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I would say a good idea is 5% of the equation

Idea threads

juan917

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For a successful business. And the 95% is all in execution. I've been working on this "idea" of mine that I've had for so long that I'm realizing how ridiculous it is to think that ideas have any value or merit. It's something that's been told to me many times but now I'm living it.

Anyway, just wanted to share
- Good luck on your ventures!

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 
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Maxjohan

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Like with everything. It depends. Ideas can be powerful if they are truly innovative.

An example would be in the early 2000s Internet porn. Every porn pay site back then, hade the same boring pay site tours.

In came the Bang Bros. They had a story to every site they made. Most of the time it had to do with them picking up girls outside and filming the process. (fake, though)

This was completely new. They literally cleaned up. They made tons of money by being innovative.
 

ilrein

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@JScott care to clarify? Do you mean that execution of a mediocre idea is sufficient enough, as long as you persist -- just don't persist on something that has no chance of success/profitability?
 

eliquid

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I disagree.

A good idea to me is 95% and execution is 5%.

I could make a good debate for this. In the end, you do need both though.

However, with so many people touting VA's and outsourced help.... execution really isn't anything unless you have the good idea ( angle, UVP, etc )

A $5 an hour VA can execute for you. Executing on the wrong/bad idea will get you nowhere.
 
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juan917

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I disagree.

A good idea to me is 95% and execution is 5%.

I could make a good debate for this. End the end, you do need both though.

However, with so many people touting VA's and outsourced help.... execution really isn't anything unless you have the good idea ( angle, UVP, etc )

A $5 an hour VA can execute for you. Executing on the wrong/bad idea will get you nowhere.

Notsure what a VA is but make your debate please but i think that statement is pure ignorance and is laughable.
 

eliquid

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Notsure what a VA is but make your debate please but i think that statement is pure ignorance and is laughable.


Ignorance and laughable?

You're on an entrepreneurial forum where business and outsourced help ( as mentioned in my reply ) are commonly brought up. VA's are a related term for both outsourced topics and, in general, entrepreneurial topics.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt though you have never heard it called a VA, but maybe heard its long form def. of Virtual Assistant. Not to be condescending, but you should know these terms. That could be labeled as ignorance and laughable, so watch what you type to people. People in glass houses shouldn't lob stones...

Maybe your slow lane thinking that lead you to a 40 hour a week job has cattled you into thinking that executing 300% on a tired and worn out idea will get you somewhere. That's basically what employers want you to do, execute and execute more so they can keep you busy and making them money.

I should know, I've been there before in my past with some of the best in upper management.

A good product ( "idea" ) is worth much more and can many times sell itself. Look at patents and selling licensing. Many of those are just "ideas".

Can you show me an example of just selling off pure "executing" though that really blows the lids off anything? I mean really grinding on just 1 thing over and over and that lead to their success? If you can, I can prob show you what really made their success instead.

Can you create a "Blue Ocean Strategy" with a good idea/angle, YES. Can you do the same with executing, NO.

You're the one that mentioned you have this idea you're working on for so long. Have you ever thought maybe your idea is bad? Did that ever cross your mind? How will executing on that bad idea at 110% for years get you anywhere when no one wants it or doesnt find it better than your competitor?

Having a UVP will though when you execute on that. The UVP is the "good idea" part. Creating value is the "good idea" part. See Tim Ferris here with Stephen Key -> http://fourhourworkweek.com/2007/11...00-companies-part-ii-plus-hacking-japan-tips/ for selling ideas and what you can do with ideas.

Simply executing on a bad idea will get you nowhere. It might get you mediocre if you find a sucker though.

I can come up with a great idea that has a UVP and gives value, and then hire VA's and outsourced workers to create my site and ads, get a manufacturer in China with the help of agents in China to develop the product, and then sell it off still in the idea stage to a larger company.

Sometimes drinking the kool-aid that mainstream media feeds you isn't good. Your own experience can be flawed too.

I can make $1MM Net Profit in six months with just ads and another person's products based on "great ideas" I use for angles in my ads and then have a VA make those ads and post them. If I didn't have a good idea/angle and tried to buy ads on FB, I'd get slaughtered even though I'm "executing" away and grinding it.

I can create a SaaS that disrupts a very crowded vertical so bad my competitors are running to copy its features and bid against my brand name and its all based on a couple of really great ideas with execution happening in the background with a partner and myself afterward. I have people offering me lots of money to just buy me out in this "great idea" I came up with. I could have easily just executed the coding on this with some hired help.

Executing didn't do much for me, but great ideas did. I can always outsource the execution, you cant outsource great ideas.

Should I keep going?
 
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snowbank

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I'm realizing how ridiculous it is to think that ideas have any value

you're very wrong.

go start a bad idea with great execution, and i'll start a good idea with 'meh' execution. you will lose badly.
 
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eliquid

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I wrote briefly about this almost 1 year ago here -> http://leanvertising.com/ideas-are-a-dime-a-dozen-is-a-lie-told-by-losers/948

Got a couple comments with examples of "Pro Execution", but overall my message is the same on my blog. Even the comment on my blog about "pro" execution and the Wright brothers comes down to a good idea actually, even though the comment poster didn't see it.

I took this from the NPS.gov about the Wright brothers:

The brothers knew that the solutions to lift and propulsion needed only refining, but no one had achieved lateral control. Rejecting the principle of inherent stability - the conventional wisdom - they wanted control to depend on the pilot. Wilbur hit upon the idea of warping the wings - sparked by his observation of birds and the idle twisting of a box - to rotate the wings and stabilize flight. They tested wing-warping - the forerunner of ailerons - on a 5-foot biplane kite.

The great idea? -> they wanted control to depend on the pilot

Another great idea? - > Wilbur hit upon the idea of warping the wings - sparked by his observation of birds and the idle twisting of a box - to rotate the wings and stabilize flight. They tested wing-warping - the forerunner of ailerons - on a 5-foot biplane kite.

The execution could have been done by someone else in their bicycle shop. A lot of the execution was done by others before them that failed.

The idea is what got them off the ground. No pun intended.

If they would have executed on the same old ideas of those before them, they would have crashed and burned most likely since that is what everyone else was doing at the time.
 

eliquid

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you're very wrong.

go start a bad idea with great execution, and i'll start a good idea with 'meh' execution. you will lose badly.

love your blog billy
 

snowbank

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Andy Black

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For those who come up with endless ideas but never execute, the advice is to just execute on something - anything. Get out of the echo chamber of your own head, and get stuff done.

For those *already* executing, the idea/model/lane becomes the most important.

Different levels of advice for different people?

I guess it boils down to whether you're getting stuff done or not?
 

GIlman

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I would agree that ideas matter tremendously. this discussion reminds me of the first video in the series how to start a startup. you can find it on you tube and it is excellent.

To paraphrase what he says. Great Ideas become Great Products become Great Companies.

Skip to about 15:15


This lecture series was put on by the people from Y combinator. so they know a few thing about startups.
 

MakeItHappen

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go start a bad idea with great execution, and i'll start a good idea with 'meh' execution. you will lose badly.
100% agree about the importance of a great idea.


However if you have a great idea and poor exexution it is only a matter of time till an entrepreneur with great execution will copy and out-execute you.
Google > Yahoo and all the other older search engines
Facebook > Myspace

So you better make sure you have a damn good idea and damn good execution because you need both to succeed.

It's a waste of time to think and dicuss about what of the two is better. You need both a good idea and the capability to bring your idea to the marketplace.

btw @snowbank

Your first big business success the poker training site was a great idea (I was one of your first customers ;) ) but there where a lot of other poker training sites years before yours.
Imo you just executed better (better poker pros for your training videos).
 
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TTG SS

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I'm pretty sure in
the book @MJ DeMarco references a table that basically states the potential outcome of a legendary idea with legendary execution I.e Google, and then an average idea with legendary execution can still make you rich. I forget which chapter maybe someone can chime in on that.

I would say they both go hand in hand. If you have a bad idea of a product nobody wants you can execute everything perfectly and still fail. Meanwhile if you have an outstanding idea or product that people desperately want you can still make big money while executing poorly. (Think all those accidental entrepreneurs)
 

DaRK9

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I think the biggest issue is some people think an idea alone is worth money. Execution is nowhere in their sights.

You see this alot with investor funded start-ups. "I have an idea, therefore I will draw a salary before we have a product because it was my idea."

I had this exact "idea" about 4 years ago. It's still in my notes.
https://www.mtailor.com/

So my idea was in fact totally worthless to me. Idea/Execution are inherently tied together for anything successful.

Idea is 100%, Execution is 100%.

Also, the "idea" is more of a path. You don't have to be original.
 

Formless

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Context is key here.

When someone says "Ideas are shit - execution is king" - you've gotta ask yourself what the story behind it is.

Chances are, the real story and lesson is:

"You've been bumbling around, stuck in analysis paralysis, never done shit, never sold anything. You don't need to learn anymore. You need to get over the fear of doing stuff. You need to test your ideas and take action. You may have lots of ideas, but what's your bank account looking like? Ideas are shit - execution is king."

-- The audience for such a message is people who have a problem taking action.

But if taking action is no longer a problem for you, Then "ideas" (the problem you're solving, business model, organisational map, lead/traffic sources, conversion methods, hard and soft systems etc.) start to really matter. That's where the person slogging away at a shitty business model will not fix it through "executing harder." Technique matters.

So really, once you dig into the story behind both statements, you'll see that they are not contradictions. They are just different medicines for different ailments.
 

AllenCrawley

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Maxjohan

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Great ideas are everywhere -- there are a million great ideas out there that are already generating trillions of dollars. Let me give you some examples:

- Fast food restaurants
- Pens (or any other common office supplies)
- Video game machines
- Automobiles
- Clothing lines
- Common food products
- Dry cleaning stores
- Dog food
- Box manufacturing
- Power tools
- Grocery store
- Music producer
Those are not ideas to me. Those are markets. Or industries. Read my post I posted in this thread. You can maybe learn something new. Guess you are more of a straight line thinker? It's okay. We are all different.
 
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Maxjohan

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You seem to imply that linear thinking is a negative. I know many successful business people (and some ultra-successful business people), and most of them are linear thinkers.
Dude. I wasn't sarcastic. Do you really think I don't believe sensors can get rich?? Bill Gates is a sensor. Don't believe anything else you hear about him being Intuitive. I'm 95% sure he is a sensor. Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. Both sensors too. I doubt any one of them came up with their ideas. Basically Apple bought patents to touch screen technology, what is now smartphones.

Why I said you could learn something new. Is because you were really off on how we who aren't thinking in straight lines. See ideas. We see them everywhere. Literally. While sensor may see our ideas as execution.

So maybe we should define what ideas are and what execution are. Before we get into any more debating.
 

Maxjohan

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Interesting... Can you tell me more about Bill Gates and why I shouldn't believe anything I hear about him being "intuitive" versus "sensing"?
I try to get clues mostly from peoples voices. If a voice is more as you said. Linear. Not changing much in tone. Then I take them as a sensor. Otherwise. Intuitive.

Besides that, In the US 73.3 % of Sensors vs 26.7 % of INtuitives.

Here is a example of sensor. Gilbert Gottfried. Fifty shades of gray:

John Lennon, Intutive:
 

Maxjohan

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I've worked with Bill Gates. I spent much of my career at Microsoft managing Media Center and ITV product lines. I've presented to him, been grilled by him, brainstormed with him, etc. On the Meyer-Briggs scale, I would rate him more "N" than any other business leader I've ever met, hands down.

You may want to re-calibrate your voice scale...

Btw, I've never met Elon Musk, but my wife spent much of her career at eBay/PayPal, and it was pretty universally agreed by those who worked with him that Musk was instrumental in conceiving of the PayPal product and strategy... So, you may be off on that one too.
Alright, you know your Bill Gates. I don't. It's okay. I may be wrong about him. But remember in the US 73.3 % are Sensors vs 26.7 % are Intuitives.
 
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Maxjohan

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Also remember that 83.4% of all statistics are made up. And 92.8% of statistics are applied in the wrong context.
Yeah. I've heard that one before. But I believe those statistics of the statistics are made up too. :smuggy: :hungover:

Seriously, I think we can end this debate now. Unless we define what is execution and what is ideas. Which will be completely different between us.
 

Maxjohan

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Yeah. It's a little like arguing which one of two words are the most useful when they both mean the same thing. We just have different definitions.
 
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eliquid

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- Fast food restaurants
- Pens (or any other common office supplies)
- Video game machines
- Automobiles
- Clothing lines
- Common food products
- Dry cleaning stores
- Dog food
- Box manufacturing
- Power tools
- Grocery store
- Music producer


None of these are great or good ideas.

They're not even ideas to begin with
 
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eliquid

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Google > Yahoo and all the other older search engines
Facebook > Myspace


There was no out executing done in those examples that made those companies what they are.

For one, several search engine companies were around. Google had a totally radical idea though of providing better results. It was called BackRub I believe. This is what set them apart from Yahoo and others, they were out executing in the garage on those throw away servers, it was the idea that got them a better service. Then they also perfected an advertising platform on top of it, something GoTo already had. It wasn't out executing, but a better idea which resulted in better results and more value to users.

For Facebook and Myspace, same thing. Facebook was a unique experience based on a unique idea on top of a social network. It was so good that someone stole it ( Zuckerburg ).

Saying, "oh there were other search engines, social media sites, automobiles,software companies, music producers, etc and then XYZ came in and out executed them" is not even the same comparison.

That's like me saying Uber out executed taxis and limos just because they showed up and did well. No, they had a better idea. Poor execution on that good idea is even profitable to an extent ( Lyft ).
 

Walter Hay

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I don't intend joining the debate, but my experience might contribute something to the subject.

My first, highly successful business was a result of FIRST: Necessity, and SECOND: A great idea. ("Necessity is the mother of invention.") THIRD: Execution. I worked extremely hard and employed my proven sales skills (totally unappreciated by my former employer), and got the business off the ground within a week with capital that amounted to just over half my former weekly wage. By the end of that week I had received more than enough money to feed my family.

While running that business for 20 years, I maintained a Good Ideas file. Whenever I thought of a good idea I wrote out the basic concept and filed it. When I sold the business I reviewed my file and selected the one that a) appeared to have the best chance of success, b) was in an industry that interested me, and c) fitted my experience.

I repeated the process. This time not because of necessity, but because I enjoyed what I was doing. In my execution I again worked very hard, and success followed.

Record your ideas, even if like some of mine they come to you at 2 am. Don't roll over and go back to sleep.

Walter
 

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