Summary

The article emphasizes that true entrepreneurship often involves improving upon existing ideas rather than striving for complete originality.

Abstract

The article argues that entrepreneurial success frequently comes from refining and combining existing concepts rather than pursuing entirely original ideas. It recounts the story of how Steve Jobs was inspired to develop the iPhone after seeing a tablet PC, which led to the acquisition of Finger Works and the integration of multi-touch technology. The text suggests that innovation is about perfecting the good elements of others' work and that even the most groundbreaking products are built upon previous ideas. It encourages readers to embrace the practice of copying with personalization, as it is a natural part of the creative process and essential for skill improvement and the evolution of ideas. The article concludes by advocating for the value of learning from and building upon the successes of others, suggesting that this approach can lead to greater achievements and personal growth.

Opinions

Originality is rare and overrated; most ideas are improvements upon existing concepts.
The iPhone's development was influenced by Microsoft's tablet PC and Finger Works' multi-touch technology, illustrating the importance of adopting and enhancing others' ideas.
Innovation is not about being the first but about creating the best version of an idea by combining and refining existing solutions.
Copying, when done with a personal touch and improvement, is a legitimate and necessary part of the creative process.
The fear of being seen as unoriginal should not deter individuals from copying and improving ideas, as this is a common and beneficial practice.
Human progress and cultural development are largely based on the human capacity to copy, learn, and adapt from others.
The article suggests that readers should focus on perfecting the art of copying and personalizing to achieve greater success and contribute to the advancement of ideas.

If You Want to Be a Real Entrepreneur You’ve Got to Copy Everyone

Don’t suffer by trying to be original. Just copy in your own way.

One of the engineers developing a tablet PC at Microsoft was married to a friend of Steve Jobs. And for his fiftieth birthday, he wanted to organize a dinner to which he invited Jobs and Gates.

The guy spent the whole dinner praising his tablet PC. Suggesting to Jobs that he should integrate it into Apple devices. The dinner was so annoying for Steve that he arrived at the office the next day, gathered his team, and said: I want to make a phone, and it can have neither keyboard nor stylet.

The screen should have a feature that would come to be known as multi-touch — the ability to process multiple inputs simultaneously.

Everyone loved the solution but was not sure that they would make it work on a mobile phone.

A small company based in Delaware, called Finger Works, was producing a line of multi-touch trackpads. In early 2005, Apple quietly acquired the company, all patents, and services from its founders.

The iPhone was launched in June 2007. It was nicknamed “the Jesus Phone” by bloggers. Microsoft made it public that the iPhone was very expensive and was not appealing to business customers because it had no keyboard.

Innovation doesn’t have to be original. It has to be the perfect version of the little good things others made.

In the Middle of Difficulty Lies Opportunity

Pick up the best article you’ve ever read. Now, write down the keywords from that same article. Copy the main ideas and principles.

Then, start writing your own version.

Please, don’t you copy literally, word for word. Yet, make no mistake- being original is almost impossible. Almost everything has been thought of, already. Even those impossible things you believe are original have already been copied. And improved by someone else.

So, stop suffering, and specialize in copying ideas and putting them on paper. Don’t kill your head, thinking about how you’re going to write the next original masterpiece.

Take three or four articles from the same topic, write down the keywords, and give it your personal touch. With luck, the masterpiece happens from copying someone’s idea.

The thing is that even copying the ideas, it’s damn hard to write a good piece.

If you’re waiting to write something to be original and at the same time a masterpiece, you’re wasting your time.

I’m copying good ideas all the time. And that’s fine. We all do it. Some of us do it intentionally. Others don’t. But we all copy ideas.

So, live with it.

Improving Something That Exists Is Art. To Make the Original Version Worse, It’s Desperation.

The more articles I read, the more new ideas come to my mind. Sometimes they are personal versions of what I read. Other times are different perspectives on the same topic that I read.

In our lifetime, we may have created some things that we call originals. Yet, we humans are the product of many copies. We copy each other- our parents, our sports heroes, our favorite TV actors. And it’s in this mix of all those experiences that we form our prejudices, culture, profile, and personality.

The earlier you understand these dynamics, the quicker you start copying others’ work. And improving your skills. Your work becomes a refined product.

One idea you read, you transform it into another. Driving your reader to more exciting perspectives. Enriching the plot, taking other paths, and embellishing your view on a particular subject.

New things to point to and talk about, new ways of working, and fresh thinking might be better than the old ways.

That’s an improved copy.

Something that passes from mind to mind. Always taking a little from each one, to end up an original copy.

We pride ourselves on the uniqueness of our ideas, our thoughts, and our expressions. So the thought of saying that we copied someone else’s ideas would mean that we are not smart enough or creative enough, or inventive enough to develop our own ideas.

We worship originality, but actually, copying is an innate human skill — one we need for survival. We copy to learn, to understand, and to gain social status by mimicking others.- Jami Oetting on Hubspot

Delight yourself with an original copy of Tina Turner’s What’s Love Got To Do With It from Walk Off The Earth. You can try to convince me that this song isn’t an original one. Of course, I know it isn’t. But it is a damn good original copy.

Without people copying each other, things don’t spread very fast or very far. It’s human-see, human-do.- Mark Earls in Copy, Copy, Copy: How to Do Smarter Marketing by Using Other People’s Ideas

Final Thoughts

We all want new answers and new solutions for the very real. But rather than this endless search for an original solution, why don’t you copy something that’s worked before?

Strategies that you can use right away to copy, borrow, or steal as the basis for better ideas — faster. If it’s good enough for The Beatles, Nikola Tesla, Shakespeare, the Chicago Bulls, and the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, isn’t it good enough for you?

Transferring ideas usually produce more significant value than cooking them up from scratch.

There’s no crime to produce better versions and make them great. It’s probably the only way to improve the previous performance with a personal touch. It’s how the evolution of ideas work — a mixed soap from the gods.

It’s also not easy to make it better or differently great. For that to happen, for greater to be produced, you have to be greater too.

Nothing in life is easy. Neither is it to produce a more splendid copy- only for those who designed their lives to be the best version of themselves.

So, what is your master plan?

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