I shake my head every time I see the "ideas are a dime a dozen" meme parroted on here. Good ideas are actually much rarer, harder to come by.
I'll prove it.
Go to any of the Ask HN "whats your side business" threads [1] and observe the many interesting responses. Here's a good one: [2]. Next, observe the follow-up questions, "What's your niche? How'd you get started? Wow, very interesting, curious about the details." And finally, the answers:
Crickets.
Why? Because the only reason these people are harvesting so many coconuts is because they're the only ones who know about the island - the idea is their only competitive advantage. If they shared that, the party would be over, and they know it.
Ideas are extremely valuable.
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[1] here's a couple:
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29667095