Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 1: Are Those My Initials?
1–10 of 21 posts
Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 1: Are Those My Initials?
#2link bait title, it's not his startup idea that got stolen, just a slide out of his presentation.
Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 1: Are Those My Initials?
#3link bait title, it's not his startup idea that got stolen, just a slide out of his presentation.
i think strategy is more important than an idea because it's more closely associated to execution and the high-level direction of the company, so i don't think it's necessarily link bait per say. the 'idea' seeds the direction but eventually becomes second to strategy. correct me if i'm wrong but that's been my interpretation of the relationship.
Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 1: Are Those My Initials?
#4link bait title, it's not his startup idea that got stolen, just a slide out of his presentation.
And this is part 1. He said the idea that got stolen here was relatively minor. Part 2 is a story about a more serious case.
Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 1: Are Those My Initials?
#5Examining the slide, I pointed to the bottom right and said to our translator, “Tell him my initials are still on the bottom.” The interpreter’s face went white, and after a lot of “I can’t tell him that,” he did.
Perhaps a business genius in the U.S., but certainly not in Asia, specially Japan. He gains nothing from calling someone out on their plagiarism, in their office, during business negotiations. In fact, he has everything to lose. There are far more subtle ways to exert yourself, and jumping out and crying foul is not one of them.
Then he goes on to joke about Seppuku ..
Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 1: Are Those My Initials?
#6Examining the slide, I pointed to the bottom right and said to our translator, “Tell him my initials are still on the bottom.” The interpreter’s face went white, and after a lot of “I can’t tell him that,” he did. Perhaps a business genius in the U.S., but certainly not in Asia, specially Japan. He gains nothing from calling someone out on their plagiarism, in their office, during business negotiations. In fact, he h…
Perhaps, but I'm just not sure I would be able to let that stand, myself. And I tend to be a pretty calm and rational person.
Anyway, I don't think he "screamed foul", he just pointed out a fact. If it's deeply embarrassing to the other party, that's because that embarrassment was richly deserved, in nearly any culture.
Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 1: Are Those My Initials?
#7Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 1: Are Those My Initials?
#8bit.ly stole TinyURL's startup idea!
It's the execution that matters.
Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 1: Are Those My Initials?
#9Examining the slide, I pointed to the bottom right and said to our translator, “Tell him my initials are still on the bottom.” The interpreter’s face went white, and after a lot of “I can’t tell him that,” he did. Perhaps a business genius in the U.S., but certainly not in Asia, specially Japan. He gains nothing from calling someone out on their plagiarism, in their office, during business negotiations. In fact, he h…
Perhaps, but I'm just not sure I would be able to let that stand, myself. And I tend to be a pretty calm and rational person. Anyway, I don't think he "screamed foul", he just pointed out a fact. If it's deeply embarrassing to the other party, that's because that embarrassment was richly deserved, in nearly any culture.
I have asked foreign clients the following question many, many times: in case they come into conflict, would you prefer me to choose the path which preserves your ego or your business interests?
Most get the hint.
(A close variation of the line works on Japanese people, too.)
Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 1: Are Those My Initials?
#10Examining the slide, I pointed to the bottom right and said to our translator, “Tell him my initials are still on the bottom.” The interpreter’s face went white, and after a lot of “I can’t tell him that,” he did. Perhaps a business genius in the U.S., but certainly not in Asia, specially Japan. He gains nothing from calling someone out on their plagiarism, in their office, during business negotiations. In fact, he h…
Perhaps, but I'm just not sure I would be able to let that stand, myself. And I tend to be a pretty calm and rational person. Anyway, I don't think he "screamed foul", he just pointed out a fact. If it's deeply embarrassing to the other party, that's because that embarrassment was richly deserved, in nearly any culture.
You win by saving others face. Grace is a natural gift that's hard to fake. He got up off his seat and walk to the board to see it up close, he saw it, but then he insisted his translator call it out on the guy.
Bad things have been done to most people, but the ones you end up respecting the most are those who you see walk out, and take it with dignity, even though you know they're damn well capable of not only defending themselves, but also paying the other with far worse retribution.
He calls the guy an intellectual thief and the offense is not only taken by the exec, but whoever had the bad judgment to hire him.
I have seen this shit over and over again. When I was a teenager I worked at a restaurant were truck drivers came through the backdoor and told the frail, old Mexican guy waiting for them "to go get the boss, or someone who speaks English"; it used to piss me off, and Mr. Montoya always had the grace to smile and call one of the shift managers to go handle the delivery. He owned three shops in that strip, and four other restaurants throughout the city :-)