The value of ideas
mixmax: If you take a look at successful companies you'll find that the ideas behind them are in no way unique, and more often than not they're not based on an idea but on a market. Here are the ten most profitable companies in the Forbes 1000 list and what they do:ExxonMobil - Oil & Gas OperationsGazprom	Russia - Oil & Gas OperationsRoyal Dutch Shell - Oil & Gas OperationsChevron	- Oil & Gas OperationsBP - Oil & Gas OperationsPetroChina - Oil & Gas OperationsGeneral Electric - ConglomeratesMicrosoft - Software & ServicesToyota Motor - Consumer DurablesNestlé - Food, Drink & TobaccoOnly General Electric and Microsoft seem to be based on an idea, the others adress a market and create a product to fit that market. And it can be argued whether these are successes because of the idea - Edison tried thousands of different configurations before he actually invented the lightbulb, and Microsoft bought their first hit-product DOS from Tim Paterson and became successful by selling it, not inventing it. Execution apperas to have been paramount in their success.These examples aren't unique. Even Google, often touted as the canonical "idea" company couldn't sell their technology, even though they tried. They only created Google after futile attempts at selling the idea to among others Yahoo.