Why I Share ALL My Ideas

There seem to be two types of idea people in the world; those that share their ideas and those that like to keep them secret, hidden away from the world until, well I don’t really know when.  

Since this is my blog, I’ll talk about why I share my ideas openly and freely to all who will listen.  First of all, just like with open source code, sharing and allowing other people to point out strengths, weaknesses, flaws and just plain stupid thinking is invaluable.  Enough said.

Second, and my personal favorite, is that if there is someone out there who can take your idea, that you have all this passion for, and execute better – then they should.  Because if no one hears about the idea, you open up shop and then they execute better… well, I think you know how this story ends.  

Finally, I just love to hear people get excited about all my hairbrained ideas.  Really.  One of my favorite ideas that there is no chance I will ever execute on is what I like to call the “Starbucks of soda”.  You can probably figure it out.  If not, I’d be happy to share, especially if you want to steal it.  I told a couple of baristas at Starbucks the idea today and they were off and running.  By the time I left they were wondering why they didn’t make Italian sodas at their store.  So maybe they will submit the idea to management and we’ll see a new offering for the summer.  It has nothing to do with the original idea, but it got them thinking about something other than soy lattes and greeting guests by name.  

And that brings me to a theme that we’ve probably all heard a lot about lately and Mike Maples Jr. was nice enough to explain last week at Capital Factory‘s demo day.  That is the “network effect”.  Mike believes it is why the west coast culture is so successful.  The term wasn’t very well defined, but I took it to mean that people were openly sharing ideas and resources in great numbers.  I like to think of it as interdependence.  So I’m doing my tiny part to get people in Dallas thinking like this, even if it is just a couple of awesome baristas.  

If you care to read more about open source ideas and haven’t already seen Mark Cuban’s Stimulus Plan, have a look.  The link has all the updates too.  He explains it a lot better than I ever could.

Now let’s get a little more network effect in DFW.  I hold a weekly BS Night to brainstorm ideas with other local entrepreneurs and we get so much more out of it than you would think.  Give it a try and start one of your own.

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