Let them go

First of all I have to apologise for not writing here for awhile, I was and still am very busy writing code, something else I love to do besides writing my blog. I will be back in here shortly and let you know where my roads take me.

This is about ideas and talking about them or letting other people steal them. I was cooking some business ideas wondering if I should talk about them and if I do, would people go ahead and make money with my idea and forget about me. I know that question lingers around in lots of bright heads. One answer I got during a Microsoft' "Ignite your career"entrepreneurial session got me puzzled for awhile but, as much as it doesn't make sense, it holds some truth.

I forget who answered : "Ideas are cheap, it's what you do with them. Talk to as many people as you can, your idea will only get stronger". Yes and no and if you ask me.. I say don't follow this advice to the core !

Ideas are indeed cheap, as much as you're in love with yours, one hundred other guys have the same idea. That only means you should love it more. Talk to as many people about it... no.

Only share the idea at one stage, then calm down and do it, build it and here is the gold in that advice : "it's what you do with it". Follow through and don't worry about people stealing the idea, grow it, build it and stop talking when you start doing, then start talking again but now you've got a product.

An incoherent and incomplete idea is easy to take apart and ridicule, and that can tap into your enthusiasm and never recover. I know people that are talking a lot about others ideas and theirs as well, but they all get cold after a short while and never get anything out of that. The idea has to grow, be thorn apart and brought back together like Led Zeppelin or Genesis just did. Then you can talk about it with close friends and it stands the test.

Don't talk your idea out of you, people will go ahead and do something with it, obviously, and that's a compliment to you if they do. Talk some and do some more..