
Why I won't steal your idea - stritar
http://stritar.net/Post/Five-reasons-why-I-will-not-steal-your-idea.aspx
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Toadsoup
In his article about not stealing ideas, Grega Stritar mentions karma and
being a good person by not stealing. Yet for some reason, he also chose to use
an unlicensed watermarked image from iStockphoto at the head of his article.

Perhaps I am reading to much into it, but it really seems to undermine his
credibility and trustworthiness in this regards. He claims he is not willing
to steal ideas, but he is willing (apparently) to steal images?

Where is the line actually at?

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stritar
Actually, stealing the photo was intended as a joke... Do you think that if
would steal a photo, I would leave a watermark on it? :)

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exodust
LOL, is it from here: <http://nicholasnoel.me/tag/hacker/>

Good article anyway! I think it's mostly fair. Although when people a
secretive of their ideas, it's also that they don't want their incomplete or
incubating idea out there amongst colleagues and friends. Inevitably someone
asks, (and it might be your mum who asks) "so how's the internet-enabled
frypan idea going?", and then you have to talk about it as if it's real to
someone who probably can't help you with it anyway.

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dear
It is true that most random Joes/Janes won't be interested in stealing your
ideas but the issue is not about them. It's about your competitors who are
already in/near your space, who definitely want to see what others are doing
and thinking. If you are not careful who you talk to, there is a chance that
your ideas may end up in their hands.

Beside, I heard that in EU and Asia, if you disclose your idea to anyone
without an NDA, you immediately lose the right to patent it.

So don't be naive to believe in Cinderella fairy tales.

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ChikkaChiChi
I have/had an idea from 99/00 that I developed while in R&D at my work that
they signed the rights over to me because the technology wasn't there
yet...technically still isn't.

A few years back, I was talking to my mechanic/friend who was telling me about
his son and this idea he and some of his buddies were working on in their off-
time at 3M...it was like a Roberta Flack song it hit me so hard. My idea, from
another person's mouth who had no knowledge that I had thought of the same
thing.

Flash forward to Super Bowl Sunday. For kicks and giggles I was on Twitter
because a room with the lights off is absolutely not interesting television. A
particular thread sparked my interest when one person accused a news reporter
of RT'ing his joke without attribution.

After that, I started watching the #blackout stream and sure enough, everyone
on Twitter who thought they were witty also thought they were original. People
were spouting off the same jokes simultaneously that it would have been
impossible many of the lame jokes to have spread that fast.

Whereas many people thought they were purely genius for coming up with a joke
about the lights being killed and Ray Lewis, many others in the mass of 7
billion people were thinking the same thing.

TL;DR: The idea is a small piece of the Success Pie. Execution is everything.
Also, I like slashes.

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speeder
One of the things I do is be a speaker in game development, targeting newbies.

Another is game design consulting.

I hear a lot stuff related to ideas.

First, there are a handful of paranoids, that want to know if they can patent
their cool game idea ( no, you can't, especially ideas that are a story, not a
game system ).

Then I have those wanting advice. Of those about 80% are in two fields: some
want my help, but fearing that I will steal their idea they will request me to
sign some crazy NDA or they will keep giving vague explanations.

Others want me to do their idea, some just want to see their idea done so they
can play, others think their idea is so good that I would buy it, or code for
free and give them later 80% of the revenue.

All of those people don't understand that ideas are cheap, making a game is
crazy hard, and even I already have lots of my own ideas, I will only make
your idea if you give me craploads of money.

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JCraig
Of the people who have approached me to possibly work with them, I have yet to
encounter one totally original idea. Often, they'll tell me it's original, but
a quick Google search will turn up a few to a few dozen competitors already in
the space.

It doesn't mean the idea is bad, and it doesn't mean that a good execution of
the idea won't be successful. But, there's no reason for an NDA, and there's
no reason to be concerned I will steal the idea.

The implementation is key. If the person with the idea also figured out what
the user interactions will be like, what types of data are needed, and what
separates the product from direct or indirect competitors, I might be
interested. If the person only has a vague idea of a project management system
that addresses the market between Microsoft Project and Basecamp (an idea I've
been pitched more than once), I'm not interested.

I'm also no longer interested in signing an NDA before discussing an idea. If
we get further into business plans, financial information, and specific
implementations, sure. But by then, I've already agreed to work on the
project, and I'm getting compensation in return.

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jonathanjaeger
"3. Your idea probably requires specific passion and know-how"

This exactly. It was hard enough building a great team of freelancers to help
me relaunch my site. A LOT of research. I threw out every mockup and every
business detail I could to get great people on board. Many of these people are
booked solid for months -- the last thing they're going to do is drop what
they're doing and build my product. And they're probably not the right people
because my idea is specific to my community and past experience.

If you end up finding some bad apples on your quest to build your product,
chances are they aren't the ones who will execute on it well. For the slim
chance something could go wrong, you'll be spinning your wheels not being
transparent about what you're trying to build.

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keyboardP
I generally agree but from first hand experience, I know this isn't always
true. Before, I'd be happy to announce/show prototypes of stuff I was working
on but it's clear that there are developers out there who take parts of the
concept and release it. It may not be as full as the original app since it's a
case of rushing something out but it undermines my USP. Of course, it could've
all been coincidence, but I personally doubt it considering similarities and
timing.

Having said that, that's what the market's all about so I'm not really
complaining but just saying that the article isn't always true from first hand
experience. I think a lot depends on the nature of the app (i.e. web app,
game, smartphone app etc..) and what parts are "copied".

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krmmalik
I'm a big believer in not operating in so called "stealth mode" so i try to
share as much as I can, but lately i've been working on two separate products,
one of which is an MVP at the moment. For some reason - and rather
irrationally - I started to get worried about it when discussing with other
developers. I'm currently considering bring a second person on board to work
on the code with me.

Can you re-assure me that most developers think like you do? I am genuinely
nervous about it bringing someone else to work on the product for this reason
alone. I realise how pathetic it may sound, but a little re-assurance would
give me a big enough nudge to go ahead and do it.

Unless there are specific cases where this shouldn't be done?

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randomdrake
Speaking as a developer: I like to build things that are successful and I like
building things for passionate people. I'm not a thief, I'm a developer. I
love bringing ideas to reality.

The people who are out there making money are doing so because they executed
their ideas or helped to execute ideas with someone else. They aren't just
sitting around waiting for the next person to screw over, they have better
things to do: like work on things. Of course: there are always malicious
people out there, but I would be extremely surprised if they were in the
majority in this particular example.

Of all of the startups that get featured here, even the multi-million dollar
ones, how many times have you heard of someone genuinely "stealing" someone's
idea? I mean to the point that someone was put into financial hardship without
a way to reconcile? I can only think of a couple off the top of my head, and
frankly: the events and legal BS surrounding them are so far above and beyond
anything I'd ever want to do in my life. I have a feeling that I'm not alone
in that sentiment amongst a profession of reasonably rational and intelligent
individuals.

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ChikkaChiChi
I'm going to stretch my definition of a startup and say Michael Arrington and
FusionGarage.

I'm not up to date on whatever happened with it, but Arrington announced on
TechCrunch the CrunchPad, kept everyone abreast with its development, and when
it came time to launch FusionGarage decided to go it alone and cut him out
(allegedly).

Also, you can stretch it even further and use Jonathan Coulton's latest spat
with the producers of "Glee"

I think it happens, we just don't hear about it as much.

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nakedrobot2
It depends who you're sharing the idea with and how complex it is.

Certainly the vast majority of ideas require some real specialization and
can't be emulated by anybody.

Also, an unproven idea which only "sounds like it could be great" really is a
dime a dozen.

You should be more worried about HOW you accomplish your great idea. Maybe
you've found a way to pull off some PROVEN product, but using 1/10 the labor,
parts, etc. This is a competitive advantage that can pull you from zero to a
million in revenue, buying you time to "properly" develop your Version 2 idea
from the ground up. This, I have seen people stealing. If this is what you've
got, then keep it secret. Sell your prouct by all means but keep that "special
sauce" closely guarded.

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trebor
Reason 6: I don't have time to steal your idea.

I'm so busy working and trying to find the time just to spend with my family,
and sometimes play with a project on the side, I haven't got the time to steal
your idea. Not even if your idea is the best since sliced bread.

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grahamjl
You could apply that thinking to a lot of other things too, especially around
people being precious around an idea or creation and not letting go - like
with coding, the same approach works with explaining that you're not going to
ruin the code by working on or with it..

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stritar
haven't thought about it this way...

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jiggy2011
A lot of people say they believe in "karma" I have one simple question "why?".

I mean it stands to reason that if you go around being an asshole to people
they might eventually start being an asshole back.

But I mean in the cosmic justice sense.

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mistermann
When people refer to karma, they don't mean it literally, it's meant more in
the sense of "reputation".

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jiggy2011
I don't know, maybe that is true here but I've met a significant number of
people who seem to think it is an actual thing.

I've heard arguments such as "I know god exists because karma exists" which
just seems like nonsense to me.

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11001
Here is a relevant question I recently posted that didn't get any attention:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5152827>

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kriro
1 reason why I won't steal your idea: Ideas can't be stolen.

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aartur
I would add: if your idea is really unique the product will not be understood.
First approachers usually don't succeed and only pave the way for others.

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h2s
An enjoyable read!

The only thing I would change is the overuse of bold text. When used too much,
it detracts from the readability of the text as a whole more than it serves to
emphasise any particular sentence fragment.

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bproctor
6\. I don't have an idea

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brockrockman
fix your anchor font.

