

I've Changed My Mind - DanielBMarkham
http://www.whattofix.com/blog/archives/2009/11/ive-changed-my.php

======
fnid
You have to stop blaming your inability to get a good team together on living
in the woods. There are lots of remote teams working together. People who have
never met. Maybe there is another reason you can get a team together. If you
keep blaming it on your geography, then you'll never figure out what you can
change to get that team going.

Sure, yes, there may be a programmer deficit in the woods, but there's no
programmer deficit around here. I work with people all over the country via
phone, email, and internet.

To be honest with you, I would work with you, whether you were in the woods or
not, if I trusted you. I don't trust you because I feel like you _blame_
things for your problems without really trying to figure out how to overcome
them. I read a lot of the stuff you write and it feels very angry to me.

Sometimes I agree with what you say and sometimes I don't. That's not the
point. I work with a lot of people I disagree with all the time, but it feels
to me like there is something missing in your awareness of reality. There's a
gap there. I'm not sure where it comes from. Most people I work with, everyone
I work with, myself included have these gaps. The problem with you is that you
are hiding yours, even from yourself. You portray an image, here and on your
blog of great understanding, but I don't know if that's true, because you seem
to lack an understanding of free will and internal motivation.

You're picking it up a little better in this post. You own your ideas. You are
responsible for their execution. In the past, it was almost as if you wanted
to convince everyone that _you_ are great and therefore your _idea_ must be
great and therefore, it's difficult for you to understand why no one would
want to work with you. But what are _you_ working on? Where is _your_ work?
That bit seems to be missing.

Anyway, I sense some pain in you. Some frustration. Some loneliness. That's
not everyone else's fault though. There's a reason you choose to live in the
woods. Right?

~~~
brandnewlow
A good title for this comment would be "20 Reasons why you shouldn't be
blogging."

I often feel like I should be writing more about what I'm learning from my
startup. Then I remember how embarrassing most of these lessons are and decide
to save those stories for a day when they can do me good. Sometimes perhaps
it's better for people to not hear from you for a while if you've got nothing
good to report.

~~~
fnid
I wouldn't say he should stop blogging. It's a good way to connect with people
from the woods. He's putting himself out there. That's tough, but through
doing it, he can learn more than he would if he didn't.

------
drawkbox
It is all about execution. And some of the best executions haven't been first
(i.e. Windows, Google, iPod, etc). Actually having others developing your idea
will not only provide reassurance that it is good, but it will also probably
be better if someone else tries it first and fails.

Google wasn't the first search engine but they are the best. Microsoft didn't
build the first operating system based on 'windows' but they did it the best
(execution). Firefox wasn't the first browser but it is much better than IE.
The iPod was very late to the handheld MP3 player market, but they are the
best.

It is ALL about execution and unless it is a patentable idea then why not
share? You might be more compelled to execute faster if others are doing it
and you might learn from how not to bring it to market from other failures.

Ideas really are worth nothing. They are handed out to multiple people across
the world. First to market is great on occasion but usually second or third to
market become the mainstream choice.

In game development it is the same thing. People think they have the best idea
ever and never share it. But in actuality the idea is not new as there is
nothing new under the sun. It is just another configuration of some past idea
in a new form.

Everyone else also has ideas they want to work on. Rarely will they drop it
and start pursuing your idea.

Here is a great article on this same behavior in game development:
[http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidRosen/20091027/3399/The_...](http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidRosen/20091027/3399/The_Value_of_Game_Ideas.php)

Also maybe this will provide a little motivation, don't let that idea turn
into 'brain crack':
<http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/07/071106.html>

------
tptacek
Best of luck to you. Instead of sharing the idea, share the questions and
concerns you have in getting started, in a general fashion.

I know the feeling. Without any idea what it is you're working on, I know the
best advice I can offer: keep at it. Here's a comment I wrote awhile ago with
a similar sentiment:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=302073>

------
HistoryInAction
If you're that worried about 'giving the game away,' I'd be worried for you
about barriers to entry for whatever market you're hoping to compete in.
Otherwise, I've found that spreading the idea around vastly outweighs the cost
of letting the 'wrong' people find out about the idea.

Of course, I haven't been burned in a major way before...

~~~
alain94040
Exactly why I wrote [http://blog.fairsoftware.net/2009/03/11/the-great-
startup-id...](http://blog.fairsoftware.net/2009/03/11/the-great-startup-idea-
that-i-cant-reveal-yet/)

I still think ideas are very important. A previous poster lists Google as an
example of the fact that being first doesn't matter, execution does. Google
was first and foremost a new idea (pagerank). And they also executed. And then
they got lucky (adwords). But without the idea, they would not have beaten the
#1 search engine of the times.

------
icey
Good luck to you, I look forward to seeing the results of your experiment
posted here.

~~~
DanielBMarkham
Thank you.

I'm hoping to do it in 4 stages, each taking about 2-4 weeks. I'm hoping that
I can demo each stage here without giving the game away.

Now I just need runway. Great Pumpkin above please give me runway.

~~~
dpcan
I have to say that this is a good move. If your idea is really that good, but
will only take 8 to 12 weeks to produce, there's a serious possibility that
someone will copy your idea, or worse, a larger company that may already have
some of the pieces built will beat you to the market and smash you with
instant marketing opportunities.

If you are seriously going to go through with this, there is absolutely no
point in inviting others to the table.

Professional football teams don't lend their playbook to their opponent before
the game just so they know what's about to hit them. That's just foolish.

------
dabent
There's a difference between "an idea" and I guess what one would call
competitive data. Once you start developing an idea into something real,
you're competing with others that might do the same thing. If it's something
you never have plans or ability to develop, sharing won't hurt you and could
only inspire others.

------
byrneseyeview
The other problem with valuing ideas is that you can't talk about them without
giving them up -- which means you have to say "my idea," "my great idea," "my
best idea ever," etc. Teams you can talk about make a better story than
startups you can't.

~~~
tdonia
a trusted team will also help establish the value in an idea which is hard to
do (in a way others will understand) by oneself. the sounding board can be
really useful in helping define the exciting parts of an idea and at the same
time distill the competitive bits - which means when it comes time to share
the idea with a wider audience, it's clear how far the conversation can go.

------
hxa7241
An idea is really rather like a very abstract, high-level kind of source-code.
And are we not convinced that open-source is a good, if not the superior, way?

In itself, duplication and spread of ideas is firmly defensible on Kantian
grounds as the moral action. And surely in principle, freedom of non-rivalrous
goods is desirable economically too. There is the claim of monopoly protection
being an encouragement to production, yet the evidence for it is practically
non-existent.

While we are probably all prone to an impulse of self-interest such as
described in the blog-post, it does not seem the rational choice.

------
bravura
If you do share, share your idea on <http://idea-ne.ws>

Marc Andreeson argues that a good market is the most important thing. Good
market + bad team = okay. Bad market + good team = team pivots to something
new. Good market + good team = something magic. [http://pmarca-
archive.posterous.com/the-pmarca-guide-to-star...](http://pmarca-
archive.posterous.com/the-pmarca-guide-to-startups-part-4-the-only)

------
diN0bot
it's hard to get a team together if you don't share your ideas. what's more
likely, that another rock solid team takes your idea and implements without
you, or that someone else with a similar idea decides to join forces?

i don't know the answer to that, but i live as though it's the latter. we each
of us set the example for everyone else and fulfill our own prophesies.

