What if you had a really big idea but no time to execute?
I’ve got an idea chewing on my cycles, one that I mentioned in here before. It’s much more creative than my day to day, but I see now that it’s a fully standalone, fundable, startup idea.
The thing is, I’m already working on a conference that I want to make the premiere conference about video. I’ve got an unconference I’m passionate about, and intend to see grow. I’ve got a startup that we’re working full time on executing.
So, if you had a big idea that would take vision and dedication and time, would it wait?
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Disclaimer: I’m not tortured or anything. I’ve got lots on my plate, and I’m enjoying the work. I just want this real big idea to revisit me later. Come back in 18 months, okay?
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Can you boot strap your ideas with others? I feel like I have big, medium and small ideas every day that I write down, knowing they will have a time and place, and hope they won;t go find better homes before I get around to them. These days it’s extra hard, because it seems like if you don’t act or start to act, your idea will go find someone else who’ll make it come true. So maybe the answer is to find people to work with on the idea, find it a good home just like a small puppy, with liberal visitation and care rights. Open Idea Adoption.
Very much in the spirit of Whitney’s comment:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000119
A discussion of protecting ideas vs. letting them run free.
-Jon
Jon- I love the reference. I think ideas are like embers and when you share them, you blow on them and can create a roaring fire; if you don’t tend to them properly, they can die out. Sometimes it’s hard to decide between self interest, sharing, and how to get people to work together in a world where there are not any hard and fast rules, and things move faster than we can ever possibly keep up. That said- I know I need “a little help from my friends” more than ever, and it’s great to have so many on the net. I just have to get over my occasional “gut” reaction to keep things close to the vest, and be able to say “Hey everyone, have at this!” instead.
I agree, and I think that’s one of the pitfalls of the whole New Media or Web 2.0 phenomenon, which I’m leary of, to be totally honest. From my perspective, there’s always the risk that the whole thing will become another feeding ground for venture capitalists and entrepreneurs at the expense of the free exchange of ideas. Not that cash flow isn’t an integral part of sustaining something like this–a marketplace, essentially–but if the revolutionary aspects truly are an offshoot of that “open source” spirit then, in my opinion, nothing will quell that faster than getting proprietary about your contributions. Staked claims put fences around frontiers, you know?
Anyway, I’m not saying there’s any reason to think that everyone should just give away the store, either. People gotta eat, right? I’m just cautious about maintaining a balance between community and commerce. Money’s a mixed blessing. On a subject near and dear to my heart, for instance, a number of really great musical “revolutions” or just great bands/artists have been ruined by commerce.
Not that anyone asked me.
Why do you always ask the tough questions? As you know Chris, I’ve got ideas (not BIG ones, but good solid ones) and I’m struggling with that very question. If your big idea includes killer video content count me in!
I like to think sometimes that money is just about keeping score (see my post at GNM Parents on Family ROI). Bill Gates has been ranting about ‘If we give it away, there will be no way to pay for the new innovations that we need- no one will do them without a personal roi.’ But what he faces is an infinite number of tinkerers who are pretty content with innovation for the sake of leveraging a job- plus, we are just at the very beginning of people working without a cube for real money- virtual employees all over the country.
But it is happening. It may not come with the same health insurance and traditional packages, but once work is based on value and is untethered from place, you can actually work with the brightest and most creative people around. It just requires a level of trust we aren’t used to having without the face to face. And sometimes, you need that voice and handshake to form the bond you need to work closely with someone- the old banker’s principal.
The good thing is the net is such a small place, your reputation is even more important than ever before, and if you do get screwed by someone, it would take very little time at all to air all your grievances in public, if you were so inclined. So perhaps the web being a “small” place in some ways is actually a good thing, and will lead to more trust rather than less.
I’m reading Seth Godin’s “Small is the New Big” (well, I had to choose somethingdifferent since CC is reading Purple Cow…) and he states at one point in the entry “Later is not an option”- “The New Marketing requires less planning and more interaction, more now and less later. So Pick up the phone, write the copy or design the page in Photoshop. But waiting for later is pointless.”
This book has a lot of great little points (well, it is based on his blog, so…) but I am enjoying digesting them a few at a time, leading me where I need to go, and how to further get a mental handle on this space.