Don’t Worry About Sharing Ideas

Ever had an Eureka moment where a brilliant idea suddenly popped into your head? What about when you first discovered that little trick that would help you a lot? Your first reaction on these moments was probably something like: “Man, I’d better keep this secret now, else someone will steal it.”

While this might appear intuitive, locking ideas down is rarely the best thing to do. This mistake comes from the value that people tend to place on ideas. Sure, on the information age ideas are more important than ever. The value, though, is not coming from an idea per se, but rather from the execution and implementation of such idea.

By sharing ideas you will be able to collect other people’s feedback, possibly honing your own assumptions. You will also be helping other people (directly or indirectly), and they will be more likely to return the favor.

There are exceptions for this rule (I don’t want a reader blaming me later when he shares freely a break-through invention instead of patenting it…), but most of the times sharing an idea will only benefit you.

As Howard Aiken used to say: “don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats.”

Daniel Scocco on November 7, 2007 Subscribe to our RSS Feed

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23 Responses to “Don’t Worry About Sharing Ideas”

Young on November 7th, 2007 4:20 am

Yes, that is a good points. I think you won’t be successful on your blog if you do not share your idea here. Right?Haha.
John Wesley on November 7th, 2007 5:39 am

Have you been reading Seth Godin? This reminds me of this post.
Daniel on November 7th, 2007 5:42 am

I am a fan of Seth, although I had not seen his post.

I first wrote about “sharing ideas” in 2006, you can see it here:
http://innovationzen.com/blog/.....t-sharing/
deanj on November 7th, 2007 6:49 am

This all depends on the situation. I was in a meeting with people from Silicon Valley at a well known computer company (not Apple) in which we were describing what we wanted to do with a license we were attempting to get.

One of the developers insisted that what we were proposing wouldn’t work. That person turned around about 9 months later and started a new company based around that exact idea, and was pretty damn successful.

Sharing ideas is SOMETIMES good. You just have to know who you’re dealing with.
Joe on November 7th, 2007 6:58 am

I think sharing ideas is a great thing. It’s how many of the big blogs on blogging have made it. They offer an idea to help people blog better or better promote their blog.

This is a great idea and I try to offer some good ideas over at my blogs. The trick now is to get people to visit so they can check them out! Until then, I will continue to be back here for more ideas!
Daniel on November 7th, 2007 7:15 am

deanj, if in 9 months you had not done anything with the idea, then it probably meant that the developer believed in it more than you in the first place right?
Maki on November 7th, 2007 7:18 am

Sharing ideas is a good way to get feedback but please remember to only share with people you trust and know well enough.

While the execution is of primary importance, owning an idea or concept and being the first to make it public first gives you some front-runner advantages that can give a real strategic boost.

Your attention networks are key… most ideas will somewhat take off when people are watching/listening to you.
Daniel on November 7th, 2007 7:28 am

Maki, in my opinion the first mover advantage is a myth. Sure it was a factor to consider under the industrial age, and under special industries where natural monopolies (like water distribution) existed.

On the information age and on our connected society, however, the advantages that you gain by being the first are erupting.

Google was not the first search engine. Youtube was not the first online video site. Facebook was not the first social network. I could go on and on.

I wrote extensively about it here: http://innovationzen.com/blog/.....revisited/
Sridhar Katakam on November 7th, 2007 7:31 am

“The value, though, is not coming from an idea per se, but rather from the execution and implementation of such idea.”

Here here!
Ivy on November 7th, 2007 9:04 am

“On the information age and on our connected society, however, the advantages that you gain by being the first are erupting.”

This is so true. Look at iPhone - it is unique, and one of its kind. But its not the first “PDA” phone to be built. Apple just made it prettier, cooler, and marketed it well.

I don’t think this is true of commenting though
Daniel on November 7th, 2007 9:06 am

Ivy, same could be said for the iPod. Apple revolutionized the industry, several years after the first MP3 players were in the market.
Rock on November 7th, 2007 9:29 am

As long as you share your ideas with the right people, then I totally agree.

As with anything, sharing something with the wrong people can come back to bite you, or worse, they steal your idea.
Jonk : Bargains on November 7th, 2007 2:25 pm

Probably the best reason I can think of for telling other people your ideas is they can help connect you with people that they know who would be able or interested in helping you out.

One idea I had a couple of years ago, just by talking about it to people I ended up making some extraordinary connections with some really talented people. (I didn’t run with it as I found out another guy with lots of VC had gone two months before me in securing the information sources.)
DrSteve on November 7th, 2007 3:53 pm

Excellent point. Just to advocate for the other side - not sharing your ideas. In principle I concur that what comes back to you when you discuss your idea is usually more than what you gave out. However, a word of caution - a few people one should hesitate to share with:
-those in direct competition (would Gates share with Jobs? Ali with Foreman? No).
-envious types (those who can’t stand to see you up and are determined to drag you down)
-psychopathic types (they’re not all Manson-esque; I’ve written a post on the topic if you’re interested).
Maki on November 7th, 2007 7:33 pm

Myth? Maybe. Good article there

I am quite aware that you don’t have to be the first to be successful or the dominant player in the market.

But I wasn’t talking products but about ‘owning an idea or concept’. non-physical merchandise which cannot be improved or transformed without reference to the conceptual source.

It’s easy to build on merchandise by changing features/functions or design… but it’s not easy to shake off the shadow of an idea.

I’m currently studying 20th century philosophy and although thousands of years have passed, we are still made to study the works of people like Plato.

But I do get what you’re trying to say.
Nathaniel on November 8th, 2007 11:58 am

Sharing ideas can be scary. Right now I’m just sitting on what I perceive as either the holy grail or the apocalypse of free traffic generation… and I have neither the ability nor the resources to pull it off. On top of that, even if I did have the ability and the resources, there’s nothing stooping someone else from doing the same thing and grinding me into the dust.

I think it all comes down to trust. I don’t know the people out there well enough to trust them with my idea. But I suppose Maki is right, you don’t have to be the first to be successful. I just want to be a part of it. I want to mold my idea into a reality. I don’t want to be just an idea man.

I can’t help it, I’m an EXTREMELY paranoid person by nature.
Jermayn Parker on November 8th, 2007 3:43 pm

If its a business idea, keep it and only share with a selected few but if its another idea like for blogs etc, share it!
Dave Starr --- ROI Guy on November 9th, 2007 4:27 pm

One of the more intelligent articles and comments I’ve come across in a while. I particularly liked the exchange with dean … let me add also that an idea not acted upon in _9_ months is no idea at all.

The Aiken quote id very realisitc for anyone who has worked in a beaureacratic setting industry or acedene … rather than getting anyone else to “stal” your idea, the hardest job is to get anyone else to even adopt the idea of trying it … the process usually resembles the task of pushing a car uphill with a rope.

First Mover advantage? No way. Ever flown in a plane named Curtiss or Wright? Think Microsoft originated anything (for years they licensed DR-DOS code, virtually every app they currently sell was purchased and re-branded). Driven a Studebaker lately? Think Apple is an innovator? then don’t look up Xerox’s history, because most of Apple’s “innovations” are Xerox PARCS concepts that Xerox bought and paid for but was then too clueless to market. The list goes on.

Good ideas are as common as leaves on a tree … and, unshared and un-implemented worth just as much.
Young on November 17th, 2007 9:53 am

Thank you for your great idea!

This post was translated to Chinese, so your idea will be shared with more people.Here is the address:

http://www.essentialblog.cn/share-idea/

Of course, I did the translation.^_^
The Baldchemist on November 19th, 2007 8:38 pm

The world is full of people with ideas. Implimentation of them is another thing.