Worried my idea would get stolen
Hi all,
The title says it all really. I have been working on an app for quite some time off and on after full time work.
I get the idea that you have to tell the people about your product and early feedback, fail fast etc. But what I'm building is something that a software house could emulate and do themselves possibly quite quickly.
Also what about life events that happen that stall your work and your updates... And doesn't anyone think that those updates just take up time, I mean it takes up valuable time to write a blog post, to write a tweet and post on Facebook especially when you're already working as a Dev then developing your own work it's tiring. Of course it's totally worth it in the end.
Isn't anyone afraid of having their idea stollen and being beaten to market?
I will tell you this, now or later you will find more apps that are just like yours. Ideas are the same all around the world, make human lives better. It is the consistency in your efforts, innovation, and service that differentiates you from the rest.
Of course, if the idea is something that can have a patent, then go get it ( still it doesn't matter if you ask me), but otherwise, focus on the execution and you will be just fine.
Don't take this as negativity please... tone is lost in a comment section.
No one will steal the idea. Ideas are cheap (literally everyone has one), and people are lazy. It's your idea so you will naturally have the most passion for it. Implementing ideas to make them a reality is really, really, really hard. If someone did decide to steal it, their execution will either suck or they will not execute at all b/c they simply aren't passionate about it so the first roadblock they hit they'll move on.
This.
The passion aspect and building it being really hard are great initial barriers to entry. (unless your idea is really simple to execute)
Can't agree more. After you build a few things, you'll notice that ideas are worthless. Diff people can work on the "same idea" and have different results. It takes blood and sweats and tears to consistently build up something, an idea alone won't cut it :) So don't be afraid of someone else working on the same idea, chances are there are already people out there doing that, you just don't know.
There's good news and bad news.
Everyone wants the bad news first.
Here you go: Your idea will be stolen.
Okay we got the bad part out of the way.
The good part.
You don't have to give away your idea for free.
Launch. You have to launch eventually.
But you can absolutely Launch, and THEN... and only then, build in public.
I've been going through this too as I pivot and change some projects. I realized after some time that it's my choice to build in public or not. It's my choice to launch or not. So take control and keep control.
But you do have to launch, eventually.
No.
Everyone has ideas. It's the execution which will bring you success.
All the best :)
Ideas are worthless. Execution is the only thing that matters. All the best!
“It’s not where you take things from, it’s where you take them to.”
You'll likely never be the first to do something, so the idea is likely already floating around out there. Even if it isn't, that doesn't mean that you can't share it.
Ultimately the product you're building will be different, despite the idea being the same.
Think about the resources you're having to put into this. Others need to do the same. Same rounds of feedback, some development cycle.
If you never put the work out there, your product will likely suffer more than if it got "stolen".
We got beaten to market by a competitor who was already 10x bigger than us. But as it turns out, there's rooms for us both.
Im going to be blunt.
If you are worried about your idea being stolen, you shouldn't be in business. there are competitors EVERYWHERE and ones who have way more money than you. You cant and shouldn't focus on that at all. Instead, focus on getting your idea made. because the sooner you get it made, the better.
At some point you're going to launch. Your product is guaranteed to still be unfinished because you'll start learning what your users actually want. If people are going to copy you there's no way to stop it.
Embrace it.
Well, I agree with what others are saying in general, but I think there's an important caveat, that is, if your idea is EXTREMELY niched down and for a market that seems no one will be targeting anytime soon. e.g. a market where most people involved in it are not in IT where the software needed is relatively easy, in this case I would choose to discuss the idea with very few people that I trust.
One of the reasons for such an advice is to have a first mover advantage in such a market.
Most ideas have crossed a lot of people minds especially ideas that target average consumers (things like Uber, Airbnb and such) but if your idea is the kind that comes to one because of working in a very specific field and\or having specific experience then I won't divulge that to people, because it is a hidden market or even non existent market that you might be the first to create by vertical integration.
If you have a brilliant simple idea for that easily-yet-rarely understood market then if you share your idea, in this case and only in this case, you will be giving away something precious that needs lots of experience to think of, which here is unlike the mere act of coming up with ideas which is relatively easy and actually a common occurrence.
The odds are one is safe to share ideas in general and there are exceptions that only further prove the "rule."
Lastly, even if your idea gets "stolen" you will take a piece of the cake and then work on differentiating yourself because it seems extremely hard to have a winner take it all situation in this big world. There's room in the market.
I suppose another benefit of sharing the idea is if someone has already tried it and failed then you've saved yourself a ton of wasted research and work.
Hi Neal, I feel you. The good thing about it is, your idea is good enough and there’s market for it.
We see loads of italian resturants in the same city. Why? Because people love italian food. What differentiates them? You can make it more personal. The product quality. Your prices. Customer service. Etc etc
Also, nobody will steal your vision for the product.
Related discussion and another recent one
There are road blocks to people stealing ideas.
2)They need to have the skills required to build that idea. Are they a dev?
4)They would need to execute better than you and be consistent at executing. Most people give up.
I would not worry about it. Getting feed back on your product is more important you might be building the wrong thing and wasting ur time which is the most important thing in life. Time is the only thing we wont get back.
Good luck :)
An illustration on idea stealing in a tweet
Talked about it with Arvid Kahl
https://youtu.be/3N0PlJjy0Ng?t=1306
Also, the whole episode with Danny Postma is about building in public
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwInRG-EpRg
But, in general - you shouldn't be hiding your idea. Unless your whole idea is text based and it could be copied with simple copy-paste action
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