I see a lot CS3216′s blogs mention about stealing ideas, which originally started from Dr Ben’s blog. So he said “It’s okay to Steal”. I say, if you can steal (idea) from someone and transform it into something better, then go for it. Why? Because I believe the most important part in execution (I’m not saying idea is not important). Why am I saying this? There’re 2 cases:
- You have a bad idea. No one will bother copy it. End of story.
- You have a great idea. Ok, so you think your idea is unique, way ahead of time, innovative. But guess what, probably there’s someone who has the same idea as you. Why? Because great minds think alike. So you really can’t tell if he’s stealing your idea or you’re stealing his idea.
In the history of computer, there’re many interesting story about stealing ideas. Do you know that Apple stealth the GUI from Xerox (surprise, right?), and then Microsoft stealth from Apple (you may not be so surprise about this, they keep doing it today :P). Do you know Compaq stealth the PC design from IBM (to allow MS-DOS run on Compaq computer, and make Bill Gates a billionaire. This is a very long story, if you’re interested you can look for the documentation film “Triumph of the nerds”)? Without stealing, GUI will never exist (because Xerox thought it’s a bad idea), IBM is still dominating the PC market, and Microsoft is nowhere to be found on the map. So stealing actually makes the PC evolve, doesn’t it?
Last thing, I’m not saying that stealing is the only way to go, but it’s easier and faster to success :P.
Moral of this entry: If you have a great idea, keep it to yourself :D.
Moral of this entry: If you have a great idea, keep it to yourself :D.
This is the wrong moral of the story, but I’m glad you wrote this entry.
You have to understand what I do for a living. I create ideas. My goal in life is to invent cool ideas that make a difference. :-P
One of the things that happens a lot to me is that I come up with ideas that people invented like a couple of months ago or a year ago. Well, then I realized something. We’re not quite as smart as we think we are.
Any idea that we can come up with there are others who can come up with the same idea. However, the probability that someone around us would come up with the same idea is very low.
This is the punchline: IT’S VERY HARD to steal ideas and EXECUTE. When people so called STEAL ideas there is a very high likelihood that they were already thinking of a similar idea to begin with. And when I said steal ideas, I didn’t mean people tell you something, you go and do. I meant : if you see something that is already out there and works and you think you can do better and put the incumbent out of business, go ahead.
Why then should you share ideas? Very simple: the probability that you will come up with the *exactly right idea* is very very very very low. By telling people your idea, you help articulate the idea to yourself and refine the idea. Trust me, it works.
In the worst case, even if someone does “steal” your idea,, so what? Good ideas are infinite. If you can come up with one, you can come up with another one. There’s really no hurry. ;-P
Just like to hitch on to this post and share my experiences here!
As you know China is famous for Ctrl C – Ctrl V. For every Facebook, there’s Xiaonei; for every Twitter, there’s Jiwai.
I was fortunate to hear from one rather famous entrepreneur over in Shanghai last year, and he talked about the topic of Ideas. Btw, he created the extremely popular network between entrepreneurs, NextStep .
So, he believed that if you have an idea, be bold and share it! Why?? Won’t people steal it? Are you crazy!!?? Especially when you’re in the land of Ctrl C – Ctrl V??
Well, simply because sometimes you’ll receive good feedback or guidance from the “angels” out there. Because you might get yourself a good partner (no man is an island, remember?). Because when you start to share, maybe people will share too? And when that happens, maybe the idea can combine with his idea and become bigger! Lastly, because sometimes you never know whether it’ll work, so if that “sucker” really executed it well, at least you know your idea worked! (give you more confidence for your next idea eh? hahaa)
There are definitely many theories on the topic of sharing ideas. Ultimately, I feel, it depends on whether you’re confident and witty enough. It’s always a balance between being cunning as a snake, and to be innocent as a dove.
Cheers for an interesting topic. Especially when the pitching session is coming soon! =)
Dr Ben,
Yeah I admit the last sentence is wrong, kinda spoil my post :D. Maybe I didn’t put enough thinking into it. It’s good when you share, I agree!
1 more thing I believe is that if I have an idea, someone steals it and successes, which means my idea is good (which means I’m good, too), so that’s a good sign actually. Smart and capable people will success, in one way or another way. The only thing matters is time :-).
KM,
Thanks for you comment!! It’s similar with what I want to say above though :D. Great minds think alike? lolz
I think so! hahaa
Yup, just sharing my experience brother =)
Actually it is not only the idea or execution alone. Today in teh businessworld you need the whole package:
1) Good idea
2) Good execution
3) Good marketing + PR
Without 3), not many people will know about your product and hence the potential of gathering buzz is low.
It seems before YouTube came about, there was another guy who did something exactly the same 2 years before but somehow it just didn’t take off. Also I guess that time the market (aka internet users) were not comfortable with the idea of video sharing just yet. :D
About sharing ideas with everyone, there are entrepreneurs who do this. They separate their ideas into 2 versions:
1) Raw version
2) Complete version
When they meet strangers / random people who are asking about what they are doing, they use version (1). When they meet potential investors, partners and people they know they can trust, they use version (2).
Su Yuen
totally agree with Kar Meng.
Haha, go read this book, “It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be” by Paul Arden.. the page on “don’t covet your ideas” is on the Jan 19th entry of my blog (www.livejournal.com/~emu81)
Actually compared with how blatently the chinese people copy just about everything from ICQ (then MSN when MSN started to eclipse ICQ’s popularity), Facebook, Twitter, and what have you.. to the point of using the exact same Icons and layout/colourscheme.. I think what the companies like Apple and Microsoft do to “copy” from each other, or Ubisoft/EA/etc. with regards to gameplay ideas and game mechanics, hardly counts as copying… :p It’s probably more of [original-thing]-inspired design (not visual design, but mecahnics design).