THE BIGGEST TELL OF A FIRST-TIME ENTREPRENEUR

Every time someone asks me to sign an NDA before sharing their "revolutionary" idea, I know exactly what I'm dealing with.

A dreamer, not a builder.

That request—innocent as it seems—reveals everything about their chances of success. It shows they believe their idea is their competitive advantage. That they think keeping it secret makes it more valuable. That they haven't learned the hardest lesson in entrepreneurship yet.

Ideas are worthless. Execution is everything.

This realization hit me after watching hundreds of entrepreneurs over the years. The pattern is always the same: new founders guard their ideas like state secrets while seasoned entrepreneurs share everything openly.

Why? Because they've learned what every successful founder eventually discovers.

The idea is never the hard part.

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WHY SEASONED ENTREPRENEURS TELL YOU EVERYTHING

Walk up to any entrepreneur who's had an exit, and they'll tell you their entire business plan in ten minutes.

The idea. The go-to-market strategy. The unit economics. Where it might fail. What keeps them up at night. Everything.

They're not being careless. They're being smart.

Because once you've built something from zero to one, you realize the brutal truth: even when your product is fully functioning and operational, the hardest part is still ahead of you.

You'll be standing on mountaintops screaming about your idea, hoping someone—anyone—cares enough to listen.

Marketing isn't something you do after you build. It's the thing that determines whether what you build matters at all.

THE HARSH REALITY NO ONE TALKS ABOUT

I guarantee you this: the moment you launch something successful, ten people will come up to you and say "I thought of that three years ago."

They're not lying.

Ideas are everywhere. Everyone has them. Your barista has three startup ideas. Your Uber driver has two. Your mom has one she's been thinking about for years.

But having the idea and building the business are separated by an ocean of execution that most people aren't willing to cross.

You need domain expertise. Capital. A go-to-market strategy. The ability to find product-market fit. Understanding of customer acquisition costs and lifetime value. The willingness to fail publicly and keep going anyway.

Most importantly, you need years of your life.

That's the real barrier to entry. Not the idea. The execution.

THE MURAL THAT CHANGED MY PERSPECTIVE

My friend Tyler Smith, founder of Skys, has a mural in his Sacramento office that says: "Innovation is rewarded, but execution is worshipped."

That's the difference right there.

Innovation gets you attention. A TechCrunch article. A few likes on LinkedIn. Maybe some interest from investors.

Execution gets you results. Customers who pay. Revenue that grows. A business that matters.

The world is full of innovative ideas that never became companies. It's short on people who can take an idea and turn it into something real.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SHARE OPENLY

Every time you hide your idea, you're missing opportunities:

The partner who could cut your timeline in half. The investor who's been waiting for exactly this solution. The early customer who becomes your biggest advocate. The team member who fills the skill gap you didn't know existed.

But here's what really happens when you share openly: you get feedback.

Some good. Some from people who have no idea what they're talking about. The trick is knowing whose opinions matter.

Value feedback based on who it's coming from. The entrepreneur with multiple exits who grills you on customer acquisition costs isn't being difficult—they're trying to save you from expensive mistakes.

They're asking about total addressable market and unit economics because they've watched brilliant people fail on these fundamentals.

THE QUESTION THAT REVEALS EVERYTHING

When someone asks me to sign an NDA, I ask them one simple question:

"What's the worst thing that could happen if someone 'stole' your idea?"

The answer reveals how much they understand about building businesses.

Because here's the reality: you can post your entire business plan online, and most people still won't build it. Not because they're not smart enough or capable enough, but because they're not willing to pay the price execution requires.

They're not willing to spend two years getting the first version wrong.

They're not willing to have difficult conversations with potential customers who tell them their idea isn't solving a real problem.

They're not willing to hear "no" a thousand times before they hear "yes."

Building something from nothing is hard. Really hard. Much harder than having the idea ever was.

THE EXPENSIVE LESSON EVERY FOUNDER LEARNS

Everything takes more time, costs more money, and is infinitely harder than you think.

The pitch decks I see projecting $100K to $1M to $10M in revenue year-over-year are astounding. They come from the required level of delusion necessary to start something from zero.

You need that audacity to create something new. But that same confidence often prevents you from taking input when it matters most.

I've watched brilliant founders ignore advice from people who cared about them deeply. They had to learn expensive lessons the hard way—losing time, money, and momentum—because they couldn't accept that someone might see problems they couldn't.

It's the gift and curse of entrepreneurship. The delusion required to start often prevents you from succeeding.

THE ONLY VALIDATION THAT MATTERS

You can survey a thousand people who say they'd buy your product. You can get glowing feedback on your pitch deck. You can win startup competitions and get featured in accelerator programs.

None of that matters until someone opens their wallet.

The only validation that counts is a credit card transaction. Everything else is just noise.

That's why I tell founders to get to a minimal viable product as fast as possible. Not because you need something perfect, but because you need market feedback that matters.

And market feedback is defined by money changing hands.

People will tell you they love your idea in a survey. But when you ask them to pay for it? That's when the truth comes out.

WHAT TO DO RIGHT NOW

Stop being a secret agent with your startup. Start being loud about it.

Share your idea with everyone who will listen. Get feedback. Find partners. Build your network. Test your assumptions.

Your idea isn't your competitive advantage. Your ability to execute it is.

The person who changes your trajectory might be the next person you tell. But they can't help what they don't know exists.

Pick one person today—someone whose opinion you respect—and tell them everything about your idea. Not because you need their permission, but because you need their perspective.

Ask them what they think could go wrong. What you might be missing. Who else you should talk to.

Then do it again tomorrow with someone else.

THE REAL SECRET ABOUT STARTUPS

Most founders quit in the "seedling phase" before they break through.

They post content with no engagement. They reach out to potential customers who don't respond. They build features nobody asks for. They start to think maybe their idea isn't as good as they thought.

So they pivot. Or they quit. Or they go back to "stealth mode" to perfect their product.

But the breakthrough usually comes right after that moment. When you're tired of shouting into the void and ready to give up—that's often when the momentum shifts.

I know a real estate agent who posted 180 pieces of content with zero meaningful results. Month after month of putting herself out there with nothing to show for it.

Month four changed everything. The algorithm picked up her content. Her audience started engaging. Within six months, she had enough leads to go full-time.

Most people quit at month three.

BEYOND THE SECRET

This mindset shift—from protecting your idea to sharing it openly—changes everything about how you approach building a business.

Instead of working in isolation, you work with feedback. Instead of perfecting in private, you iterate in public. Instead of hoping you're building the right thing, you know because the market tells you.

The entrepreneurs who succeed aren't the ones with the best ideas. They're the ones who can take an average idea and execute it better than anyone else.

What idea are you keeping secret that could be changing lives if you shared it openly?

Here's to execution over innovation,

Leo

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