my biases are all appropriate in context. You can abstract the term "idea" back to mean "any thought" and then argue that without thought you can't build a company. But this thread is about the value of a start-up idea - a company or product idea that hasn't even started to be realized yet. In that context, that idea by itself is virtually worthless. It might be worth a couple hundred dollars or a really great idea might be a couple thousand. But compared to the cost and effort to build out that idea and bring it to market, iterate on it, raise money for it, build out a team and culture, overcome obstacles, etc., that original idea is basically worthless.

You can argue whatever you want but this whole thread isn't about whether the importance of smart people making good decisions while executing on a vision is valuable. This thread is about how valuable is that initial idea. How come a person with a good idea can't find an engineer that wants to be a 50/50 partner? That's the thread topic. And in that context, the reason is, they mistook their idea for having value when ideas are a dime a dozen. I can't even tell you how many people reluctantly told me their idea which was top secret after I refused to sign an NDA only for me to have heard the same fucking idea or some variation of it already.

I run an engineering consulting firm. I meet companies all the time, I hear ideas all the time. They're all decent ideas usually. They're not worth shit to me or anybody else in the industry. Smart people who can continue to make good decisions are valuable. Some fucking idea is not.