

Investing in ideas, not just startup companies. - MichaelRihani
http://www.michaelrihani.com/2011/07/investing-in-ideas-not-just-startup-companies/

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jjmaxwell4
Ideas are cheap. Execution is the hard part.

Startups take devotion; and you don't get devotion with a bunch of random
people collaborating on the web. Quirky could create some tiny gadgets that
fill tiny needs, but this will never create a disruptive technology.

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MichaelRihani
I understand, and I agree. That's why execution > idea. But that doesn't mean
there isn't any good value in ideas. Good, great, and brilliant ideas are
definitely worth a lot to great executors.

Great execution definitely requires devotion, execution, along with probably
100+ other traits.

If I'm a fantastic executor in the beverage industry, why am I not being
connected to ideas like the Coke flavored ice cubes? That's just one example,
but I'm sure there are hundreds of other great beverage industry ideas.

If my business forte is the sports industry, why are we not serving up those
brilliant sports guys with awesome ideas?

Think of it like Aardvark meets ideas instead of questions. Think of it like
Match.com meets ideas instead of singles.

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BerislavLopac
Both ideas and execution are worthless unless you have a product-market fit.

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MichaelRihani
Good addition. But wouldn't product-market fit be filed under execution?
Before fully going forward, it's the executors job to analyze the market and
make sure the product fits. If not (or the market changes or shifts), it'd be
their job to pivot or tweak their execution plan.

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ethnomusicolog
I wanted to emphasized your comment. The ultimate goal of a startup is to
create value (and its closest proxy i.e. money). The savvy entrepreneur will
design a system in an "ecological " environnement that is part business,
social, cultural... His startup is only a tiny part of that dynamical system.
And he must take into account a incredible amount of fast moving details
and/or have luck. But of all those parts the most important one is the idea.
Not because in itself it's a special idea but because, a good idea, is a
summary of an incredible amount of experience. To use an analogy, formulae in
maths and science are beautiful not just because of their elegance but also
because of all the thought process that engendered them and all the
implications they have. IMHO an idea is the single most important value
proposition of a startup and the part that need the most work.

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MichaelRihani
So what do you guys think? Can there be some kind of “idea bank” that seeds a
brilliant idea to talented executors that then take that idea and turn it into
a brilliant company?

For now, let’s codename it iCombinator or ideaCombinator.

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Hyena
It's called "knowing interesting people who think about the things they're
engaged with but aren't programmers".

