Ideas are cheap. There are thousands of good ideas, millions. Executing on them is hard, very hard.

OK so that’s a bit of a simplification some ideas are complicated, nuanced, and not at all cheap. But the principal remains the same.

How many times have you known someone who’s “got this amazing idea for this app that’s going to be The Next Big Thing”?

Doesn’t matter what area you’re in, there are ideas aplenty. The next great; app, web site, service, toy, treatment, preputial motion machine. Whatever the innovation is actually getting out and executing, making it into something real, is hard and rarely happens.

So what happens to all these great ideas? I reckon one of three things:

  1. The idea dies The person with the idea doesn’t have the time, money, will, skills, super powers, what ever it takes to execute the idea.

  2. Someone else does it Perhaps the idea wasn’t so unique in the first place - “Hey! Facebook stole my idea!”. Or perhaps the person with the idea decided to share it in the hope that someone else would pick it up.

  3. The idea becomes real The person with the idea takes the plunge and goes of to implement their fantastic scheme. They get huge traction, sell to Google for billions and retire.

Most ideas seem to end up going the first way.

So. I’ve had this great idea.

If the world is full of amazing ideas that never see the light of day wouldn’t it be great if there were some platform for people to share their ideas in the hope that someone else picks it up?

You’ve got a great idea for a Super World Changing Widget? Post it on the site. Then someone else comes along sees your idea and goes off to implement it.

But why would you give away your ideas? Well once you realise that you’re never going to implement it and it’s doomed to die a quiet death what have you got to lose? If you share your idea with the world there’s a chance it might see the light of day, even if it’s not you who does it.

Investors often invest in people, not ideas. Get your ideas out there, show the world what you’re thinking, who knows where it will lead. Perhaps your Super World Changing Widget idea really will change the world.

So why don’t I make this idea sharing platform? It’s an idea that’s doomed to go down that first route - I’m too busy with other things. So I thought I’d share the idea in the hope someone picks it up. Let me know if you do, I’ve got a bunch of ideas I’d like to post…