Why does it seem that — regardless of the endeavor, employee base, or community — such a small percentage of people seize opportunity?  A buddy of mine once said (horribly twisting a crass old adage) that “ideas are like a#&holes…everyone’s got one.”  Though this is a sweeping generalization, my experience has been that roughly 5-10% of any body of people will actually DO something about their ideas and the other 90-95% will come up with a million excuses as to why they cannot.

Macro-level excuses include “everyone is doing it” or “there are probably patents out there already.“  Carl Jung, the eminent psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology, was a proponent of the collective unconscious which, “refers to that part of a person’s unconscious which is common to all human beings. It contains archetypes, which are forms or symbols that are manifested by all people in all cultures. They are said to exist prior to experience, and are in this sense instinctual.“  It’s been one explanation as to why ideas seem to popup simultaneously…sometimes in different parts of the world causing great consternation amongst venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.

Some are worried about the land-grab occurring in intellectual capital and use that as an excuse not to move forward on their idea. I’ve written about the acceleration in intellectual property capture by Intellectual Ventures (post here) and how even an exchange traded fund, Ocean Tomo, (post here) has recognized this momentum and is trading on it. Google is obviously taking steps to capitalize on this global trend too (post here). The kicker? It’s easier than ever before to discover patents, applications and prior art of spontaneous and simultaneous ideas from those who’ve seen them early on and find your entry point that’s relatively safe and secure.

So who is in the 5-10% of Web 2.0, what are they building and what should you do?

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