Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

As a philosopher, this topic has fascinated me for years. Yes, it could be that the topic is GPS phones and dating or human relations. But I`m focusing on the concept of "idea propagation."

The question is whether or not "ideas" exist as a 1-only development within a single human mind, or if they`re a "wave" of information, picked up by multiple minds "attuned" to that particular idea.

Throughout history we hear about big ideas that move through a culture or society. Tracking them down, we find almost always that there were several people with almost the same thing, exactly the same thing, or a closely related idea, working at the same time.

The telephone is an excellent example, where it was only a matter of hours difference between the two patents hitting the Patent Office, both for the same instrument.

My own thinking is that when you get an idea, you have to decide how important is it to your overall life plan and scheme of things. "Idea people" tend to have many ideas, but all of us have to specialize---particularly in today`s world.

As such, and again in my own opinion, if an idea looks pretty good to me, my first analysis refers to what I would want to do about it. But one of the immediately important variables is to assume that the same idea is "hitting" a whole population of other minds, right now, right at the same time, all over the world.

I believe the next step is to make an informed analysis about competition. "How" and "why" would someone else get involved in the idea. If it`s easily possible for anyone else (with the same idea) to bring it to market, then there`s a time crunch. If the idea rests on a rare or extremely complex set of personal skills, there`s less of a rush.

Following the competition assessment, it seems to me that the "components" of the idea come into play. In the GPS phone idea, who controls the phones, and who controls the GPS capability? Obviously, no single person controls the entire satellite system and computer network involved in global-positioning satellites.

Therefore, the likelihood of people with huge amounts of money, having the same idea, and being capable of competing would make the idea very hard to manage.

It`s a really interesting problem for any entrepreneur, and for anyone who comes up with idea on a routine basis.

It is an interesting topic for sure.  I have often thought the same things.  When I first ventured into the entrepreneurial world 12 years ago many books brought up this very topic.  “If you have a great idea make a decision to do something about it, because it is guaranteed 10 other people have thought of it and at least 3 of them are doing something about it.” 

I do like how you break down the possible thought process and even getting into the How and Why.  I agree with you that it is an important process to go through when committing to your idea.   By playing out what the competition might do to develop the idea, may sway your decisions and focus.  You have to be 100 percent involved or be ready to give up part of your plan / dream.

I posted this “lesson” to try to help fellow entrepreneurs to make the decision a bit quicker and to attack it at all levels.  I was hesitant through my ignorance and a bit of pride and it cost me.  You have some great insights and direction throughout your posts.  Thanks for furthering this “lesson” for others.

Hey...it`s all about conversation, and that`s a multipart system. Otherwise, it`s just a monologue, right? :-) What I most like about SuN is exactly this type of thing, where people not only share advice and ask about problems, they also talk about the hard lessons.

The other thing that interests me is that so often, these days, people have a hard time understanding how a specific example in one field relates to their own, oftentimes unrelated field. But that`s only learning to see the conceptual foundation...or basis...of life.

I`m learning how to write gooder, and practicing here on the boards. I`d like to focus my writing on that process of extracting fundamental concepts from life. This post is fascinating to me because it brings out the basic principles of the entrepreneur, and how certain failures loom for the slow-to-act. :-)

CraigL - you are correct. It is all about conversation.  That is what helps others learn along the way.  The long tradition of passing down stories of success in failures.  Cultures are full of them.

I am glad that you highlighted the fact that `certain failures loom for the slow-to-act`, because that was truly my message.  I just want others to go for it.  Don`t be timid and don`t give up.  There is failure all over the place and it is best to try and say you did something, than to sit back and hope it all turns out alright.  I see that quite a few have read this post.  I hope you all got something from it.

As I mentioned, I have read many of your posts and enjoy your insight.  You are writing gooder as far as I can tell. Keep up the good work and keep up those great viewpoints.

Chad

When I started out approx 10yrs ago with just an idea I never thought I would get as far as I have now if it wasnt for the help from the tools that are there but we just dont know it! I have come up with a Consumer product in which there is nothing like it out there and further more it is in high demand, so I let my fingers do the walking (typing) and found myself a good business plan writer at a great rate, found my manufacturer, and wow everything just started to fall into place now here comes the big "BUT" I need to get a patent protection or something in place while I am trying out my prototypes on friends, family, and others. So I got an NDA (Non Disclousure) that I had everybody sign prior to doing Demos, etc, again I still didnt feel covered enough so I called the Patent house and spoke to a Customer Rep for 35 min as to how to get at least the Provisional Patent in place cost etc, during this conversation I had asked "What if I send myself a registered letter as to what, where, color, size, etc, etc, on my product would that help protect me until such time I have my patents in place. Guess what he said "YEP" though we dont tell people to do that because we would perfer you to get the official patents in place " BUT" until then it is something they recommend. I hope this helps some of you that have not started your patents yet. Now I am at the need funding stage.

 

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Keep smiling while reaching for the stars,

Maryssa

PatentAndTrademark had a post on exactly the problem of the registered letter. In it, he made the point that although legally, such a letter qualifes as proof of time, the real issues is enforcing that legal aspect.

In other words, just because you can prove that you developed a product before some other person, the only way to enforce it is to use the court system, legal process, and so on. And because the attorneys involved have a vested interest in the process, none of them will seriously consider a registered letter as proof of anything. Is it fair? No. Is it reality? Yes.