There’s No Such Thing as Stealing an Idea

My childhood friend and I came up with an app idea that we thought was gonna' change the world.

We'd been working for a food delivery service through senior year and were about to head off to college.

One day while on a delivery, a so-obvious-how-did-I-just-think-of-it idea emerged in my brain.

I immediately phoned up my buddy and asked, "Hey man, couldn't anybody with a car do this job?"

Within no time we had developed a product scope and pitch.

"It's like Uber, but for food." (See where this is going yet?)

We employed our college roommate to start on interface mockups as we focused on the logo (the most important thing, right?)

Unfortunately between classes, extracurricular activities, and girlfriends the dream began to fizzle out as we focused our energy elsewhere.

About a year or two later, and Uber Eats (along with a few less notable others) had stolen our idea.

It's funny how you can have an idea for something and then see it realized shortly after without your involvement.

But how could they?

They aren't inside your head or your friends at the bar, so how could they know about it?

What I quickly discovered was that most product ideas aren't all that original.

In fact, someone out there has already thought of the idea that's got you all excited.

It doesn't mean you shouldn't pursue it though, actually quite the opposite.

It means if you don't pursue, someone else will.

And then you'll see it on your TV, social media or in the app store pretty soon.

If you think you got something, don't wait and let it render null.

Go for it. Because if you don't, you'll be a customer before long.

This is how we help ordinary people build extraordinary things.