A lot of people ask what is worth more? The idea or the execution? But they forget one thing: The timing.

Let’s take a look at some cases as they exist: 

1) A great idea brilliantly executed in a wrong time will fail:

Examples:

  • Webvan : Home groceries delivery service in which is a great business for latecomers like FreshDirect.
  • Go corporation : It was a forerunner to the Palm Pilot, and in many ways also of the iPhone or the iPad.
  • Loudcloud: It did what Amazon and others do today: provide cloud computing services to startups and big companies.

 

2) A bad idea… ok I’ll not even go there…

 

3) A great idea poorly executed will waste capital.

 

Why is it then that execution is given more value than the idea?

It is rarer to find teams that can execute well than it is to find a great idea. A great team is one that can execute a great idea (or something that seemed like a great idea at the beginning) but will be able to pivot and deliver success even when the original idea was not good anymore.

Examples of companies which completely changed their ideas:

  • Groupon – Started as thepoint . com (start a campaign solution based on “tipping point” of participation) 
  • Instagram – Started as Burbn (comparable to Foursquare)
  • Facebook – Started as Facemash (a site comparable to HotOrNot.com)
  • Twitter – Started as Odeo (a service that revolved around personal podcasting)
  • Paypal – Started as Confinity (a cryptography company designed for exchanging money over Palm Pilots)

So when you have several brilliant ideas, bet on the capability to execute..and if you get the timing right….