Finally I find the concept of “I am so smart that I thought of something that no one else could have thought without stealing my idea” to be arrogant, selfish and ridiculous. And this concept is what patents stand for.

Interesting article which is shows the typical response towards (and struggle of) an innovator. That VC’s constantly spout propaganda ‘that it’s good to share your ideas’ with them, has absolutely no merit nor substance. It is in VCs interests to get the best ideas and then install their own mediocre teams to execute them…

Interesting article which is shows the typical response towards (and struggle of) an innovator. That VC’s constantly spout propaganda ‘that it’s good to share your ideas’ with them, has absolutely no merit nor substance. It is in VCs interests to get the best ideas and then install their own mediocre teams to execute them…

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=204484

There is something interesting about the evolution of some ideas who’s time have come and a few people have them around the same time.

However, this is clearly not a universal phenomenon. This happens for solutions that arise to solve a problem that had recently emerged, and the very few innovative creatures among us then have that aha moment.

In the example that I mentioned, the barrier to entry was so high that it took an extraordinary effort by Dyson to bring it to life. I do not believe that the cyclone vacuum cleaner concept was had simaltainiously by many others at the same time who then later went on to make similar.

The specific case of the Dyson invention was made possible by this characters unique history. One of his previous challenges was while working for a company (I forget the details) on a cyclone device (it was a completely different problem) this unique experience in his past enabled Dyson to be in a unique position to see a potential solution to a problem.

Then this coupled with an extraordinary effort (15 year long quest) resulted in the birth of the new cyclone vacuum cleaner. The copycats who now make rip-offs in China were not motivated into gear by the tenacity and genius that Dyson demonstrated, but rather as a result of greed and jealousy as they saw that his idea was a commercial success and that they were already manufactures who could make the same only cheaper given they did not have to spend years proving the concept with prototypes and could borrow from his breakthroughs.

To home this point down I will add to this debate another example where an invention / discovery was had by one man, who had to also go to extraordinary lengths to make his breakthrough see the light of day. His name was Barry Marshall, in 1982 in discovered that a bacterium he named H.Pylori was responsible for stomach ulcers and many other gastro disorders which had no cure, was thought by the mainstream to be caused by stress and was killing 5 million people per annum. After being ridiculed by his peers, by mainstream medical journals, by the entire world, in 1993 he did a daredevil stunt and swallowed a wapping dose of the bacterium into his own body. He did this before the worlds media who watched his crazy experiment unfold. After 3 weeks he was suffering with the expected effects, which some might argue could have been caused by stress because his wife was so pissed at his irresponsible actions she left him (temporally), he then went on to take the cure that he had devised. After 1 month he was cured and the worlds media (not the major scientific journals) disseminated the results to the world at large. He proved without doubt that his theorem was correct and he changed the cause of history. In 2006 he was rightly awarded the noble price for his contribution to mankind.

The reason they went to the lengths that they did, was because the ideas belonged to them, ownership of the ideas compelled them to go on their quests. They would not have done so if it was someone else’s idea, they are extraordinary people.

lastly I am not claiming that execution is valueless like VCs try to claim about ideas. Only that execution is way down the list of priorities when it comes to giving birth to a new concept such as an innovation.

One might argue that an idea will appear when the time is right, and that there are many people capable of generating said idea given the right conditions.

I disagree that certain ideas are unique to a given individual and would never be generated without their brainpower – if Dyson hadn’t come up with his idea, someone else may have (or a better idea, given that his wasn’t already there / successful in the market).

And finally – if ideas are that unique and important, I have quite a few that I believe are fantastic, and I am willing to sell :-). Would you buy an idea?

“People purchase patents, certainly – but those are ideas with teeth, and a lot of money behind them. Consider these legal hedges.”

Actually filling costs for a patent in one country are like 50 UKP, it is not expensive to file a patent. But there is a huge industry in writing solid patents. The point being though, because an idea has a patent does not mean it has traction. It does not even mean it will work.

The main point or your comment however misses the point of my article. I am not saying that execution is valueless, like VC always say about ideas, but there are millions of people who have the ability to execute well, just like there are millions who can copy. But the origional idea that in the example I gave ‘Dyson’ was totally unique and in all likely hood would never have seen the light of day if it was not for Dyson’s tenacity. For the record he actually offered deals to Hoover and many other manufactures to develop his designs and only after 10 years of being given the run around did he actually set up his own factory and was hovered up my the market who loved his story and idea.

People purchase patents, certainly – but those are ideas with teeth, and a lot of money behind them. Consider these legal hedges.

People purchase / invest in startups – but as any VC will tell you, they invest more in the people than in the idea. In fact, most VC investments wind up building something different from the original idea.

Again, if what you say is true, then a good idea should be all you need. But it clearly isn’t. The “tech, hard work, investment, marketing” stages you list are basically “execution”. Luck is hard to argue against.

An idea is necessary but insufficient; hence it is value-less in the absence of execution.