyl blow-up doll is basically as good!"

Hey, would you be willing to be interviewed about this experience? Anonymously, if you like? I'm thinking about doing a book, and this would fit well into the sample chapter I'm writing right now.

If so, you can find contact details at http://williampietri.com/

So you agree with the OP that there is no danger in sharing your ideas before you have traction, etc.?

Also, I have seen plenty of posts talking about these types of situations and the person, just like you did, never explains their business or provides a link to it. I would be curious to see what the actual idea was to better understand your situation.

I think the danger is situational. If you're the kind of person who will give up when you see someone swiping your idea, there is danger. If it makes you work harder ... then it might be an asset. :-)

You have to have faith that it's not just your idea that's valuable, but your idea + you and your experience and what you bring to it.

At that point, you were way past the idea stage.

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