I was recently talking with a few family members, and they asked me about what I’m working on and started going. My aunt was listening, and when I finished, she said, “Don’t give ideas away freely!”
First of all, I wasn’t pitching her.
But I get her point. I’ve been told this before.
And yes, people and businesses have stolen my/our ideas and tried to implement them on their own. Most of the time, they come back because they got stuck. Other times, they executed a great idea in a mediocre way.
It takes talent and insight to generate and recognize good ideas. Most people and organizations don’t have this. And then comes the execution. Most suck at execution.
When I was running Netek, my affective computing startup, we pitched Coppel, a large Mexican company. Our pitch would implement our technology for them to use when qualifying people for loans.
We went back and forth with them; they kept asking for more details. I told my team we had given them enough details that they could do it themselves, but would fail in doing so and come back to us.
That’s exactly what happened.
My point is that most people and organizations will fail at three critical stages:
- They won’t understand the nuances that make the idea work. Ideas aren’t monolithic blocks; they’re systems with interdependent parts. Miss one critical connection and the whole thing collapses.
- They lack the context you’ve built through years of experience. Your idea didn’t appear in a vacuum. It emerged from countless iterations, failed experiments, and hard-won insights they don’t possess.
- They underestimate the execution complexity. Everyone thinks implementation is the easy part until they’re knee-deep in edge cases, technical debt, and organizational resistance.
Here’s the deeper problem: Most people and organizations lack vision.
Their vision is shaped by what their competitors are doing; they’re reactive, not proactive. They’re looking sideways instead of forward.
You can give a bad idea to a good team and they’ll make it great. You can give a great idea to a bad team, and they’ll make it mediocre. The difference? Vision and execution capability.
This is why most businesses execute mediocre, more of the same ideas. And that’s the truth. They’re playing it safe, iterating on yesterday’s innovations instead of building tomorrow’s breakthroughs.
So what happens when people like me come along and share big, unconventional ideas with them?
Most of the time, they’ll reject them because it challenges their thinking and beliefs. The ideas don’t fit their mental models; they require too much change, too much risk, too much vision, which they don’t possess.
And when they do steal them? They’ll lack the vision and wherewithal to see the idea through. They’ll water it down, committee it to death, or execute it so poorly that it becomes unrecognizable from the original concept.
Here’s what actually protects your business: speed, relationships, and execution excellence.
The companies that win aren’t the ones hoarding ideas in bunkers; they’re the ones moving so fast that by the time competitors figure out what they’re doing, they’re already three moves ahead.
Think about it: How many times have you seen a brilliant idea die in committee while a mediocre idea with exceptional execution dominates the market?
The fear of sharing ideas reveals a fundamental misunderstanding about value creation.
Value doesn’t come from the idea itself; it comes from the unique combination of insight, timing, team, and relentless execution. Your competitors can steal your roadmap, but they can’t steal your momentum.
I’ve pitched to Fortune 500 companies, given detailed presentations to potential competitors, and openly discussed strategy with anyone who’d listen. The result? More opportunities, better feedback, and stronger partnerships than I ever would have gotten playing it safe.
Consider this strategic framework:
- Share the what, protect the how. Talk about the problem you’re solving and the vision you’re building toward. Keep the proprietary methodologies and technical implementations close.
- Use transparency as a filter. The people who try to steal your ideas reveal themselves quickly. The ones who want to collaborate become obvious partners.
- Build in public, execute in private. Create market awareness and generate demand while keeping your competitive advantages hidden in the execution details.
The paranoid approach of hiding your ideas doesn’t just slow you down; it actively prevents the serendipitous connections that turn good ideas into great businesses.
Ask yourself: What’s more likely to kill your business, someone stealing your idea, or nobody knowing you exist?
The market rewards execution, not ideation. While your aunt worries about you giving away ideas, your competitors are shipping products, closing deals, and building customer relationships.
Stop treating ideas like precious gems. Treat them like seeds. They’re worthless sitting in a vault; they only create value when planted, nurtured, and grown into something real.
The next time someone warns you about sharing your ideas, remember this: The graveyard of failed startups isn’t full of companies whose ideas were stolen. It’s full of companies that executed poorly, moved too slowly, or never got noticed at all.
Your ideas aren’t your moat. Your ability to execute on them is.
