Be the opposite of secretive. Create a Google spreadsheet where you list every idea you can think, even really half-baked ones. Include ideas you hear about (make sure you keep track of who had which idea so you can credit them/include them later).
Then take the spreadsheet and show it to every smart person you can get a meeting with and walk through each idea. Talk to VCs, entrepreneurs, potential customers, and people working at big companies in relevant industries. You’ll be surprised how much you’ll learn. The odds that someone will hear an idea and go start a competitor are close to zero. The odds you’ll learn which ideas are good and bad and how to improve them are very high.
via cdixon.org
I agree and disagree with this. I think some people need reality to kick in early but others need to go forward and take a chance. If you told me you had the idea for a microblog site with 140 characters I bet a lot of people would have told you that was crazy and to forget about doing it.How is everything in the US – you should be finished soon no?
I agree that this sort of method is good for the more straightforward ideas, but would be hit or miss with ones that are more of a leap.