An idea is worthless without execution.
I can come up with ideas all day. You can too. Anyone can.
The idea does not really mean much, if anything, at a small stage company. Of course, some ideas are “better” than others. But that is not what separates startups. Startups, generally, do not fail because their idea starts bad. They fail because they suck at learning from their mistakes. They suck at talking to customers and building a product that someone actually wants.
The faster you can learn and better understand your customers ~ the faster you can actually start building a great product.
You never learn if you are not talking to customers.
I think it is really hard to predict the future. Ideas are really just predictors of a potential future. Some more accurate than others. But if we do not test out our ideas, we are stuck with mere predictions. And, last time I checked, psychics are not in great demand as of late.
That is all “ideation really is,” trying to make a good guess. The best entrepreneurs, or whatever you want to call someone building some great product, are able to test quickly and learn faster than anyone else.
That is a startup’s competitive advantage.
So what does this all really mean?
The first is that we should realize that in the long term, your “startup idea” is completely worthless unless you do something with it.
And in life, at least I’ve found, that there are loads of people who always talk about their “next big idea.” “I’m working on this.” etc.
Not that these are bad people. Kudos to them for going for it.
I, though, really look up to people doing , not talking. And to me, the doing starts well after the idea.