Are ideas worth anything?

We first examine the age-old question of whether ideas have a market value.

There’s a popular bit of entrepreneur wisdom about the value of ideas, which is punchily articulated in the book Rework, by 37 Signals:

We all have that one friend who says, “I had the idea for eBay. If only I had acted on it, I'd be a billionaire!” That logic is pathetic and delusional. Having the idea for eBay has nothing to do with actually creating eBay. What you do is what matters, not what you think or say or plan.

Think your idea's that valuable? Then go try to sell it and see what you get for it. Not much is probably the answer. Until you actually start making something, your brilliant idea is just that, an idea. And everyone's got one of those.

I see where this quote is coming from, but I don’t think it’s right.

I’ve been intermixed—deeply, I might add—in the world of early-stage startups these last 15 years. I’ve also moved around a lot in my career… I’ve had a lot of jobs. Look, it’s not ideal. It doesn’t look great on my resume. I’m also the kind of person that obsesses over the idea of ideas. And based on all that, it’s been obvious that:

Bad ideas don’t work.

It’s not even a controversial statement. I think most people would agree. And yes, that would be the thing I’ve seen firsthand, at many jobs. In order:

1. I’m hired by driven people with the wrong idea.

2. I work there for a year or two.

3. I leave the company. (Reasons vary… maybe a future post.)

4. Between 6 and 18 months pass.

5. I see on LinkedIn that the company has folded.

(This has happened to me a lot.)

But wait, you might ask, how can I be certain “bad idea” was the real reason for the company’s downfall?

In response to that… I’m not implying “bad idea” was always the sole factor, but I personally witnessed the whole journey as an uphill battle.

For the record, I think a lot of my ideas, in the past, through my current eyes, were doomed in this same way.

If bad ideas don’t work, it follows that ideas have a non-zero market value.

In my opinion, they’re just extremely illiquid. It’s an interesting thought, if a person has ever literally sold an idea to another person. I wonder… I really wonder.

The thrust of the quote (the one I started with) seems to say “Any old idea will do… just start grinding.” I find that advice quite revolting. Maybe it’s not saying that… but it sure feels like it is.

A new objection might go like:

“What if ‘having a good idea’ is a bar one needs to get over? ‘Having a good idea’ is merely a necessary precondition?”

That doesn’t seem true either. Think about a good idea versus a great idea. The value just scales upwards.

So, should a pure “idea guy” be considered a valuable member of a startup?

I don’t know about that one. I should say I do support it, to strengthen my argument, but I don’t like that idea either. And it’s definitely not me… I get shit done.

But, I just don’t like this idea that ideas are not valuable.

They are.