| I always like Eric Ries' take on this. You can test the theory: If you have one 'great' idea, chances are you have more. Take your _second_ best idea and do all you can to get someone to steal it. Target individuals; shout from the rooftops; describe it in detail to everyone you meet. Nobody will run with it. To execute on an idea you have to be personally invested, have domain knowledge and be deeply passionate. Ideas in isolation rarely have the qualities that would make them require 'stealth mode'. In fact, the best ideas come from a series of iterations on great execution. Create success and you will have copycats and parasites, no question (Groupon, iPad, Paypal...the other examples from this thread), but at this point you should be in a position to leverage first-mover advantage, funding, and your more developed longterm roadmap. People may copy your MVP, but Uber is a classic case where their first and prominent product (UberCab) is clearly not the actual longterm strategy. Cloning UberCab is really creating a cargo-cult startup. The exception here would be markets - the Samwer brothers have a particular niche in cloning successful North-American scoped startups for European and African markets, but at the point you hit their radar, the 'Stealth Mode' boat has sailed anyway. |