The Road to Entrepreneurship...

Do you hold ideas close to your chest - afraid that if you tell someone about the idea they will in turn steal it? Well you are not the only one. Sitting in class last night, I noticed that people around me had the same concern. How can I guarantee that the person that I am talking to will not steal my idea?

The discussion that followed stuck with me because it pointed out the following - Keeping ideas secret is something of little value, you are not guaranteed that it will not be copied or stolen (I guess you can get a patent for your idea as that might offer you some protection). Even after you launch your product or service, a bigger competitor who is really interested in the idea could copy it. You might be able to sue them but with your limited resources, you will most likely get tied up in our lovely court system and end up losing anyway. Besides, by not collaborating with others you are probably not getting the feedback that is crucial during the ideation and idea framing process.

Anyway back to the point of this post, so what if other people know about your idea, isn’t execution the most important part of the entrepreneurial journey anyway? Assuming that the saying - Ideas are a dime a dozen - holds true, then it is very likely that you are not the first person to come up with the idea to solve the problem you are thinking about. The difference between you and them is that you are indeed going implement the idea - making it a reality, and have work exactly as you thought of it. That is where the real value of an idea is right? If you think about it, a probable reason why you found an opportunity in that market is not because no one else thought of it; it is most likely because no one else executed a solution.

Execution is more valuable that the idea itself, so next time you have the opportunity to collaborate with people, do not be afraid to talk about your idea.