Have you ever had a really big idea? I live for big ideas! The excitement, the research and the speed with which things happen initially is invigorating. I feel like I have big ideas all the time; but in the end very few of them come to fruition, and for good reason.

You may be working on a big idea right now ... I know I am! However, it's important to understand and appreciate an idea for what it is: nothing but a spark. It's a glorified plan, where the benefits are crystal clear and the hurdles have yet to be realized in full if at all. Until executed with precision, an idea has no value at all.

So many people see an idea as a stroke of luck for one or a few individuals who somehow achieved overnight success as a result. Seeing an idea through takes incredible fight, faith and perseverance. Most importantly it takes execution, for which successful entrepreneurs deserve all the credit.

Successful companies like Amazon.com, 37signals, Google, Tesla and so many others win not because they were the first with a specific idea, but because they execute better than anyone else.

As an entrepreneur, understanding the value of solid execution has made a huge difference in how I approach ideas. Take our app called Feed My Inbox, for example. The idea is not new or sexy, but no one was doing RSS to email well. In a little over a year, 60k+ customers and not a dime spent on advertising yet proves that you can succeed on solid execution.

You don't have to be the first with a game-changing idea; you only have to be the best at executing it.

Ideas are awesome. They can bring about innovation in an industry or even turn one upside down. But never bank on an idea getting you anywhere. Execution is and always will be the game-changer.