You just had a great idea. Within half an hour, you are already in love. You can’t wait to turn it into reality and change the world.
You immediately head over to Google, typing away your idea searching for validation.
Yet after some google search, you realize that there are already 10 other companies doing your idea, which was ‘unique’ half an hour ago.
So what do you do?
When someone is already up ahead in the race, does it make sense to still jump in?
The truth is, it does not matter.
First, the competition is not about the newness of the idea, it’s about execution and marketing.
Execution can make or break an idea. Even when someone already is working on your idea, you still have room to do it better, or market smarter.
It’s a marathon. The fast runners at the beginning of a marathon are usually not the ones hitting the finishing line 1st.
So jump in.
As a business school professor said to us: I know you are all smart MBAs. If I lock you up in a meeting room for a day, you can come up with 200 brilliant ideas. If no one executes them at the end of the day, those ideas have no value.
Second, your idea would never be “new”.
This moment you come up with the idea, I believe somewhere in the world there are at least 500 human beings who have a similar idea. Yet maybe only one of them take any action.
This is just human nature, from idea to execution lies a steep river called: procrastination and fear.
Even when you if your idea until the day of product launch. You might immediately find copiers and competitors.
At that point, it quickly becomes a game of execution and marketing again.
Google, Microsoft, neither of them are first movers. I simply took someone else idea and executed it better.
Third: The reward goes to risk-takers.
From idea to execution and marketing, one needs to invest a lot of time effort and money. Yet this is the definition of an entrepreneur and investor.
When everyone is eyeing the same idea, only those who take the risk and move forward are rewarded.
So the game is not only about idea, but also about guts.
If you have an idea, or a vision to make current options better, just do it.
Hey, I’m Tess, an entrepreneur, and owner of Delicate Revolt, where I share 1. Lessons learned by an entrepreneur; 2. How to achieve energy, efficiency, and style on business travels.
