I keep hearing over and over again how the idea doesn't matter and it's all about "execution execution execution!". I get that execution is important, but can we also agree that the idea is important too? I get that good ideas are easier to come by than good execution, but I kind of feel like completely discounting the idea also missed the point. Maybe I'm wrong, but I have a hard time coming up with a super successf…
I think the problem is in that people use the term “idea”. Ideas are worthless. What you want are opportunities.
Here’s the difference:
“I think people would buy a screwdriver with a built-in hammer”
“I just spoke to company XYZ and they would buy 1,000 screwdrivers with integrated hammers if we made them”
The difference is obvious to anyone. You can execute like a star on the idea and make it if you get lucky and a market exists. The opportunity only requires “minimum viable execution” to capture it.
The killer feature that AirBnB cracked was scaling. Travel advice inherently doesn't scale -- you saw it with Frommers et al. pre-web. High investment to develop content, constant need to update, and your success cannibalizes your own business. The sorts of people who want travel advice are typically not the sort who want 1,000 other jackass Americans (said as a travelling American) showing up at "that tiny gem of a…
> The killer feature that AirBnB cracked was scaling. And with Ruby on Rails that's nothing short of high magic.
Ha! I was referring more to curation-scaling though. E.g. what would have formerly been termed a travel journalist / editor.
Hacker News sure has changed into Slashdot 2.0 when this kind of shallow dismissivemess is so common.
The comment rating on Slashdot is better. You can mark comments as funny or insightful. HN readers tend to have a single linear viewpoint, and if you dissent from that angle, then you get downvoted to oblivion, or worse, flagged, even if you may have a valid viewpoint. Edit: And I just got downvoted. So this proves my point.
The comment voting sucks. I have made suggestions to mods to change it so that downvotes only count half as much because it it is way easier to get downvoted than upvoted in the comments.
> but can we also agree that the idea is important too? No > a super successful company based on a bad idea. Magic Leap Super successful companies based on nothing ideas are a dime a dozen. Almost all sites. - Amazon, it sells things. It's execution was cutting edge. - Rocket-internet is a great example - https://www.businessinsider.com.au/rocket-internet-companies... Even the great mathematical ideas were execution.…
I would argue that Magic Leap is not super successful. They have raised tons of money in the private market but much of it seems to have been smoke and mirrors (similar to e.g. Theranos). Could you point me to a super successful public company with a proven track record, high revenues, rising stock price, etc. that is focused around a bad idea?
Medical equipment and software. It's over engineered. It needs to break more.
But you could just say the idea is playing to medical regulation and a dumb public.
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I do believe execution is all the matters(from my experience) because ideas can always change.
Sure, if you're allowing ideas to change then yes the very first idea is not important. Using your same logic, you could then also argue that execution doesn't matter because you can always fix mistakes in execution (e.g. Netflix tried spinning off Qwikster which many people thought was a mistake, but Netflix is still super successful today).
I think of execution more in terms of the capability of a team to deliver something. This has more to do with founder & the teams passion, experience etc, which is fairly constant.
I keep hearing over and over again how the idea doesn't matter and it's all about "execution execution execution!". I get that execution is important, but can we also agree that the idea is important too? I get that good ideas are easier to come by than good execution, but I kind of feel like completely discounting the idea also missed the point. Maybe I'm wrong, but I have a hard time coming up with a super successf…
You are right. I find it helpful to look at risk. Broadly speaking there are two types of risks when starting a startup: 1. Customer/market risk 2. Invention risk When invention risk >> customer risk (you can be certain there are customers, they have a need, you can satisfy the need), then a good idea will play a bigger role relative to execution (which still remains crucial). However, we tend to grossly under-estima…
I think this is a good framework to think about this. Thanks for sharing!
I would argue that Magic Leap is not super successful. They have raised tons of money in the private market but much of it seems to have been smoke and mirrors (similar to e.g. Theranos). Could you point me to a super successful public company with a proven track record, high revenues, rising stock price, etc. that is focused around a bad idea?
Medical equipment and software. It's over engineered. It needs to break more. But you could just say the idea is playing to medical regulation and a dumb public. So the answer is any company that pivots. ie. Youtube - https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/308975 OT: Scott Adams tried to sell an idea - https://www.scottadamssays.com/2012/10/01/selling-an-idea/ Read it and follow it up how he went. It might interest you…
If anything, I think the example of medical equipment sounds more like a good idea with poor execution.
I've had a couple, but couldn't tell you where they come from or how I get them. Ideas are easy (well, not really, but most smart, aware people have them). The differentiator is execution and the ability to network properly. Maybe try your ideas when you don't have five college-aged kids and debt. I had the idea for "Slack" 4 years before it came out. Seriously, _exactly_ the idea of Slack. I even semi-pitched it to…
You only had the idea for slack 4 years before it was launched? IRC had it long before that...
Slack is more than IRC. Integrated content-sharing was what made Slack "better" than vanilla IRC. Slack also provided a user-friendly interface which IRC arguably has never had.