Rocket Internet, the famous German copycats of popular digital services, is delisting from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
This has prompted some to claim that their time is up, and that their model of copying others successful ideas was never a viable one to begin with.
But that’s totally not true. Zalando alone is amble proof.
Instead what we could use this opportunity to discuss is what’s more valuable: Idea or execution? And by extension: What is the hardest one to get right?
If we look at it from that perspective there is very little doubt in my mind that Rocket Internet is a powerhouse when it comes to execution. What they may lack in brilliant, novel ideas, they more than make up for in razor sharp relentless execution.
And what makes the difference at the end of the day is execution; what actually gets out there and it’s ability to generate value for all parties concerned.
This doesn’t mean that you should only focus on being stellar at execution. Because what at the end of the day move us forward as society is brilliant novel ideas executed really well.
So it’s really not a question about idea or execution. It’s a question about idea AND execution. And realizing that it takes just as much (often actually more) to execute really, really well than it takes to come up with that spark of brilliance to begin with.
(Photo: Pixabay.com)