very hard (impossible?) to copy the most important parts of a startup:
+ business model innovation
+ go to market strategy
+ execution, focus and efficiency
+ iteration
+ user/customer care and cultivation
+ brand integrity and trust
+ vision
+ interfaces
+ partnerships
+ etc
I agree. At least 80% of your start-up depends on execution. You do need a good idea, but that's just the beginning and you can borrow heavily here (that's how progress works most of the time, improve on existing concepts). When someone 'steals' your idea and then does a terrible job at executing it, then I don't see a problem. You can just do better and prevail.
I have (supposedly) good ideas all the time, but not the time to execute most of them without totally loosing my focus. I'd actually be quite honored if someone would 'steal' some of them and execute them well as most of these ideas arise from some issue I encounter that needs fixing.
I was at a conference on the weekend and after a few people found out what I was doing they were interested in talking to me about the idea.
Im more than happy to talk about it. I will out execute them like crazy and I have been in this space for years. If anything I can learn more from them.
I hate when people are like, I have a idea that I cant/dont want to talk about. Its ridiculous, as its been said 100's of times before. Ideas are worth nothing
+ business model innovation + go to market strategy + execution, focus and efficiency + iteration + user/customer care and cultivation + brand integrity and trust + vision + interfaces + partnerships + etc