Growing up, I used to think that if I had just one great idea I would become a huge success with tons of money to spend. There’s Bill Gates with Microsoft, Jerry Yang with Yahoo, and Mark Zuckerberg with Facebook. Why can’t I come up with my own unique idea and become people like them?

Life however has its own way of teaching its lessons. I’ve actually realized that ordinary people come up with ideas everyday of their lives. The sad thing is that most adults dismiss these ideas almost immediately after thinking of them.

You see, coming up with an idea is not that hard, even children have them. Coming up with a great idea would be much, much harder. But also not impossible. What you really need is a great imagination and the right team to bring the idea into reality.

Coming into contact with a lot of people, I’ve learned that in any endeavor one needs the right set of team to get it off the ground. It doesn’t matter if the idea is great or mediocre. It all depends on the people doing the execution. There are a number of reasons why a great team is always better than just having a great idea.

1. Ideas are just figments of our imagination unless we actually turn them into reality.

As I’ve mentioned before, anyone can come up with an idea, but not everyone can figure out a way to make it reality. For that, you need people with the proper knowledge and skills to work out the details. You need people working doggedly, sorting out the details and solving the seemingly endless problems that come with creating a new product or innovation.

2. More brains mean more ideas.

Everyone knows that the more people you put to work on something, the more inputs you’re going to get. It’s like the story of the blind men with the elephant. Each member of the team would be able to bring up an aspect of the idea that the other members wouldn’t have been able to think of.

3. Mediocre ideas can evolve into great ones with brilliant minds working on it.

When you have a great set of people working with you, any idea can become brilliant. These people are trained to think big and to think of profit. They’re passionate about their jobs and are always looking for new ways to make things better.

4. Great ideas can lose its greatness in the hands of imbeciles.

Sometimes in the course of events, your so-called brilliant idea can get lost in the hubbub of working out the details. Between figuring out the production budget and the marketing angle, you might suddenly find in your hand a product or service that is really not that different from another in the market. A good team never loses sight of its goal. It rarely compromises and is committed to bringing the idea into fruition.

5. A great team takes care of all the minor details.

From making the initial drawings up to the time when you’re launching your product, a great team is there to oversee that your idea doesn’t get stuck in one stage. They’re there to ensure that it goes on to the next phase of the production. Having all those details handled by only one person is tedious and dangerous. One never knows when an important detail might slip into the cracks, resulting in greater problems later on. It’s better to have one person in charge for each phase of the production. This way, every little detail is given proper attention.

6. Other hands are there to catch the ball.

When you have a great team working for you, things go more smoothly. Every member knows their place, what their targets are, and what their responsibilities are. Even better, you’re not the only one working on the project, so you’re not the only one keeping the balls in the air. You have time to work on the different aspects of the project, knowing that you’re not neglecting any part of it because someone else is there working on it. From there, you can easily step back and look at where you’re heading.

7. Having a great team brings a lot of intangibles to the table.

This may seem elementary, even almost always overlooked, but having a great team behind you can boost a flagging spirit faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. There’s nothing better than a team member bringing pizza at 3am in the morning when you’re stuck with a puzzle. Even better when that same team member points something that you had overlooked and which turned out to be necessary to solve the puzzle you’ve been working on for the past 5 hours.

8. A great team brings with it an invaluable resource of experiences.

Having a great team with you is not all about working out the details. It’s also about knowing the process. These people have also gone through similar experiences before, or at the very least have some experience that they can draw on to help make your idea into reality. They know when to keep dogging an idea and when to give up on it and change direction, they know how to work the media and the in and outs of the niche you’re targeting, they even know how to fill-out government forms which you had no idea you needed to fill.

9. Nothing beats good collaboration.

Everyone will tell you that one great advantage of having a team is collaboration. It can start with just passing the idea around until it gains form, up to the point where each member gives a feedback on the finished product, and a lot more in between. An innocent comment could be grasped by another team member and molded to become an important innovation on your product.

10. Investors usually bet on a successful team.

Let’s not forget the practical side of things. Your great idea can’t get off the ground without financial backing, and for this you need to find yourself an investor. A new entrepreneur with an amazing idea might get the attention of a potential investor, but an amazing idea backed by a proven set of team would always have better chances of gaining favor. Investors after all are there to earn money and would always rather bet on proven track records.

Don’t get me wrong. Having a great idea is important. It’s what you need to start the battle. If you’re a genius with a passion for work and a stubborn determination, you might just be able to make a go for it. But not everyone’s like that. Most of us are ordinary people trying to break through the market with our extraordinary idea. And one way to achieve this is to gather the talent that you need and turn these people into a team who would also dream of making your great idea a reality.