Investing in ideas, not just startup companies.

http://www.michaelrihani.com/2011/07/investing-in-ideas-not-just-startup-companies/

by MichaelRihani • 15 years ago

28 11 15 years ago

So what do you guys think? Can there be some kind of “idea bank” that seeds a brilliant idea to talented executors that then take that idea and turn it into a brilliant company?

For now, let’s codename it iCombinator or ideaCombinator.

Hyena• 15 years ago

It's called "knowing interesting people who think about the things they're engaged with but aren't programmers".

ThomPete• 15 years ago

I did a little side project to learn programming. http://www.blueskycouncil.com it's more or less what you are talking about. I just never launched it. Feel free to take that over. PM me

jjmaxwell4• 15 years ago

Ideas are cheap. Execution is the hard part.

Startups take devotion; and you don't get devotion with a bunch of random people collaborating on the web. Quirky could create some tiny gadgets that fill tiny needs, but this will never create a disruptive technology.

MichaelRihani4• 15 years ago

I understand, and I agree. That's why execution > idea. But that doesn't mean there isn't any good value in ideas. Good, great, and brilliant ideas are definitely worth a lot to great executors.

Great execution definitely requires devotion, execution, along with probably 100+ other traits.

If I'm a fantastic executor in the beverage industry, why am I not being connected to ideas like the Coke flavored ice cubes? That's just one example, but I'm sure there are hundreds of other great beverage industry ideas.

If my business forte is the sports industry, why are we not serving up those brilliant sports guys with awesome ideas?

Think of it like Aardvark meets ideas instead of questions. Think of it like Match.com meets ideas instead of singles.

BerislavLopac• 15 years ago

Both ideas and execution are worthless unless you have a product-market fit.

ataggart• 15 years ago

>Ideas are cheap.

As a reasonably competent programmer with no good ideas for a startup, I look forward to your forthcoming list.

jaredsohn• 15 years ago

There have been several ideas lists posted on Hacker News already. Here are a few:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=tOGIddn3rPdqKbHWsqaW...

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2756270 (post is titled Startup Ideas July 2011)

Investing in ideas, not just startup companies.

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