Taking advantage of many web-startup events taking place around San
Francisco, a conversation that I’ve heard more than once a conversation that
goes something like

“So what’s your startup?”
“… I have an idea but I really do not talk about it, keeping it stealth.”

The first fear that that a founder of a startup has to get over is: talking
about the idea. There is an inherent fear that someone will hear the great
idea and steal it, beating you to the IPO and an M&A deal. However, the
chances of that happening are slim to none, in fact there is more downsides
to not talking about the idea then talking about it. Here is why:

• The person probably has a job: Not many people are going to quit a job and
start a company based on a two minute conversation they had with you.
Family, kids, career, etc. Only one out of a hundred has the entrepreneurial
drive and even less have the guts to risk starting a company, signing up for
ever present unpaid overtime, no vacations and the surviving the
rollercoaster of a startup.

• People do what they know: Even if someone becomes enamored with your idea
chances are they know much less about the subject than you and will not want
to start a company in a subject area they are not experts.

• Takes more than one person to start a company: So someone heard your grand
idea, they still need to convince others it’s a great idea worth stopping
everything they are doing and starting a company.

• It takes vision for a company to succeed: It’s your grand idea, it’s your
baby. You’ve thought about it for hours, contemplated problems and came up
with solutions. You probably already have features of version 4.3 planned in
your mind if you ever get that far.

• No idea is unique: Chance are someone else has the same idea, and your
biggest fear should be is that they are acting on it while you’re still
walking around telling people “I have a great idea, too bad I will not tell
you about it.”

• It’s about the execution, not the idea. This is the best point and I can’t
even take credit for it. But it is all about the execution. An idea is
worthless without the execution. There is a long road between the execution
and the idea. I’ve heard many good ideas bad ideas but it’s a long road
between the idea and the liquidity event where you get paid.

The downside to not talking about the idea is missing excellent network
opportunities and feedback on the idea. The feedback can be invaluable and
hey, who knows, you may even find yourself a co-founder who will talk you
into starting the business, or you can keep the idea to yourself and when
someone finally builds a company based on the same concept you can start
walking around and telling people “You know YouTube? I had the same idea 5
years ago!”

Mikhail Ledvich is the Chief Strategy Officer at Clickfacts.com and writes for Startupism.