Tell HN: Never share your ideas

[entangld]

An idea I've been working on was recently posted to Hacker News and described in the same exact way.

It's an imitation, but for people who think sharing is going to make your idea better beware. It's a pretty obvious attempt to copy what I was doing and if they didn't describe it in the exact same way I wouldn't have thought much of it. Obviously, I talk too much.

Before you ask, no my project isn't finished. They're faster/better coders than I am. Yes, I'm an idiot for talking about it out loud in the first place.

Protesting and giving details would just give it more attention, so I'm content with this message. Shut up about your ideas and just work on them ---> giving this advice to myself.

[gexla]

I disagree. You should be able to talk about your idea to get feedback and certainly to gauge any sort of possible market. Few ideas are truly unique, perhaps everyone else who had the same idea just didn't think there was a good enough market to be worth pursuing. Someone stealing my idea would be one possible positive indicator for me but I would still need to do a lot more market research.

If there is a decent market for your product / service, then there is likely room for multiple competitors. At that point, it's all about implementation rather than speed to market (though speed to market is still important for you because the faster you get the product built the faster you are able to start seeing money from your efforts.)

History backs this up with examples everywhere. Don't worry about people stealing your ideas.

[regularfry]

First mover advantage is mostly a myth, except in the very short term where it's trivially true. Even if whoever copied you had waited until you launched, if they are indeed "faster/better" than you, they'd catch up and overtake you soon enough. If your idea is good enough, competition is a fact of life you're just going to have to live with.

[dazzer]

I am someone who empathises with your situation.

However, look at it this way.

If it is such a great idea, chances are other people have already thought about it. To assume that you are the only person to have thought about something is just selfish and egotistical. Noone should have a monopoly on ideas.

If you were the only one with that idea, I'd say 80% of the time, it wasn't such a good idea in the first place.

If someone thought your idea was worth stealing, then I'd say that you should feel confident that your idea is a good one, steam ahead and speed to market.

[entangld → dazzer]

You're right about all of that.

But it's a different story when they use your own words to describe the concept of it. It was practically my pitch describing their website.

Few people come up with the same ideas using the same words. That's just not likely. Conceptualizing is not easy. There are a lot of different ways to describe Twitter and Quora. People describe things differently. I don't think it was random.

[chipsy → entangld]

A lot can be done post-launch to differentiate, though. They might have a headstart, but you probably have more of the vision lurking in the wings, beyond whatever you've pitched to people.

[noonespecial]

Perhaps you didn't talk to enough people all at once. Having a few people trusted by the community back you up and call out the weasel would probably stop this kind of thing cold. If you get a rep for poaching ideas and hogging credit in this community, you're done.

[abbasmehdi]

I loved stealing your idea, thanks! I also wrote you a song called "Will you be my Winklevoss tonight?" ;)

Ok kidding aside, I once felt like you, so I tested my phobia. I had another idea that I knew I wouldn't get to in this decade, great idea, but not for me to work on yet. So I gave it away, as far and loud as I could. Well first of all, no one "got it" right (lesson: sharing vision is a HARD thing to do), secondly two dudes tried to run with it and when they came out with the prototype I was surprised how they did almost everything I told them and more, yet it looked so different. Kind of like it was their own idea altogether. And finally, it took them 1 year to get 100 users! That was enough time for me to figure out what they did right/wrong and in between and beat them! Anyway, they went back to school, haven't heard from them. The site was up until recently, but is now gone.

My advice, let someone make mistakes for you at their dime. It's one thing if you're going after an established brand that has been around for years, and its completely another if you go after someone who just launched less than a year ago. They are in infancy, making tons of mistakes, which you can learn from. Here is an idea: look at a company launched less than 6 months ago and go copy them! ;)

[dmlevi]

The problem with this is your one idea could be your "wave" to success. Not to say there wont be any other great ideas but if you can create it first, regardless of competition its something for your resume that people respect. This wave could help fund an even better idea. I know HN is built on sharing ideas and I think thats great but unfortunately HN is not the world we live in. The world we live in is filled with thiefs and liars. Im in the same boat and I keep my startup right now pretty tight. I tell lots of people but only people I trust. Hope this helps

[tritogeneia]

I weighed the advice/secrecy tradeoff myself, and I figured I needed the advice more than I could benefit from secrecy. Never sharing your ideas just seems idiotic if you're a novice and you need input.

[RealGeek]

Ideas are cheap, it is all about execution. A lot of hackers have so many ideas, that we can actually start blogging idea-a-day. I bet nobody would steal them, because everyone else have their own ideas. Unless your idea is validated, nobody will want to steal it.

But once you have cash rolling in, you will have tens if not hundreds of clones spawning up with in few weeks.

[braindead_in]

On the positive side, if someone's copying you already then the idea must be good and worthwhile to work on. Converting the idea to a viable business is another matter completely and who knows, you might execute better than them. As they say, competition is a good thing.

[HeyLaughingBoy]

So now you get free market research by watching what happens with their site. What's the problem?

[truthseeker]

I partially agree with the OP. It's easy to say execution is everything.

I have an honest question for you guys. I am working on a project that needs design help. I am a coder and could use a designer. The one I could afford and connect online is another programmer with decent design skills. (he has a decent portfolio).

My project is not rocket science but it has some novel elements to it. How do you make sure that someone you outsource it for few hundred bucks is not gonna steal your idea and launch it themselves? Especially when it is someone you've never met.

[ZackOfAllTrades]

Having an idea stolen sucks. I empathize with you. It's rough and I've gone through it with a business partner of sorts. It hurts to think that something you worked hard on and thought through is going to benefit someone else who doesn't deserve it. At the end of the day though, you can either man up and out code them or learn from it and move onto bigger and, hopefully, better things.

Additional thought:If you had followed your own advice as soon as you came up with it, your post wouldn't have ever been made.

[winkv]

Be a sports,try to work on ur idea...let them market it first...learn from their mistake and compete...may be they r better coders but biz is more than coding..."steve jobs" was put out from his own company once....its not that bad really...

[petervandijck]

You're not an idiot for talking about your idea, you're an idiot for not executing better/faster. At some point you have to launch, they could still out-execute you after that. First mover advantage is mostly a myth on the web.

[entangld → petervandijck]

That still isn't a very good answer to the conventional wisdom of "Don't worry about telling people your ideas."

Tell people, then execute faster? If you're in stealth mode it wouldn't matter.

[jdietrich]

Business ideas are worthless.

Proof: Try and sell an idea.

If their implementation succeeds, they've done you a favour by doing the hard work and establishing a market. You can avoid their mistakes, build a better (or more niche, or prettier, or better marketed) implementation and profit.

If their implementation fails, they're done you a favour by either demonstrating that there isn't a market, or by highlighting fatal mistakes in their implementation.

[starter]

I'm with execution over ideas. Shutting up and hacking it before talking is a great point but isn't this simply mind over matter?

[newobj]

Let's see your original post and their post.

[NonEUCitizen]

Be a faster/better coder than them.

[trbecker]

Actually, ideas don't matter, execution matter. If you're not executing, but only giving ideas away, be aware, someone will put the idea on execution and you'll never get cited on the app.

[hoodoof]

Is your surname Winklevoss?

[shareme]

There are over 250 million programmers in this internet connected world. Its not the idea its the fast execution that is unique. He or she copied the idea..so effing what? Make it unique by your execution!

[selectnull → shareme]

250 million programmers in the world? Isn't that kinda too much?

For those interested, here is one link on the subject: http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/19720/where-c...