Your Secret Startup Idea is Trash
A few weeks ago I was having dinner with an old college friend. At one point there was a pause and he said: “I’m sorry.”
I am confused. We had been having a great meal, and there was a slight pause and then he apologized. I guess my confused look gave me away.
“Remember back in college you told me you wanted to start a delivery company, doing food deliveries for all the local restaurants that don't have delivery? Now there's GrubHub and PostMates and all these things doing exactly what you said. I didn’t believe it would work and didn’t support you and I feel partly responsible that you're not rich now.”
It is funny how much people value ideas. Ideas are a dime a dozen. People are secretive and protective, worried that they will say one word too many and give away the secret sauce to their business. I have spreadsheets and brainstorms looking at what I would need to charge to be profitable. In the end, it was just an idea. I chose not to pursue it and I’ve moved on from it. Someone somewhere else had the same idea, took action and turned it into a massive company. Not just once, but twice, and then it was adopted by a massive company.
Talk is Cheap
Have you heard the phrase “talk is cheap.” Ideas are just talk, they mean nothing without any action behind them. Rather than ragging on other’s success and saying what could have been, why don't you put that effort into something that will benefit you?
There is something about talking about your idea and getting the word out, building a following and gaining recognition. In my first startup, our founder participated in patch competitions from ideation to our first beta product, building funding and recognition. Just talking will only do so much and it takes action and work to get past an idea.
Why People Don’t Act
There was a point where I would get angry and become jealous of some of the people on YouTube, living what I thought was the dream and making a lot of money while they were at it. But the difference between them and me is that while I was sitting around watching their videos they were out hustling and grinding to build their empire.
While I consumed, they produced.
I was comfortable in my current state and was frustrated with everyone else’s success. What do they have that we don’t have? Nothing. Something I have noticed is that many of the people whose success I envied reached their current place not out of desire but out of hunger. What does that mean? They came from humble beginnings and built their business out of necessity for a future, not because they just wanted one. They were incapable of being comfortable and had to work their way out of it.
How To Grow
Change and discomfort lead to growth. To be driven to action we have to make ourselves uncomfortable, this could be through being held accountable by your friends and colleagues, forcing yourself through a class and learning a new skill you know will be difficult or even working on your people skills by making small talk with someone you don’t know. Join a pitch competition and learn how to showcase your idea and create your following. If you lull yourself into a sense of security and settle into acceptance of your current position and what you could potentially do, you will grow angry at the people passing you and dwell on what you could have been rather than being there yourself.
You need to grow that hunger and that need for more. That need to become better and more effective should force you to do more. Survival is not falling into complacency but fighting to reach the top.
I don’t care if someone stole my idea. For one it cannot be so unique that no one in the world has thought of it. For two, if they stole it and were successful at it, then they were able to execute faster and better than I was able to or be more effective with the means they have available. Actions speak louder than words so it’s time to stop running our mouths and get to work.
