A VC in Vacationland

I often get calls from people (I don't refer to them as entrepreneurs, for reasons explained below) wanting to know how much their idea is worth. "Oh", they say, "I am not interested in working hard to make it happen, I just want to sell it to someone and reap a fortune." 

Good luck, I tell them, an idea without execution is, well, just an idea.

"But I have this fantastic idea for an app", they say, "I can't tell you about it since you won't sign an NDA and could steal my idea!" Fat chance of that…I'm not interested in doing a start up, only investing in entrepreneurs who have the passion to see an idea through to success. And signing NDA's is a death sentence for VC's as you end up seriously limiting your investing scope.

The above table neatly summarizes my philosophy, and that of most of my VC buddies, on ideas and execution. 

An idea is just an idea…execution is where the value creation happens…