Mission

We all have moments of genius. It might be an idea in our head, something we say, or even something we apply to a small problem. But then, often we move on. The idea goes largely unrewarded, because we never applied ourselves to turn that genius into something greater.

It’s not like every moment of genius comes with the obligation to dedicate oneself to change the world with it. But if you aren’t going to change the world with it, maybe let someone else do it.

We’re on a mission to create a way for people to share their genius, crafted as a simple sentence, with the assurance that at least the record would show when they stated it.

We will mark the time it originated. If it gets picked up and used, made into something greater, well at least you can say, “it was my idea,” and we can back it up.

My story

There was a plaque over the manager’s desk at the McDonald’s where I worked that had several of founder Ray Kroc’s favorite quotes on it. I wasn’t sure that the quotes had a whole lot to do with my job at the time, but I saw them everyday and they left a lasting impression.

At the time I lived in Calvin Coolidge’s adoptive hometown, so his name and quotes were everywhere. Every day I commuted to work over the Coolidge Bridge. When president, Calvin Coolidge declined not to run for a second term with the statement “I do not choose to run.” I’d see posters in stores for a local running race called the “I Do Not Choose to Run Run.”

Calvin’s quote on the McDonald’s wall read, “Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb,” which I took to mean, people are apt to have great ideas and then doing nothing with them. This made me think a lot about the ideas I had, and inspired me to do something with them.

The full quote, I later learned, is:

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

I can agree that persistence can help solve the problems of the human race—but I believe it will also require talent, genius, and education. What if teaming up we can unleash all these things, together?

I sat on the unrewardedgenius domain name for a long time—an act of unrewarded genius in itself. But I always believed it could serve as a way to get ideas backed with persistence and determination. And so I created the service.