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Ideas Matter

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Re: Ideas Matter

#21

Post by sgentle »

I would make this distinction:

Ideas, as in the process of thinking of new things, also known as design and creativity and other words people like, vs

The Idea, which is an untouchable monolithic safety blanket common in startups, where the founder(s) are unwilling to challenge their core assumptions. This is usually because they think of creativity as a one-off moment of inspiration type affair and, through fear that it won't strike twice, stop trying.

Truthfully, you have to execute a process to have good ideas, and processes for execution are ideas themselves. There's no dichotomy except what we make when we put The Idea (or perhaps even The Execution) up on a pedestal.

Re: Ideas Matter

#23

Post by math »

pg wrote: post #17

This is rather an attack on a strawman. No one thinks that ideas don't matter at all. Obviously you have to have a good one at some point. When people say that execution matters more than the idea in a startup, what they're really saying is something fairly complicated: that you need both a good idea and good execution, but that (1) since good execution is rarer, you should worry more about that, and (2) good executi…

Good execution pretty much is a continuous stream of good ideas. "The idea" is merely the top level idea, and it matters most because it is at the top level. Good execution is rarer because it requires not just the possession of a single idea, but the propensity to come up with them day in day out.

Re: Ideas Matter

#24

Post by CloudOps42 »

pg wrote: post #17

This is rather an attack on a strawman. No one thinks that ideas don't matter at all. Obviously you have to have a good one at some point. When people say that execution matters more than the idea in a startup, what they're really saying is something fairly complicated: that you need both a good idea and good execution, but that (1) since good execution is rarer, you should worry more about that, and (2) good executi…

Seems to me, a successful "startup"* needs to solve a problem, relieve pain, or create something revolutionary that creates elation/astonishment. It needs to be something the market wants. In other words, it is a great idea. Implementation is a matter of hiring the right tradesmen/tradeswomen to make it happen.

People enjoy paying for what they want; they resent paying for what they need. Ideas uncover 'wants.'

Frank Lloyd Wright. Ideas. General Patton. Ideas. Sir Richard Branson. Ideas. Sun Tzu. Ideas Clausewitz. Ideas Edson. Ideas. Ford. Ideas. Larry Page. Ideas.

Sometimes, great ideas come from those who implement that idea, sometimes the ideas come from those outside the industry. Either way, it's the idea that is at the center of the product the market wants.

* Startup: launch of a web-based application.

Re: Ideas Matter

#26

Post by jdhopeunique »

Ideas and execution both matter. The real point of “It’s not the idea, it’s the execution.” is to emphasize that idea people (those who dream up an idea and expect others to do the hard work) cannot simply throw their idea out into the world without doing the work of promoting, building, and monetizing it. INTIITE is a useful phrase to apply to people, not products. You cannot really be an "idea person", but instead must be a person who GTD with an idea. People that GTD don't want to have to deal with people that think an idea entitles them to greater equity, hence the usefulness of INTIITE.

Re: Ideas Matter

#27

Post by msort »

A excellent idea executed beautifully matters.

Perhaps startups should spend much time experimenting with, pivoting with, possible ideas before focusing on one single idea 100%.

Searching for the beautiful idea using a breadth-first rather than a depth-first approach.

Re: Ideas Matter

#28

Post by SomeCallMeTim »

pg wrote: post #17

This is rather an attack on a strawman. No one thinks that ideas don't matter at all. Obviously you have to have a good one at some point. When people say that execution matters more than the idea in a startup, what they're really saying is something fairly complicated: that you need both a good idea and good execution, but that (1) since good execution is rarer, you should worry more about that, and (2) good executi…

He doesn't even do a consistent job of building the strawman. For example, his example of the iPad doesn't support his premise: People HAD been doing tablet computers (the "idea") for years (including Apple with the Newton), and it took the slick design of the iPad (plus the associated technological advances) to get it right. If that isn't execution, then I don't know what is.

Re: Ideas Matter

#29

Post by russell_h »

CloudOps42 wrote: post #24
pg wrote: post #17

This is rather an attack on a strawman. No one thinks that ideas don't matter at all. Obviously you have to have a good one at some point. When people say that execution matters more than the idea in a startup, what they're really saying is something fairly complicated: that you need both a good idea and good execution, but that (1) since good execution is rarer, you should worry more about that, and (2) good executi…

Seems to me, a successful "startup"* needs to solve a problem, relieve pain, or create something revolutionary that creates elation/astonishment. It needs to be something the market wants. In other words, it is a great idea. Implementation is a matter of hiring the right tradesmen/tradeswomen to make it happen. People enjoy paying for what they want; they resent paying for what they need. Ideas uncover 'wants.' Frank…

You say that "implementation is a matter of hiring the right tradesmen/tradeswomen", then you go on to list a whole bunch of people who implemented their own ideas. Thomas Edison didn't just have the idea for a lightbulb, he invented it. Henry Ford personally built his first car as a personal project. Sir Richard Branson got started selling records from the "boot" of his car. Larry Page personally co-developed Page Rank.

I'm not sure how the military commanders (or Frank Lloyd Wright) fit into this, but every entrepreneur you listed was very much a "technical founder".

Re: Ideas Matter

#30

Post by sneakersneaker »

pg wrote: post #17

This is rather an attack on a strawman. No one thinks that ideas don't matter at all. Obviously you have to have a good one at some point. When people say that execution matters more than the idea in a startup, what they're really saying is something fairly complicated: that you need both a good idea and good execution, but that (1) since good execution is rarer, you should worry more about that, and (2) good executi…

The post isn't mean to be an attack at all -- even on a strawman :) It's an opinion piece where my goal is to remind founders that they should spend time thinking about the idea and also that equity splits should account for the value of the idea.

Part of the motivation from the post came from watching some otherwise excellent teams working on some rather mundane, me-too ideas. Another part of it came from hearing some awesome ideas, but realizing that the team didn't have the DNA to execute on it.

The discussion on HN seems to be very bipolar with respect to the value of ideas and execution (people execute, so you can call it either people or execution), which ignores my point about ideas and execution needing to happen hand in hand.

All too often we 'simplify' things to the point where they begin to loose the original intent/meaning. If this post makes people have a discussion around this, and makes you explain the 'fairly complicated' thing that people are saying when they do say execution matters more than the idea, then my job with writing the post is done.

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