163. The Truth About Stealing Ideas

Every great idea starts with a crime.

Which reminds me of my awesome new business idea:

Emuzon.com

It’s an ecommerce superstore but - and here’s the billion0dollar “but” - every order is delivered by emu.

Brilliant, right? I know.

Sure Jeff Bezos is a smart guy, but he has been distracted by a fake future filled with driverless cars and carrier drones. Oh you silly, silly man.

Bezos thinks we are jumping towards a Jetsons-like reality, but he’s wrong. I know better. The great companies of the future will leverage our world’s natural resources to make an impact.

And what’s more natural than an emu?
(rhetorical question)

Emus have been on this earth for 80 million years. Eight-tee-million. That’s 3 million times longer than the Amazon store has been around. Trust me, the emu system has been perfected.

This is gonna be huge.

The Truth About Stealing Ideas

There used to be a time when I wouldn’t reveal my ideas to anybody until I was ready to build them. I was scared people would steal them. Inevitably, some of my best thoughts never saw the light of day. Even worse, sometimes another person went to market with the same concept years later and my thoughts were relegated to the “if only” shelf of the unplanned ideas aisle.

There are very very few unique ideas. In the words of the great poet, Nas:

No idea is original,
There’s nothing new under the sun.
It’s never what you do,
But how it’s done.

I no longer hold tightly to my ideas, which is why I have no fear of letting you in on the emu-commerce concept.

There are 6 reasons why I am telling you all of this. Six reasons why your ideas shouldn’t languish on the shelves of your mind. Every successful leader needs to understand this, so listen up y’all.

1. Laziness

Everybody has ideas. It’s not hard to come up with an idea. In fact, here’s a fun newsletter that sends out 5 new product ideas every week. Here’s another one started by a Venture Capitalist that comes up with 3 “viable” new business concepts every Sunday with details on how they could work.

The vast majority of people won’t take an idea and bring it to fruition. Why? Cause it’s really hard to do that. It takes time and effort to bring an idea to life. And what if it doesn’t work?

It’s so much easier for people to just copy you after you make it happen yourself.

Leadership tip: Successful leaders don’t just have ideas. They create a vision, a plan and the focus to bring the best ideas to fruition.

2. The Next Idea

Imitation is the highest form of flattery. If somebody steals my idea, go for it. By stealing my ideas, it just proves I’m a step ahead. Let’s see them come up with the next idea in the plan.

Leadership tip: Successful leaders don’t let small changes by the competition knock them off the rails to their vision. Stay focused on the plan you believe in, and make it amazing.

3. There Is No Competition

I believe that nobody is really a competitor, just an opportunity to grow together. Sometimes those growth opportunities can be in the form of partnerships, other times it’s about motivating each other to succeed. Competition breeds innovation.

Leadership tip: Successful leaders know that a rising tide raises all ships. Look for opportunities to lift each other.

4. It Takes A Village

Almost every big idea can’t be brought to life by just one person. It takes a village to change the world. If somebody somewhere likes your idea, they still need to get the rest of their team on board. By the time they figure it out, you’ll be far down the road.

Leadership tip: When successful leaders have an idea that may work, they enlist their key people and make sure they are excited about the idea too. Without your team in place, no plan will be accomplished.

5. Good Ideas Started Bad

You may not realize it, but your idea may completely suck. Getting different viewpoints is critical for the success of any new concept. It’s these viewpoints that help mold bad ideas into great ones.

Leadership tip: Successful leaders socialize their ideas with their team and ask for their honest feedback. Most importantly, they remain open to receiving, listening to, and seriously considering the feedback. Even if you don’t agree, they may be right.

6. Like Napoleon said.

“Never interrupt your enemy while they are making a mistake”

Which brings us back to emuzon.com, the world’s largest emu-commerce marketplace. Does anybody know where I can get a few thousand emus in exchange for equity? I’m telling you, it’s gonna be huge.

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Quote

“Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. Worry about the day they stop."

- Jeffrey Zeldman