Stupid is the New Smart!

SMB Authors·February 27, 2013

“A lot of people thought it sounded stupid… Even some of our engineers weren’t interested.” – Biz Stone, cofounder of Twitter

Have you ever pitched a business idea to your friends and family and the unanimous response to your pitch is either “are you crazy” or “it’s a stupid idea!”

While many back off when their pitch fail, those who stick to their so-called stupid idea – and work hard in making the idea to happen – find success.

In fact, according to The Power of Starting Something Stupid book authored by Richie Norton (with Natalie Norton,) a surprising trend emerge: Based on hundreds of personal interviews, academic cases and study on both celebrities and everyday people, a conclusion can be drawn that successful people, throughout history and today, don’t avoid stupid, they lean into it . . . in a smart way.

richie norton entrepreneurship book

Want some examples? Here’s a couple from the book:

Angry Birds, anyone? The company behind Angry Birds, Rovio, makes $106 million in 2011 out of a stupid game idea of flinging birds at pigs.

How about Doggles – fashion sunglasses for dogs? It probably looks like a stupid idea, but if a stupid idea generates $3 million annually, I am willing to pursue stupidity!

In fact, every big, life-hacking, history-changing inventions, such as the telephone, was considered a stupid idea back in the 19th century.

So, welcome to the new entrepreneurship trend, where stupid is the new smart!

Table of Contents

There’s a resource for that!

I received an email from a marketing agency, pitching me with a book to review with glowing testimonials.

At first I was being skeptical; I received numerous book review pitches, but not many are pretty cool enough. I thought this book pitch would be just yet-another-bland-book-review-pitch.

But I was wrong.

The title of the book itself grabbed my attention, as I always have interest on everything quirky, innovative and out of the norm.

The book title: “The Power of Starting Something Stupid”

Wow. I mean, the title promises something big inside. But is it really the case?

Digging deeper into the book

I received a copy of the book (yay!) and to say the least, it reminds me of Seth Godin’s revolutionary books – full of out-of-norm wisdom.

The book kicked started with a sad story of how Richie, the Author of the book, lost his brother-in-law and later his young baby seem to put his and his wife’s life into uncertainty.

But there’s always a silver lining after the storm – shortly after the death of his son, he and his wife, Natalie, went to listen to a friend and mentor’s speech.

She asked Natalie “So, what have you learned?” The life-changing question born what Richie called “Gavin’s Law”: Live to start. Start to live.

The essence of the law is pretty revolutionary, especially in entrepreneurship. Stop playing around with the “what-ifs” in your mind; don’t wait. Just start stuff, will ya?

Even if your idea seems stupid, just do it anyway. Don’t wait, as waiting for the best time will give you reasons NOT to do anything.

In fact, the trend shows that stupid is the new smart. Here’s how Ritchie define “Stupid as the New Smart”:

Stupid as the New Smart infers that while an idea may appear to be inherently faulty, the idea is, in reality, sound and in your best interest to pursue.

Okay – now you know that there is a huge potential value in ideas that people called “stupid.”

Your next step would be looking for ways to turn your ideas into reality. The book I just finished reading can guide you with that.

If you are ready to embark into the journey of making your so-called stupid idea happens, I recommend you to get Richie Norton’s book and get inspired.

For more information about Richie Norton and his book, visit www.RichieNorton.com.