When people ask me if I bet on ideas, I say no. Many look surprised and say: what do you mean James?
I answer: more than betting on ideas, I bet on people. Well, ideas are worth nothing if you don’t have people capable of executing them.
I have seen people with brilliant ideas who I knew, deep down, would have great difficulty putting them into practice.
And I have also bet on ideas that were not so good, just because I trusted the person and knew that they would do their best to make the project come true.
People move the world
It is logical to think like that. After all, where do ideas come from? If you stop to think about it, they are not in the air, nor do they come at random, like in a gust of wind.
Ideas are nothing more than a mental creation of some person. Therefore, in order for them to become concrete, it is necessary that this person puts them into action.
Therefore, if the person who had the good idea is not able to execute it, it will be of no use. So betting on people should be the first point for you to consider.
Netflix wasn’t born with today’s proposition
I like to throw in a few examples to defend my theory. The Netflix that revolutionised the film industry wasn’t born with the proposition it is today.
At the time, the initial idea was just to be a video delivery service. A pretty rice and beans idea, right? That’s right. The idea was so weak that when they offered it to Blockbuster, the biggest video store at the time, it was immediately rejected.
However, what they didn’t count on was that above ideas there are people. And Netflix’s founders were motivated to change the market. The problem of having to go to a video store to rent a movie kept bothering them.
Idea comes, idea goes, and they had the genius idea of creating a subscription plan to watch movies. Bingo. It worked.
And what happened to Blockbuster? Well, it went bankrupt. Now can you imagine if the chain had bet on those young people? Surely it would be more alive than ever.
So, bet on people and not on ideas
Based on what I have just highlighted, I stress again that the important thing is to bet on people and not on ideas. Ideas can be worked on, changed, reinvented.
But people who have a twinkle in their eye, who have a firm desire to change the world and want to solve a problem at all costs. These are rare.
And when you find them, you cannot let such talent go. Grab them with both hands and be sure that when the time is right, they will create something simply spectacular.
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