Ideas aren’t worthless
“Ideas are worthless.”
You’ll hear this everywhere across the tech/startup community and it’s wrong. Don’t say it. If you hear someone else saying it, politely ask them to stop saying it.
When it comes to ventures, ideas are like lottery tickets. The vast majority aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. But there are exceptions. And then there are some very notable exceptions– exceptions that leave you jumping for joy on the couch and deciding which family members to leave out of your incoming fortune.
People who say ideas are worthless? They’re the same as the people who say, ”Everything that can be invented has already been invented.”
Ignore them. Then go invent, create, and execute. Fail if you have to. It’s one of the best ways to learn.
“But ideas don’t matter! Execution does.”
I get the intent behind this statement, but it seems to miss the fact that the fabric of execution is woven with ideas. Execution road is paved with idea bricks. The Sea of Execution is filled with idea fish.
You get the point.
Any successful business probably has hundreds of good ideas behind it– perhaps hundreds of ideas every day, if they’re a big enough operation.
Don’t write off the idea guy. Write off the guy who’s sitting on his ass, not doing anything with his idea. There is a difference.