[shubhamjain]

There are probably very few original ideas anyway. Google wasn't new, search engines already existed. Yahoo! wasn't new, web directories already existed. If you trace it hard enough, you could get to filling cabinets and folders. Over the years, I have realized that the idea of 'idea' is itself problematic. It implies that you can describe something very complex with a simple phrase (in hindsight, of course). What was iPhone? A smartphone done right? To get to iPhone, Apple had to solve thousands of tiny problems and it's rather simplistic to say that other companies missed the wave because of complacence. You don't decide to make a better smartphone, and declare your victory.

The same problem is with the word 'talent.' To quote lines from one of my favorite research papers:

> What we call talent is no more than a projected reification of particular things done: hands placed correctly in the water, turns crisply executed, a head held high rather than low in the water. Through the notion of talent, we transform particular actions that a human being does into an object possessed, held in trust for the day when it will be revealed for all to see.

I think better way to think about all this is in terms of problems and their solutions. If you know a your customers face certain problem and it has already been solved, go ahead and copy it. Customers don't care where the idea came from when you do what they want/need.

[izacus]

This whole concept of idea ownership is pretty damaging to progress - most progress in 20th century was seeing several companies compete in same space and take ideas from competitors, iterating on them and integrating them in new, improved products.

Imagine if one car company could "own" the idea of blind spot monitoring. Or navigation. Or rear view camera.

[AngryData]

I would go for much simpler things. Like a differential gear on your drive wheels. Without it, you either have a solid axle that literally drags and squeals your tires on every turn, or you only get one drive wheel so your car has a permanent biased to turn one direction and not the other. Or direct injection which would give a permanent advantage in fuel efficiency over competitors.

[nicbou]

On the other hand, there is little incentive to spend a billion dollars developing a one dollar product if it gets copied by everyone else. It can incentivize stagnation.

[simplify]

I imagine that scenario applies to very few industries and should not dictate the norms of others.

[reb]

On still another hand, essentially placing a $1,000,000,000 barrier to entry on product innovation can incentivize stagnation as well.

[beaconstudios]

or to put it another way - execution trumps ideation. A great idea executed badly (or even mediocrely) will still suck, but an average idea executed to perfection will have the opportunity to seize the market.

[jimmydddd]

"Ideas are just a multiplier of execution" https://sivers.org/multiply

[snarf21]

Exactly. My quote is ideas are nothing and at best a head start. Execution is everything and execution at scale is legendary.