Imagination, and a Pile of Junk…
Often when we launch new projects (Recently TwitterMail.com and TwitterMSN.com) people want to know if it is a serious plan and how we plan to make money with it. Often I don’t have an answer to that question and some people hate that. I receive comments that my plan will surely fail because the commenter can’t see a way to make money with it.
It is easy to ignore these comments and I usually do. But I was browsing through my Quotes file (4000+ quotes) this morning and found this classic one from Isaac Asimov:
“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ (I found it!) but ‘That’s funny …’”
New ideas are usually strange and at first seem unrealistic. If your idea is new enough people won’t flock to it but rather dismiss it at first. As P. B. Medawar puts it:
“The human mind treats a new idea the same way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.”
We often launch ‘nice’ ideas which don’t sound that serious but which might become serious later. There is also a quote from Paul Graham which he received lots of criticism for but which I like very much:
“…figuring out how to make money from something popular is a lot easier than making something popular…”
My point is that we aren’t necessarily looking for the next Google, YouTube or Skype. We invent stuff and if it is easy to build we just do it. Then we launch and see what happens. Or, as John Maxwell says;
“Fail early, fail often; and fail forward.”
After all, it isn’t all about that one good idea. For that to happen you need to do a lot and make sure you can get lucky enough to try to the right thing at the right time. That wouldn’t be luck but serendipity. Surround yourself with crazy, overly optimistic and unfounded plans because, as Thomas Edison said,
“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.”
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5 Responses to “Imagination, and a Pile of Junk…”
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Like Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim had a solid financial plan when they launched Youtube. I think it is wise to be creative and inventive on the web, although this means no direct ROI. If the sense of the market is big enough, and the network created; the big buck ideas will eventually launch.
“You shouldn’t just look up the stairs, you should walk them”
Boris, I like the way you launch new ideas so fast and in a great number. The quote from John Maxwell is right on. In my opinion you don’t have to monetize evry new idea that you launch right away.
Just keep doing what you do, I just love the creativity.
Cheers from San Francisco
I like the quote from Edison. But it would be nice to hear some inside stuff like how you plan this and thats…
@stefson: I like your blog! (http://www.stefson.com/) What is it you want to hear from me exactely?
Thanks Boris, really appreciate that :)
Would you be interested in a casual email interview? I actually do have some questions, and don’t want to spam your blog with them.