Having a unique idea is not always a guarantee of success. Most of the benefit is in getting a head start. However, once others figure out what you are doing, it is possible for a well-organized team to duplicate and improve upon the idea much like Google did to Yahoo! in the search engine space. Furthermore, even if two ideas are in the same space, they may serve different tastes, like you see in photo hosting services. There simply has to be enough differentiation that matters to your customers.

I often see new entrepreneurs come up with nondisclosure agreements, fancy graphics, business, cards, websites, and business plans before they even make a dollar. In the end, they never focused on learning how to sell their product or service to demonstrate a viable business.

Intellectual property can be important. However, execution will ultimately be the deciding factor on a successful venture no matter how brilliant your idea is.