[paulhauggis]

This sounds great in theory, but in practice it's much different.

I've had 'nice' people telling me they want to 'help' me by throwing out any and every idea they could think of. I, being the nice guy, listened to their ideas.

All of their ideas were extremely generic and obvious (example: comment section on a blog, images and sound on an e-learning site). A few months down the line, they then claimed that I needed to give them a percentage of the company because I somehow 'owed' it to them. It never amounted to anything because I laughed it off and outright refused (the company never got off the ground anyway). However, I could see a lawsuit if I had ever become extremely successful.

Many people think that an idea is worth millions or a significant percentage of a company.

You do need people to make anything succeed. However, there will be people that want to grab onto your success in any way possible because they want a piece of it. Family is no exception.

I also have experience choosing people with questionable work-ethics because they were my friends to start a company. It failed every time because of the other person's work ethic.

I have found that most people just aren't willing to put the time and dedication into a company needed to succeed and are better off employees.

[mattm]

Just to add on to this, most business owners have tons of ideas they know they should be doing. They generally don't need anymore ideas. After a certain point it just becomes too much. Being able to prioritize the ideas they have becomes more important than hearing new ideas.

It's easy for people to offer ideas. They don't actually have to put in the work.