[solumos]

Similar to how companies rarely fail due to competition, ideas are rarely the sole reason for a company's success. "Stealing" an idea doesn't really happen unless someone else has the means and will to execute it.

The idea itself isn't really the hard part of building a company. Otherwise, people would be "selling" ideas, and not businesses[0]!

[0] http://www.paulgraham.com/ideas.html

[tinalumfoil]

"Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats." - https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Howard_H._Aiken

Also, the same skills required to come up with good ideas are probably the same skills required to make those ideas work. If you're experienced enough to know there's a need in some market, you'll only succeed if you have experience enough to develop and sell a solution. So, if someone successfully takes the market from under you they were probably already ahead of you even when you were first.

But the above quote is also why I'm skeptical of validating ideas in the landing page stage. The walkman was just as good as the iPod until I spent 5 minutes using the iPod, but no landing page would've convinced me.

[amadeuspagel]

I often see people asking how to think of startup ideas. Why wouldn't those people steal one?

The reason people sell businesses, not ideas, is precisely that it's so easy to steal ideas. So why buy one?

[wtracy]

Here's an idea: Make a pill that cures any viral disease! Don't bother me with questions about how to make it work. I'm an idea guy, not a chemist. Are you interested in the idea or not?

The reason people don't buy ideas is because ideas are worthless without execution. An idea with execution is already a business.