21–30 of 37 posts
The definate danger of simply copying an idea is not knowing the motivation, thought processes and discarded tangents that lead to that idea.
(I found 26. Some are still unlaunched.)
Ethics aside, if a company/startup can't be bothered to make new slides after stealing an idea, it will likely make similar inflexible "shortcuts" later on and fail miserably (as the article showed).
http://www.cringely.com/2009/12/three-simple-rules-for-steal...
Ethics aside, if a company/startup can't be bothered to make new slides after stealing an idea, it will likely make similar inflexible "shortcuts" later on and fail miserably (as the article showed).
"We made sure our competitor knew [a bunch of stuff]. We made sure they heard how shocked and upset we were that they were going to beat us to an announcement in our market." How do you do that? How do you ensure "they" know what you want them to know?
But the shortest most-sure route in this case: both companies were talking with the same trade show organizers about scheduling at the upcoming event. Grumbling to the organizer that Blank wishes he'd picked (or paid more for) earlier scheduling would be the kind of juicy detail the organizer is certain to share with the competitor, to make the competitor feel better about their scheduling.
The competitor may have done them great good, too. I find pissed-off-ness can be a great motivator at times.
The entrance of a lesser competitor undoubtedly benefited them greatly. Leaving that hard copy of his presentation may have been the best thing he could have possibly done for that business.
Ethics aside, if a company/startup can't be bothered to make new slides after stealing an idea, it will likely make similar inflexible "shortcuts" later on and fail miserably (as the article showed).
That's what I keep thinking reading this. Slides? They stole ... slides? Not customer lists, or research notes, or software. Just slides? Come on. Is that really what passes for evidence of "hard work" on the marketing side of things. Is a good powerpoint really going to make or break a company?
I wish I had read this a year and a half ago. Before my current startup launched but after it'd gotten angel funding, someone learned about our business from an indiscreet angel investor. That someone then started a very similar business. Idea theft? Maybe. Did it make me angry? Definitely. Not only did I have the usual competitor irritation (these people are out to take food out of my hypothetical future children's…
Well said, sir.
I discovered an unexpected benefit of being plagiarized: it makes imitators easy to find. A couple days ago I was curious how many YC clones there are now, so I tried to make an up to date list. The most fruitful source was to search in Google for distinctive phrases from our application form. Practically all of them copy that, and more often than not they leave chunks of verbatim text unchanged. (I found 26. Some ar…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's what I keep thinking reading this. Slides? They stole ... slides? Not customer lists, or research notes, or software. Just slides? Come on. Is that really what passes for evidence of "hard work" on the marketing side of things. Is a good powerpoint really going to make or break a company?
Professional looking slides can take a ridiculous amount of time to create and they add zero value outside of their intended presentation. Honestly, for an early stage start up the safest and best thing to steal is probably their slides. Stealing code creates long term problems, and if you have a customer list worth stealing then you are already a significant competitor.