Many people who want to start their own businesses and many people who want to invest in others’ ideas search answer of this question: “Which is more important the idea or the entrepreneur?” .

In academic journals, this is referred to as the horse (idea) and jockey (entrepreneur) debate. The horse and jockey analogy reflects two different financing philosophies: Either you believe the idea is the key and bet on the horse, or you believe management is the key and bet on the jockey. “Another way to phrase it is to say that you either bet on an A-team with a B-idea or on a B-team with an A-idea.

People have different thoughts on this topic. Generally, thoughts on this topic may be  grouped into 3.

1. The Idea: Some think that a good-idea will turn into a successful business in any manner whatsoever. They think business world has an evolutionary side which only good ideas can survive in time. Their motto is “Having the right idea is what counts.” .
2. The Entrepreneur: Many venture capitalists operate on the assumption that even if an idea isn’t perfect, it could be made so by the right management. So they think entrepreneur is more important than the idea.
3. Both The Idea&Entrepreneur: Some people believe that a successful business starts with a good idea. But firstly, an idea must be generated  and turned into a successful business by an entrepreneur. A good idea is a requirement but it’s not sufficient to succeed, it needs a good entrepreneur too.

I also think both the idea and the entrepreneur are important at the same time. A good idea is a start point. But don’t forget, most startups fail. A startup can begin with a revolutionary idea but execute dismally. Another startup can begin with a mediocre idea but execute spectacularly. The startup which executes dismally will fail and the one which executes spectacularly may succeed. But a startup which begins with a revolutionary idea and execute spectacularly will succeed. You may have the best idea but if you cannot reach your customers or you cannot pay your bills, you will fail. On the other hand, you may have the best management team but without a unique idea, growing your business and attracting investors will be very though job.

When you have a great idea, the questions to ask yourself is

1. Now that I have this great idea, do I have the right configuration to execute and make this dream a reality?”

2. Can I convince the marketplace that I can make this happen?

Consequently, I think the entrepreneur is 55% and the idea is %45 important to achieve success in business. What do you think about it? Would you bet on the Jockey or the Horse? Please comment…

As an entrepreneur and an editor, I really like to hear founder stories. I think every entreprenur like me want to hear about what happened at famous technology companies in the very earliest days. Where did founders get the ideas that made them rich? How did they convince investors to back them? What went wrong, and how did they recover?

Matthew Wise also wondered what it would have been like to hear stories from founders like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates during their startups’ early years. Wise felt a need for a way to get interviews of notable entrepreneurs and their success stories. Matthew Wise and Andy Saebjorensen invested co-built an open platform to enable other founders around the world to participate in FounderLY.  Any founder may film a fellow founder, so long as you follow the FounderLY roadmap, and submit the video to FounderLY. FounderLY will then package it with an intro, bumper, and a closing, and publish it to its website FounderLY.

Thanks for Wise and Saebjorensen for their visionary project. Below you can see an example video from FounderLY featuring serial entrepreneur Steve Blank.

Steve Blank Part 1 of 5 from FounderLY on Vimeo.

In a funny, rapid-fire 4 minutes, Reddit Founder & Entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian tells the real-life fable of one humpback whale’s rise to Web stardom at TedIndia 2009 Event. The lesson of Mister Splashy Pants is a shoo-in classic for meme-makers and marketers in the Facebook age. A great story to show how social media can effect a change in the real World. If you want to watch the video, go ahead.

Alexis Ohanian co-founded Reddit, a social-voting news website with geek allegiances, a small-town feel and a penchant for lighting up the memes your friends IM you about next week. Reddit was founded by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian in 2005, both 22-year-old graduates of the University of Virginia. It received its initial funding from Y Combinator. Condé Nast Publications, owner of Wired, acquired Reddit on October 31, 2006. Ohanian left Reddit in his official capacity in 2009, but continues to be involved with the site’s direction as a sort of godfather, dispensing friendly wisdom (and t-shirts) from his user account, kn0thing. Of late, he’s focusing on Breadpig, a hub for geeky books and merchandise.

Did you know, monkeys have 12 hairs at any one time

I can’t write valuable posts for a long time because of our ongoing projects and my full time job (In fact, there are more than  10 draft posts which i should check and update before I post if i could find enough time and a free brain).  But i try to share valuable resources, especially experiences of successful Internet entrepreneurs with you and this is one of them.

At The Future of Web Apps London, Kevin Rose shares the secrets to Digg and Wefollow‘s explosive user growth. He covers ten unique strategies that turn passive users into passionate advocates and what he did to increase his users to 1,000,000 and beyond.  You can both watch his presentation video or view his presentation slides.