So somebody else built a successful business on that idea you had three years ago. What does that mean? That if you would just have pursued that idea, you would now automatically be enjoying their spoils? Sorry to burst your bubble, but I really don’t think so.
Ideas on their own are just not that important. It’s incredibly rare that someone comes up with an idea so unique, so protectable that the success story writes itself. Most ideas are nothing without execution.
I think this says something else.
If you have a good idea, pursue it. Don’t just write it down and think about doing it in the future. Go do something about it now. It might be hard but nothing worthwhile was ever easy.
When I was a wee lad, I thought all my ideas were so Great and I was very protective of them and was crushed when I saw other people eventually come up with the same thing.
The harsh truth is that ideas are like ejaculated sperm. The *only* sperm that counts is the one that actually *connects with an egg*.
Given enough time, most people will create the idea someone else has had. It’s getting that idea brought to *life* and *walking out in the world* that matters.
Cambrian House proves to me that the idea has fuck all to do with success. 7,000 odd ideas, some of them fantastic but ultimately worthless without someone to make them happen.
Mike: The sperm/egg analogy is well made – though I’ve not had sterling successes with finding eggs 🙂 My past work at being a software company has been a pretty sad story. Working to change that….but it’s a slow process.
Aidan: Whatever happened to them?
Much of their IP is being bought by some venture capitalist, from what I can tell. http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/12/when-crowdsourcing-fails-cambrian-house-headed-to-the-deadpool/
“The more Spencer Trask looked, the less it offered. Spencer Trask is basically buying the Cambrian House platform and its community for a fraction of the $7.75 million that investors have already put into the company. We cannot yet confirm an exact figure, but one source speculates that it could be less than $1 million.”
Ouch. That’s painful.