Leila came to U of T to talk about her real-world startup war stories to Business of Software students. I coach 4 teams of these students, who are fantastic. They come up with technology product ideas, develop business plans and have the opportunity to pitch to a panel of experienced investors at semester’s end. They are bright, enthusiastic and asked Leila some great questions during Q&A.
My favourite moment was in answer to a question about disclosing your idea to prospective customers or partners who could decide to build it themselves. Leila’s point (to paraphrase) was that disclosure paranoia is B.S. because the idea is worthless without the team to execute it. If somebody can execute the idea better then you’re not the people who should do it, and you should get out of the way. Go all the way or go home. And if the idea isn’t remarkable, then don’t even bother. Loved it.
I saw Leila demo Idée’s visual search tool at TorCamp1 and was impressed with the power, the thoughtful execution and the beautiful user experience. A truly remarkable and successful product and company. Inspiring to the students, but also to me and others. In the context of the conversations we’ve been having about the community supporting each other and demanding bigger thinking and better ideas, I really believe we also need to highlight and celebrate our successes. We don’t brag enough about Idée and Bubbleshare and others in the community that are models of success. When Remarkk! sees something remarkable, we call it the way we see it.
So, DemoCampers, show us something worth talking about.