“Having your business idea copied is the sincerest form of flattery”

[jrineakter]

His name is Rajeet Singh, he is a psychologist and entrepreneur, and he has published an article on Medium that gives rise to an interesting debate . Do brilliant business ideas, in their initial pre-development stage, have any kind of value? Singh contradicts the most common opinion and argues that brilliant ideas, in their raw form, are worthless.

He came to this conclusion after exploring the entrepreneur market and visiting startup events focused on funding. Singh started out offering web design, SEO and digital management services. During that time he heard one phrase repeatedly: “I have a brilliant idea, one that could change everything, but I can’t talk about it because I don’t want anyone to steal it from me.”

This statement, which may sound sensible in some ways, becomes a problem when opacity hinders the work of those who try to promote – via a website or social media – the business that cannot be talked about. “I used to tell them, if you don’t want to talk to me about it, why do you want a website that tells everyone about your project?”

According to the Medium columnist, once he entered the world of startups, he quickly realized that having an idea and seeing it materialize are two completely different things. “Anyone can have an idea, thousands of brilliant ideas emerge every day that could transform all kinds of industries, but these ideas are worthless if they don’t end up seeing the light of day,” Singh adds.

This is where his controversial statement comes in: “No one will steal that idea from you before it is a success. If it hasn’t been done before, then it’s not even a certainty.”

Of course, there is a logical counterargument behind such a statement: if the idea is so good, someone will have to succumb to the temptation of stealing it. Rajeet Singh stands germany number data firm in his reasoning and uses a principle that is difficult to refute: the success of a business can only be demonstrated in the depths of the market, not in the head of its creator.

One thing that is unique about today's big tech companies is that they are not afraid of the old taboo of plagiarism. Intellectual property is close to being a dead letter. According to Singh, "the only chance someone can steal your idea is if it has already succeeded in the market." After you have gone down the hell of initial debt and come back to tell of your success, the rest of the world will start to notice you.

“Thanks to the fact that you have been successful with your idea , proving that the business model works, others will have the validation they need to set out in the same direction with a similar project – even resorting to copying –,” says the entrepreneur, who adds a twist to his reasoning: when this happens it means that you have succeeded and the fact of having done it first will put you in a very advantageous position within a booming sector.

We were saying that new technology companies have imposed a new commercial relationship model: the idea that there is no point in trying to reinvent the wheel has taken hold in this ecosystem ; if someone has invented something successful, then it is much easier, faster and cheaper to make an alternative version of that product/service. Or, as Google and Facebook usually do, they buy the successful company outright.

In other words – Rajeet Singh said – “If you have invented something that others are copying, then your innovation is worthwhile. Imitation is actually the sincerest form of flattery.”

Yes, it is. There are many examples of companies that do the same or very similar things, and they all have their market share. The interesting thing about this is that these companies manage to make the product/service so popular that it becomes indispensable; and there, in this scenario, the pioneering company is very well positioned to ride the wave.

“We cannot say which services came later by copying the first one, in many cases the business model is copied with slight changes in approach. Success validates a business idea and gives others enough confidence to copy and build similar businesses. That does not have to be a problem. There is room for everyone: if you have a brilliant one, share it with everyone.”