Ideas are Worthless, Execution is Priceless

A friend of mine, Dan McCarthy, once said:

“Tim, you got more ideas than most people.  You just never do anything with em.”

Not to be mean.  Just a side comment as we were talking about his rental side business.  Still, it was a true point and, me being me, I pondered it for months.   Why didn’t I ever act on my ideas?  What I settled on was that every idea that I came up w/ slowly became bogged down w/ riddles I couldn’t resolve.  At least without a sticky web of clauses and workarounds.   So, I was actually saving myself time by not starting companies.  Granted there were a few that poked at the idea (Sound Unseen, Educational Resource Systems, etc) but I never quit for any of those … so really I never committed. 

That all changed two years ago when an idea now known as Leveragency started bouncing around in my head.

However, this entry isn’t about the idea but rather the process that made me bet my livelyhood [left my job on 2/08] on it versus the 50+ ideas that proceeded it.   You see, Leveragency had two characteristics that gave it the momentum where others floundered:

1. I couldn’t debunk it.
2. Others believed.

My inability to debunk it was the first key.  Most of the time my ideas would run thier course like a new relationship (IMHO, people tend to project an image early on in a relationship).  After a brief honeymoon you get down to brass tack of the gaps their character versus yours. Business ideas are no different.  You perceive them on a pedestal initially but then begin to pick at various aspects as you move along.  Usually, that picking leads to notable problems … and you have to part ways.   Strangely, as I picked at aspects of Leveragency I kept finding new aspects that made it more compelling for me. 

Since I was pumped, I started to play to concept out to those that would listen.  There were those that dismissed it (and rightly so … there are and were flaws) but others didn’t.  But many that I engaged were intrigued enough to ponder putting their careers into the game (betting on the model as well).   This was the most humbling.   People I trusted and respected the most (since those are the ones you validate ideas with typically) saw value in the model … to the point they would take personal risk to be a part of it.   The capstone backer was Carmen agreeing that it was worth going after.  Not that she understood the model but she could see I was convinced.  That did it for me.

So, here I am … poking away at trying to take an idea to market.   Hopefully Dan McCarthy is out there somewhere and gets a smirk out of it.  Worst case I can die knowing I ran one out.