Stop the Secrecy

[2gould]

Guys,

I am not the most senior memeber here at YE, but I have been around long enough to get thoroughly annoyed by all the requests for advice/help by people unwilling to share their "idea" or business. This is simply ridiculous. In the vast majority of cases an idea, without more, is just that, an idea. It is worthless until it is implemented. A favorite blogger of mine, Ramit Sethi, writes a great post about the secrecy of ideas here:
I Will Teach You To Be Rich » Your idea isn’t good enough to keep secret
Ramit does a good job of explaining why, in the majority of cases, keeping your idea secret is simply stupid. Now, i am not saying that if you create new and innovative software you should go out and explain the code. But, if your idea is another social networking site, a new marketing twist or a new product - then share it! Don't ask for PMs or only serious inquiries, lay it out here and let the community give you feedback; isn't that the reason you joined?!?
Stop worrying about keeping your idea secret and instead starting worrying about how you are going to implement...

[jasaunders]

I was working with a consultant yesterday at the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center and she suggested I enter several business plan competitions. Out of curiosity I asked her how often ideas/business plans are stolen.

Her response was that she was just talking about this with the director of the center and neither of them, with decades of experience, have ever personally heard of an original idea or business plan getting stolen. She said the two things she hears all the time are:
1. "I thought of this two years ago and now Motorola just came out with it!" What, do you think Motorola is bugging your house and phone line? Odds are, they've been developing it for 5 years.
2. "My brother's wife's sister's friend's husband had an idea and it got stolen, so I'm not going to tell anyone mine."

[ltressel]

Good point 2Gould. I'm baffled by people who claim they have a social-networking website finished and they can't even give us a link to see it. One thing about getting funding for anything may it be real estate, business, car-they will find out everything about you. Why not start by sharing your idea first!

LT