What Is My Idea Worth? Not As Much As You Think…
August 26, 2008
While the exploration of ideas is a consistent theme in this blog, I felt it was important to drive home a point that is often overlooked when drumming up new ideas or starting new businesses. And that is that execution and monetization of an idea is where the real value lies. There are an immeasurable number of ideas out there, and good ones at that, which will never see the light of day. The ability to execute is why so many good ideas never make it and so many bad ones do. Ideas are great and I encourage you to never stop creating them, but face it folks, execution is where it’s at. Anyone can be an idea person, but if you can’t bring it to life, it’s really of little value other than the pleasure you get from thinking it up.
Where this really becomes a sore spot is when someone wants to build a business out of their idea. All too often, “idea people” want too much ownership or revenue from their idea while failing to possess the skills necessary to bring it to life. Sometimes that bridge can be gapped but in most cases if you really want your idea to take off, you have to be prepared to give up a lot of the money to see that happen. It’s important to also remember that giving up money doesn’t necessarily mean giving up control but be prepared to give up some of that too. At the end of the day, if you are nothing more than the idea person and wind up with 3% - 10% of the bounty, you’re doing pretty well. If you are able to also help bring the idea to life, you’ll likely wind up with more but keep your expectations in check.
Always remember, it’s better to own 5% of something than 100% of nothing. Here are a few thoughts that might help keep you grounded as you set out to bring your ideas to life:
1. Focus on ideas that are in an area you know, you’ll have better luck knowing what the need really is and of having the ability to contribute to executing on the idea. So, if your idea is for the next generation of social networking websites but you can’t even spell HTML, be prepared to give up some ownership.
2. Be diligent in working with people who have the skills you don’t and compensate them well.
3. Don’t be a tyrant. It might be your baby but other people may be very good at expanding an idea even if they didn’t think it up to begin with.
4. Work with people you can trust. I can’t emphasize this enough.
5. Be prepared to work 12 hours a day 7 days a week if you really want to make it. If it’s a labor of love, you probably won’t mind anyway.
The reality is that most of the hard work and true art is in the execution, not in the idea; so, if the idea is what you bring to the table, great. It might start a business or product, but be satisfied with not owning the whole thing. Trust me, if you have thought of it, odds are someone else has too so learn to execute if you want to win the game.
As an added thought, if you just want to be an idea person and don’t want the rest of the hassle and are willing to accept a less ownership, consider licensing your ideas to people or companies that will run with them. You might only get a modest percentage but it takes the work off of you beyond a prototype.
iPhone vs. BlackBerry Curve
August 25, 2008
I’ve been coveting the iPhone 3G for it’s sleek interface, slim frame, fully functional browser and especially for visual voice mail. But I was also unwilling to stand in line for several hours to get one. I get why the thing is so cool but after realizing that the ability to get any mail easily pushed would not work (with out Apple’s “Mobile Me“) and the blissful business functionality that comes with the BlackBerry I’ve decided to stick with my Curve 8310 for now. I’ll probably switch eventually but I’ll give them time to work out more of the kinks.
To be sure, the iPhone interface kills anything else out there but the essential functionality for me is great email, messaging and a great phone, all of which the 8310 does with ease. I never thought that day would come when my need for reliable and practical (at least in a phone/PDA) would outstrip my need to feel cool!
The other downer about the I phone is expandability. I can drop a micro SD card into the 8310 to expand the memory but no such luck on the iPhone. And given the nominal cost of memory these days it bothers me that Apple charges such a premium for 16GB vs 8GB. I probably wouldn’t carry quite that much media on the device at onetime anyway but it really is the principal of the matter. I’ve already paid for Apple “coolness” when I chunk down $200 for the device, why should doubling the memory add $200? Of course they got it by selling millions of the things in the first weekend so I guess I’d take everyone’s money too but it seems to me to be a short sighted purchase by many consumers and a bit pompous on Apple’s part.
I may eventually get one because they are so damn cool but then again I might just want to see what those Google guys pull off with Android. I love disruptive technology and Google might just make the iPhone popularity a short-lived event in it’s current form. Plus I like Google’s “Don’t be evil” philosophy, and I’ll bet I can add extra memory.
All of that said, this might have changed my mind. It’s WordPress for iPhone and as a big WordPress user this is a major turn on.
lijit - Search Based On Your Content
August 22, 2008
lijit is a new search application designed for publishers, which, with the advent of applications like Twitter, blogs, Facebook, etc… we all are to some degree.
lijit enables you to add a search widget (er.. wijit) to your site or blog and return results based on your network of content. For example, if someone searched this site through the lijit search (very top right) for “Community Crush” (shameless plug I know, you might experiment with “Wordcamp” too and get a lot back) you would get results from all of my content sources (Facebook, twitter, this blog, Linkedin, stories I’ve dug, …). In another tab, you can see search results from my “network” or sites that I follow and/or trust. Of course you can get plain ol’ web results too or you can get results that are specific only to this site.
The idea is that it aggregates all of my content and trusted sources so you can find it in one place while still differentiating between my content (in the case of me) or content from my network.
It’s a clever idea and one which should do well. I’m going to continue testing it for a while but if all goes well I’ll remove the default search for this site and use only the lijit wijit.
I learned about lijit at WordCamp 2008 while talking to Aaron Brazel who is now working with lijit.
lijit has also secured $7.1M in Series C funding so they should be araound and doing well for sometime. I’m looking forward to seeing how this grows and evolves.
If you’re a WordPress user they also have a lijit search plugin with integrated statistics to replace the default WordPress search. I’ll be pluggin that in shortly. Note: ***This plug-in is only available for those WordPress users with versions 2.3-2.6.***
Do some lijit searches and let me know how it works for you.
Community Crush
August 19, 2008
Community Crush is an online platform which gives small and medium sized communities a place to share information and discuss what is happening in around town. Operated by BlackBox Technologies, Community Crush is exclusively focused on keeping the conversation hyperlocal or exclusive to the community being served and ensuring that each community has the flexibility needed to serve the interest of the people that live there.
Current features include: Discussion Forums, Guides, Calendars, Wiki’s, Blogs and Social Networking with more features slated for each release.
To experience Community Crush or request your community to be added please visit: http://www.communitycrush.com
Community Crush
August 19, 2008
Community Crush is a site which provides a platform for small to medium sized communities to discuss what is happening within their communities, share information and keep up to date with what is happening around town. Content is driven by users so each community can determine how their community site shapes up and what they talk about.
Community Crush is currently in Beta with six active communities and more coming online shortly. Individuals interested in opening their community can request their community on the home page.
Community Crush is owned and Operated by BlackBox Technologies.
Visit Community Crush at http://www.communitycrush.com
Updates From WordCamp 2008
August 17, 2008
I’m in San Francisco with one of my business partners Martin for WordCamp 2008 (see my BlackBox WordCamp post for an overview). For anyone who is a WordPress user or developer here are some highlights and links from the event. All of the links open in a new window.
SEO Tip: Use Multiple RSS Feeds (for each category)
Plugins:
SEO Title Tag
WP-Sticky or Adhesive
Progressive License
Operator : Firefox Add On
Link Love from WC 2008:
redmonk.com - open source analyst firm
http://redmonk.com/sogrady/ - stephen o’grady
revolutiontheme.com : Premium WordPress themes from Brian Gardner
http://markjaquith.com/ : code animal
http://getsatisfaction.com/ : syndicate your profile
technosailor.com : Aaron Brazell
ma.tt : Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress
SEO Rapper : Charles Lewis
Do the Page Rank: From the SEO Rapper
Quotes:
“Find the intersection of commercial and open-source interests.” - Stephen O’Grady
“I just bought one of your themes. But what is WordPress? ” - Brian Gardner on a support e-mail he received.
“WordPress.org now drives 2,604,288 blogs and is increasing by thousands a day.” - Matt Mullenweg
FYI:
Version 2.5.1 and higher is secure. If you are on a lower version, UPGRADE!
Other good coverage from WordCamp 2008:
Sneak Peek at “Crazy Horse” The next generation of WordPress
Twitter Applied
August 16, 2008
It hasn’t failed to surprise me how many people don’t get an application like Twitter. I will concede that most of the “noise” on Twitter, not unlike much of the noise on the web is just that, “noise.” However, like the web, Gwitter like applications have potential to be more than the “Me-generations” platform for narcissistic self indulgence. I’ve started to see some fairly interesting uses of twitter for actual conversation and relaying useful information rather than simply telling everyone what you are doing right now (really, do we need to know you are having lunch?).
So I’ve looked around and pondered the question and here are a few ideas for getting something more out of Twitter and making the platform useful for all:
- Ask a question about something you really need to know the answer to. Instead of “How is everyone today?” try “Has anyone seen the new Movie? How was it?”
- Answer other people when they ask useful questions, ignore them when they don’t.
- Get Local, connect with people who live where you do, the conversations will be more relevant to your daily life.
- If you aren’t already, Tweet from your mobile phone, real-time is more relevant and the spontaneity more genuine.
- Think of your tweet as a mini-blog, not a way to broadcast your every thought. Trust me, no matter how funny it is in your mind, it may not be to everyone else.
- Twitter as a news source, spread timely info.
- If you’re traveling, Twitter your location from time to time. It can be fun and is a good way for close family or friends to know where you are (I’ve done this on a couple long road trips and it’s helpful).
- Twitter announcements like a press release, but do so sparingly otherwise people will stop paying attention.
This is hardly an all encompassing list but should get you started on some more practical uses for Twitter.
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