Don’t Keep Your Startup Ideas Secret
If you’ve ever had a start-up idea that you truly believed was brilliant, but you were afraid somebody else might steal it and out-wit you, this is the blog for you. While your fears are extremely common and a recurring thought in budding entrepreneurs, they are very misplaced.
Confused? Allow me to explain.
Ideas are not secret
Any idea you have at any given point of time may, in reality, be quite similar to an existing idea or improvement to an existing idea of other entrepreneurs spread across the world. There are rare chances of you coming up with an idea that is original in its truest sense.
If you believe your idea is original in its truest sense, you may want to check if someone tried it in the past and failed.
Why people won’t steal your idea
Firstly, no one is going to believe in your idea on day one. Finding your first believer will take you some time. And even if someone believes your idea, they won’t make the commitment to execute on that and they will never have your vision. Keep these three things in mind, it is the rarest of rare that someone will steal your idea, launch a startup and become more successful than you.
Now that you know how ideas are a dime a dozen, doesn’t it make more sense to share them? When you share ideas you are open to critical feedback, fresh takes, different perspectives and most importantly- opinions of potential target customers. All of these are crucial in realizing how your start-up can provide a feasible and unique quality through creative innovation.
Ideas are not the core reason startups succeed
We’ve already established that entrepreneurs often have multiple ideas, and several entrepreneurs may end up having similar ideas. But does each idea turn into a marketable or usable product? Does each idea succeed? Of course not! Why? Because execution matters.
Execution is key
When we, as entrepreneurs, believe in an idea, we are extremely passionate and driven towards executing it. More than the actual idea, it is the execution that decides whether a start-up will succeed. Ambitious people put in a lot of effort, conduct research, talk to different people and get help when needed.
Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that you revealed your idea to a bunch of people, one of whom ended up stealing it. Will they ever have the same passion for the idea as you? Have they spent years fine-tuning the concept behind the idea, as you have? Do they have a vision for it like you do? Most probably not. Even if they were to go ahead and try to execute such an idea, chances of it being the same as your product is extremely low.
Winning the sprint or acing the marathon?
Your only remaining contention might be that somebody else did it first. But does coming first mean being the best? Despite not being the first web search engine, Google has out-done every existing search engine in terms of commercial success. At the end of the day, it’s not about doing it first, but about doing it better.
Benefits of sharing ideas
If you had a dollar for every benefit that comes from sharing your start-up idea, you might have enough to partially fund the idea itself!
Many successful entrepreneurs have repeatedly gone on to say that if you have an idea, you must talk about it to everybody you know. It’ll open you up to many opinions and feedback.
Unbiased feedback
When we come up with an idea, we often become attached to it and thus have a biased perspective. An objective view from a third-party could help point the chinks in what you otherwise believed to be a flawless plan. In contrast, imagine you come up with an idea, never share it with anybody, work on it for a few years, only to realize it had a glaring flaw you never noticed.
Building a community
Sharing your idea might excite others, and they may want to pitch-in. It’ll help increase your network and build a community of like-minded individuals. Not only will you always have people ready to help you, but you would already be creating a supportive and engaging group interested in your product.
Practicing your pitch
But before the product can launch, you’ll need investments who are ready to back you financially. Despite this being a crucial step, many start-ups never manage to get investors on board. Even if your ideas are brilliant, if you can’t pitch them well, nobody will listen. This is why you must practice pitching your idea and perfecting your elevator-pitch each chance you get. Talk about your idea to anybody who will listen and with time, you will have developed an efficient and intelligent pitch for your future investors.
Now that the myth is busted, a word of caution: While sharing ideas comes with many benefits, be wary of pessimists and cynics who can pull you down. Share your ideas with the right people whose opinion matters and stay away from those who go out of their way to discourage you irrationally. With that being said, make the most of your conversations with people about your ideas. Don’t hide; share.
PS: I write for startup founders & aspiring entrepreneurs, if you want more content, follow me on Twitter OyeSoni or Linkedin.
